Ahoy! Final Teach Like A Pirate Post!

Dave Burgess begins the last third of his book with "Advanced Tactics".  This section was probably the most helpful to me so far because he goes into detail about starting class with a catchy hook or a different creative tactic.  I continue to ask myself everyday, how can I improve my future classroom by bringing energy and passion so my students can enjoy it while learning. I took some time to write down the follow places that I could find helpful and interesting ways to keep my class engaged:
Other Teachers, Online, Previous Cohorts, 2017 Cohort, Pinterest and Communities of Practice.

Another example that Mr. Burgess uses is the reality TV hook.  He may set up the classroom in a game or survival mode to keep things interesting and active.  From Survivor, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire to Fear Factor and Amazing Race, there are plenty of different games that could be created for the whole class to learn while having fun. I plan on using these tactics for review in the future, and it will help me when I get into the classroom to see what the students like to watch and what is popular at the time.

The next topic is technology! Technology in the classroom is a wonderful thing.  There is so much information at the students fingertips, although it can be distraction and hard to control a class of 25 students all working on a laptop.  One thing I am very excited for is when we get an iPad for the Fall and Spring of this year.  I have never had an iPad, but I hope to possibly get a tutorial and learn a lot while using it to organize my work and student life. Technology is continuing to grow, and probably will never go away, so Mr. Burgess pushes in his book to always be willing to adapt.  This is important to keep an open mind in the classroom with students, as well as the new technologies that can be used to help encourage positive learning.

"Nothing is more powerful than a master teacher standing before a class of students orchestrating the learning experience."  This sentence stuck out to me because I envision in my mind the 'perfect' classroom.  Everyone is sitting in their seats, listening to their teacher and taking notes, when in reality I think the master teacher is holding a beautifully chaotic mess, but still educating the students in a manner that works for both of them.  I really love how a teacher can capture their audience with a single movement or sentence, and educate others.  It brings light and joy to any classroom and that is where the actual magic happens.

When you teach like a pirate, you must have that hook for your ship.  Getting a hook for your students can be similar.  From different ways of having games and interacting with students, many teachers use food or extra credit as reward points. For myself when I was in school and college, the best way for me to do something is if I am simply driven or want to know more about a topic.  Food, drinks and prizes never worked well for me.  Another thing that I would add to my classroom if I use food for prizes would be different types of food.  From your basic snacks and and sugary drinks, I think would be best if I offer this to my class, that fruits and vegetables are offered too.  I know for myself, I would be willing to do just about anything for a big peach or slices of cucumber.  Along with this 'prize', what about giving extra credit?  Is that fair and acceptable? I am not sure what my thoughts are on that topic yet, but I will continues to keep my ears open to find the answer I believe in.

Even as a college student, I can barely remember anything.  And on a personal note, I have figured out why.  I have a severe generalized anxiety disorder.  I hate being in public, elevators are one of my worst fears and I secretly hate talking to people.  Now for those of you reading this who know me, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't believe me. I have been tested by several psychiatric doctors so this is a known fact about me.  Knowing how severe my anxiety gets and the attacks that I have, some side effects come along with it.  The number one side effect for me is memory loss.  I am horrible with names and facts.  I will spend every day studying and making note cards for a class, putting in countless hours of hard work so when I go and take the test you would think I would be prepared, but my anxiety takes over and I can't even read the page, let alone tell you what I studied or my own address.  So long story short, I have tried anything and everything under the sun to help me remember, and what has somewhat worked for me is mnemonics. To be honest, I have been reading Teach Like A Pirate for several weeks now. I can only remember Passion and Enthusiasm as part of what PIRATE stands for.  Over the summer I have been under a lot of professional, career and personal stress to where my body has been physically sick. Due to my stress which triggers anxiety, I can't remember much.  But for me, remembering two of six letters is awesome!  As dumb as it sounds, it is a huge accomplishment for some things I have been going through.  So judge all you want, but mnemonics work for me, just don't come up to me in an elevator and tell me otherwise, I may have a breakdown.

The rolling chapter is titled "The Awkward Question".  Mr. Burgess begins this chapter with a simple question asking educators if they want to be great.  Immediately in my head, I think absolutely, but as he continues a lot of teachers have this awkward silence. I personally think that if you think you are great, it is definitely achievable and will build character and confidence inside of you. I have had teachers that are confident and wonderful and on the other side of the spectrum I have had teachers who could care less and who are sour.  Most of the sour teachers lose their passion, and in my opinion, they need to get out of the educational system.  If you don't like students, teaching and inspiring others to reach their full potential, you are in the wrong career. Always be confident in your answer, or maybe you should find a different question to answer to.

