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Sorry for the delay... where is everyone else? So, my dad died this summer, and my life has been turned upside down! Needless to say Teach like a Pirate has been a blessing and such an inspiration to read so far! 

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Sorry for the delay... where is everyone else? So, my dad died this summer, and my life has been turned upside down! Needless to say Teach like a Pirate has been a blessing and such an inspiration to read so far! 

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The beginning of the book... I love the quote (or explanation of the chapter) "Maybe it'es time to transform your expectations for what's possible in the classroom." Wouldn't it be great if everyone we worked with did the same? Hmm...
-Tonya Leal

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Week 2... "We are not passionate about everything we teach"

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Week 2... "We are not passionate about everything we teach"

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This really made me think, about the "why" we have for teaching... what makes us teach something we are not passionate about? If we aren't passionate about it, how do we expect our students to feel the passion for a subject matter that doesn't interest them? Wouldn't it be great to teach our students how to find the passion?
-Tonya Leal

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Week 3 The myth of the blinding flash of light really resonated with me as an 'aha' moment in time. 

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Week 3 The myth of the blinding flash of light really resonated with me as an 'aha' moment in time. 

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What can we do as teachers to demystify the binding flashlight and show a more optimistic mindset to acceptance and creativity? I may come back to this one... -Tonya Leal

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I read a blog that was talking about the idea of the innovative teacher being a bit of an outlier on their campus. I'm sure we have all felt that a little. The blog pointed out that it is important to mindful of the following: part of our job is to share our professional passion in an inclusive way and bring others along. Our goal as teachers is always to enlarge our team. I know I am perching to the choir here, because we are a very collaborative group, just wanted to share.
-Liz

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I get exactly what you mean, Tonya. Translating the idea of passion to our students is so important! I think it is freeing to know we don't have to pretend everything we teach is so amazing! Sometimes, it just isn't, and kids get that, too. They aren't passionate about every subject. That is where finding the soft skills to connect, like "I think world war 1 is boring, but I am learning a lot about the perseverance and grit of that generation. We don't see that in people today as much..." Kind of passion. Helping kids find some hook even if it isn't the actual content...
-Liz

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I used to scrapbook. A lot. And I could throw a page together no problem! It was a very creative time for me. But, I haven't crafted in years, and now even making a card takes more time. This is my reminder that creativity is a muscle that gets stronger. The part of the chapter whenDave talks about "yeah, but it is easy for you..." How many of us have thought that about someone else? How many of our students do? And yet, to realize that disrespects all the effort and time he has put in to figuring things out. This is growth mindset at it's core level, no?
-Liz

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You totally get it... each day we have is a gift and everything has a purpose in life... we need to focus on what we can do rather than what we cannot do and hold on to the memories we cherish so much... again, many thanks for your prayers, friendship, and thoughtfulness! :)

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I couldn't agree with you more when you said that creativity is a muscle and if we don't use it, we could possibly loose it! I also think in comparison, teaching is a muscle and we must try to be creative and find other ways of presenting and guiding our students through learning and adapting to new insights... in other words we must never get stagnant!  We never know it all and should never assume that once we have mastered something that we don't need to go back and visit it... we need to be purposeful and creative in our lessons and how we deliver them... teach like a pirate brings all of these points to the forefront and has been a great inspiration to me as to why I became a teacher... :)

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Snowball Fight (Kinesthetic Hook)  *Liz*

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Snowball Fight (Kinesthetic Hook)  *Liz*

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each Students writes on a piece of paper (opinion? topic sentence? science fact? math problem?) crumples it up like a snowball. When teacher says, they all throw it toward the center of the room, then get a snowball, open it and read it. Discussion continues from there

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Whole Brain Teaching (Kinesthetic Hook) *Liz*

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Whole Brain Teaching (Kinesthetic Hook) *Liz*

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Whole Brain Teaching is a whole strategy movement that is based in the brain science of learning through movement.  They advocate for gestures in learning etc. Google Whole Brain Teaching and watch some YouTubes to see if it is for you. Kids dig it!

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KINESTHETIC HOOK:
get kids moving! gestures, throw something, act something out, walk around
PEOPLE PROP HOOK:
use students as inanimate objects, as parts of an equation, to show sequence, etc.
SAFARI HOOK:
get kids outside! plant items for kids to discover, simulate the setting of a book etc.

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Kinesthetic Hook
How about charades, maybe start off with having the students guess or somehow incorporate into the lesson. Maybe academic vocabulary, math vocab?

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iMovie comes to mind.  Creating a trailer for an upcoming unit or lesson.  "The Amazing Race" at Bard was top 5 that I have seen.  :) Idea: Perhaps the current year students (working collaboratively) could create the iMovie hooks for upcoming students for particular units...
Sara V.

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The safari hook made me think of the airplane challenge my students had last year. We did some fun outside activities at the end of the year, why not start at the beginning and keep them going thoughout the year.

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THE COSTUME HOOK:
I've come to class dressed up for lessons before -I have a couple of the costumes in my bedroom closet.  Why did I stop?  It is so much fun.  I must dress up more.  And hopefully it encourages students to take risks too.
THE MYSTERY BAG HOOK:
Mystery items (connected to the lesson) in a box to build intrigue.  I must do this!