"Ultimately, the world becomes a better place because of your greatness." The teaching profession is always striving for greatness while being selfless for working extra hours for students for a small paycheck.  The other thing in this chapter that Mr. Burgess discusses is how it can be hard to have students that don't want to be in your program.  At McGuffey, students already in grades 5th-8th talk about how excited they are to be enrolled in agricultural classes.  This just shows that the culture in the classroom is already great, so that means we have students who want to be involved.

As I come to the end of Teach Like A Pirate, the question of "Where do I start" emerges.  As I read, I have no idea where to start.  All my teacher experiences so far have been self taught from myself or my parents.  Here is where I am scared.  I feel that so far, my paid education has not helped me become prepared in front of a classroom.  An in my opinion, I do believe that student teaching will help me, but thats not how you just start someone off, let alone have them become responsible for over 100 different students educations.  That seriously concerns me.  I do know that starting will be the hardest part and I will learn along the way, and my hope for this fall include learning how to become a teacher.  At this point, I go with my instinct of hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

I would like to conclude my blog post with one of Teddy Roosevelt's quotes that Mr. Dave Burgess added into his book, "There is no effort without error."

Thank you for joining me on my TLAP journey, hopefully I have not offended anyone with my thoughts, as I am just typing them down.  I am eager to being my next journey and see where I will be and how I feel for the next 12 months.

Questions for Mrs. Cambruzzi:

Do you hand out food or extra credit?  Why or why not?

How did you get your start when you first student taught?

What was the best thing you learned while attending college?

Side note for Mrs. Cambruzzi:
I seriously think that I have the best school to be student teaching at.  So far, I have not heard similar things or mutual feeling about other PSU students and their schools.  I can't wait to start my adventure with McGuffey!

Shiver Me Timbers - Blog Post Number 2!

As I begin reading the second half of Teach Like A Pirate, I start in a section titled “Positioning and Reframing”.  Most of my questions that I have in the classroom have to do with how to teach in the classroom and how to keep control and respect in classroom settings.   This section discusses how to keep and retain attention in the classroom.  As a high school student just a few years ago, I was almost always engaged in my agriculture classes.  For agriculture classes, almost every single student wants to be there, so engagement and keeping that focus come easy to agriculture educators.

As I continued reading, Mr. Burgess talks about personalizing material to students.  As a future educator, I love this! I even remember being in school and having exams with problems that mentioned students in the classroom.  From giving examples to students that can relate in real life, or just adding their name in word problems, you can definitely have students immersed in what they are learning about.  Mr. Burgess brings up LCL’s, or life changing lessons.  I wanted to take a brief moment to talk about how excited I am that I have the opportunity to conduct a lesson to students, and I could easily change their life in a positive way.  This ties in my teaching philosophy how I would like to make a difference in peoples lives for the better.

I have been that student and I know I will` hear students say how boring or lame something may be.  A lot of students will say how they will never use some material they are learning.  Mr. Burgess states that students do not hate math, they hate the way it is being taught.  I’m going to get this off my chest and flat out say it.  I don’t agree with Mr. Burgess on this one. I have been taught information in high school, and have never used it.  I hate certain types of history to do with the Civil War or the Battle of Gettysburg.  I had no interest and still am not interested in war history.  Now that I have that off my chest, I can agree with that to an extent.  Teachers play a huge roll in keeping material interesting and more applicable so students can use that knowledge in their future.

Excellence as a teacher starts with a passion for what you do, whether that is the entire teaching aspect, or teaching students about FFA and leadership.  Passion is a natural occurrence in every individual, while enthusiasm can be faked until you get your desired result. Enthusiasm is more important than technique when in a classroom setting.

Another good tip that Mr. Burgess adds in is that you should have self-confessions.  What are you good at, what are you not so good at?  For me, I can be good at organization, giving 100% at work for my students because this is their education, and I put a huge amount of stress on myself, to make sure that they achieve their goals and will pass their classes.  I am not so strong in the point of actually teaching in a classroom, because I have never done so; also creating lesson and unit plans because I have not been completely taught yet.

Along the next section titled, “Transitions Will Kill You”, Mr. Burgess begins to explain how magician’s transition from one trick to another, and that teachers should do the same.  I remember being in high school and having teachers with 25 plus years under their belt who could make a class transition and flow from one subject to the next.  I also distinctly remember my English class with a student teacher who barely knew what he was doing, let alone teaching a classroom of 30 students.  Not only did the content not make much sense, but also the transitions were extremely rocky.  During those transitions, that is why you lose the focus of your students.  You need to continue to keep your students in a go-go environment. When students get bored or if they may have down time, is when you lose their prime focus. Personally, I am a go-go-go person; as I can never say no and I never sit down to make time for myself, so I am hoping that I can make this an easy task for me at McGuffey.