-Valerie

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I found this and wanted to share
http://www.classroomlyrics.com/

You can find songs already made or create your own. Oh and the cool thing is that some of the songs were created by kids.

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Getting a little head of myself....30 Day Hook Challenge

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Getting a little head of myself....30 Day Hook Challenge

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http://ditchthattextbook.com/2014/09/11/the-30-day-pirate-challenge-hooks-everywhere/

Wouldn't this be cool to try and share all the hooks we try when we get back to school.

P.S.

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I loved the idea of involving the audience. It made me think of ELD right away. So many times I would hear students say, "Ugh, do we have ELD today?" It made me sad to think even some of my students didn't want to be in my ELD class. I'm going to try to cue certain students (those in my homeroom) to play a pre-arranged role/ act to engage the rest of the students who join us. I found that last year a lot of the students enjoyed acting out and playing skits to perform in front of the class.

-Elena Vasquez

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Am I great? How can I possibly be great? I just started this profession for crying out loud. I can connect more with failing and falling on my face. " To reach the highest levels of any pursuit, you have to be willing to fall on your face."  LOVE IT!

-Elena Vasquez

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"Sometimes it's OK to do things in class because it increases the fun factor and fosters positive feelings about school." The kinesthetic hook is one that I try to incorporate in my class frequently, but it can be challenging at times. There have been times when I am doing a class activity and I realize it does not correlate with a Common Core Standard and it did take up more time then planned. Reading this section made me realize that it is OK to take a step back once in a while and notice that even if I did not hit a CCSS, there was a life lesson that students will take away that will be incredibly valuable.

-Nicole Frank

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My kids found this envelope hanging from the ceiling on Tuesday.

Dave Burgess would say that mystery and anticipation are effective teaching tools that we should use to hook our students. There's no reason why we can't drive them crazy -- crazy enough that they want to come back for more. That's the effect this envelope had with my kids. It's the kind of stuff they talk about at home. I know, because one of my parents even mentioned it.

So before lunch on Wednesday, I Dave Burgessed the actual opening of the envelope just to drive them a bit more batty. (And yes, I just turned Dave Burgess into a verb.) Even though I could reach the envelope, I pretended I couldn't. "Sorry...guys...I...can't...reach...it." Reaching, grasping but no luck. (It was a fine performance.) "Stand up straight! Get on your tippy toes!" they called out. So once I miraculously got our envelope, I had to draw out the suspense a bit longer with a few more antics. I just might have silently read the letter inside, letting out a few gasps with a look of astonishment on my face before quietly folding up the letter and sliding it back into the envelope. Yep, I really did that, and their reactions were exactly what I hoped for.

I finally did read the letter out loud. Wednesday was National Eat Outside day, so it let them know we were going outside to eat lunch in the grass.

I'm searching for more ways to Dave Burgess my days and drive my kids crazy!

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My kids found this envelope hanging from the ceiling on Tuesday. Dave Burgess would say that mystery and anticipation are effective teaching tools that we should use to hook our students. There's no reason why we can't drive them crazy -- crazy enough that they want to come back for more.

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Elena: I love your reflection and your honesty! Don't discount people 'scompliments and encouragement, though, because they/we are responding to both you currently and the potential you have. Teachers who are not willing to take risks are doing a disservice to their students by playing it safe. That is often coupled with "This is how I have always done it."   Thank you for being willing to fall on your face!  You will get back up and try something a little different next time.
-Liz

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I am so sorry about your Dad, Tonya. I had been praying for him since I talked to you about him last month. I am glad the book has given you some thing to dive into. I know just b the fact that you love him so much that he was a great guy!
-Liz

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I am wondering how can more introverted teachers (me) have the guts??
Sara Valladolid

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The Hooks!  It's all about making those engaging connections from curriculum to student. Picasso Hook.  I should have used google draw and added an eyepatch on this picture. hmmm

Sara Valladolid

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I find myself wanting to respond to different people's posts. But, I don't know if it is possible...Errr... so here goes:
P.S.- I love your idea about the 30 day hook challenge.
Sara- I love your honesty and question about being an introvert. Most people I think would consider me an extrovert, but in actuality I would probably consider myself more of an introvert... On those days, when I need to gather myself... I fake it. Plain and simple...Dave says "Fake it until you make it." I definitely have those days. I find I don't have much energy for other things outside of my class, but my students get my energy and I fake it. Most of the time they get excited and then that helps motivate me.
-Bonnie Maxwell

FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT...

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Finding opportunities to create lifelong memories- this is such a great eye opening thought (I've lost that blinding eyepatch). I have backed away from many great lessons because sadly, I've thought " uh, that won't work with this class". For the reasons that I thought it would fail or that I had to have it all figured out and perfect.
Burgess says "An all or nothing mentality exacerbates the fear of failure."   So I have  to say that it's high time for me to accept failure as a growing experience.  Failure Fridays may not just be for our students but for me as a teacher too.

-Sara Valladolid

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Thanks for that response!  I will remember your words next  year!
Sara Valladolid