The next chapter I started reading was “All the World is a Stage”, and in this section, Mr. Burgess describes different ways to change the setting of a classroom.  From changing the seating arrangements, temperature, and lighting to creating space and making the desks into a certain form.  The opportunities in a classroom can be endless as to setting that stage for you and your students. I plan to use these techniques in my classroom at McGuffey.

My next topic was not exactly brought up through the book, but I have thinking about it a lot recently. I wish I were a better public speaker.  In high school, Mr. David Bittner made me complete in my first public speaking contest.  Once I passed the first and scariest part of public speaking and emerging myself into it, I became very good and then went to college.  To be honest, college has been a fun and wild ride so far, but I feel less prepared for my future when I graduate. I have a better feel of different people through internships and my personal connections, but I feel that I have not made that many strong ones through Penn State.  I don’t know if I have myself to blame or what I could have done differently, but everything happens for a reason.  So back to my public speaking, I am somewhat nervous about teaching a classroom, but I am sure after the first few days or week, I will back in my comfort zone and help others have a positive experience in the agricultural classroom.

Q’s for Mrs. C:

If you loose focus in your class, how do you bring it back? Discipline, just talking to get their attention, or switching gears to make a new topic? What works best for you?

How do you do your transitions from subject to subject, or unit to unit?

What do you feel is your strongest point in the classroom?  Where is an area that you feel you could work on to improve in the classroom?

So far working with me, what do you think my strengths and weaknesses are?  Or is it too early to tell?

The book that I am reading with my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Cambruzzi, was chosen based on other past students’ opinions of the book, online reviews and, most importantly in my case, because of the day I attended Mr. Dave Burgess' workshop in the Fall of 2015.  On a personal note, I am not the world’s biggest fan of reading.  I enjoy reading most when I can select the literature and read at my own pace, which can make any reading for a project or school somewhat difficult for my attention span.  I continued to think about Teach Like A Pirate and how Mr. Burgess' workshop was so interactive and engaging, that he would have to make his book the same way – as a reflection of his teaching and personality. 

Within the first five pages, I knew I had picked the right book for me.  One of the very first pages, Mr. Burgess explains how weird looks from students are completely normal and that we as teachers need to embrace them. This hit me on both a personal and professional level; I personally struggle with what others think of me in my daily life and on a professional level I strive to exceed expectations and be what I think is 'perfect'.  As I continued to read, the words finally made sense. It is okay to be weird and different, and no one is really perfect, so now is the best time to show your personality in the classroom to gather their attention and start class on the best (and strangest) note possible! The weird looks mean something is working; your students are intrigued and curious. Our instruction creates questions in their minds of “who is this person?”, “what are they doing?” and, most importantly, “why?” In the next few days I will be assisting at the Pennsylvania FFA State Days and I hope to see and embrace the weird looks and contagious smiles of my students.

As I continued reading, Mr. Burgess explained what “pirate” really stands for:  passion, immersion, rapport, ask and analyze, transformations and enthusiasm. Again, to be completely honest about this, I am still overwhelmed when I look at those words. I know I will get through it, learn it and use it; but definitely reading more will help prepare myself.  The following page told me it is okay to not be passionate about everything you teach.  WOW!! With just a few words, all of my worry and lack of confidence were gone! 

As I continue reading, I am learning about the different types of passion to a much deeper level.  Content passion is being excited and loving what you teach from your specific subject. Personal passion can be things you are passionate about outside the classroom; for me that would be family and horses.  Professional passion is not exactly what you may be learning or teaching, but one example includes that feeling of satisfaction you get when information ‘clicks’ in a student’s head. To me, that professional passion is the feeling of making a difference in the lives of others. 

Before my teaching journey even begins, I am beyond delighted to help other people succeed but I also have some fears.  Throughout my reading, I am told and learning through other teachers that teaching is filled with frustrations with not just students, but coworkers, management, parents, tests, budgets, and many trials that must be overcome.  Teaching will test your patience, and that is okay!  I feel that Teach Like a Pirate has not only given me insight within the first few pages, but has helped give me confidence as I step into a more important role to empower students. 

"Passion is an intoxicating drug without the dangers and side effects" will be my favorite quote of all time.  This sentence can be applied to my life in so many ways! After I had read this, I read the section Mr. Burgess wrote about immersion; his swimming pool example was simply brilliant.  I would rather be in the water teaching the swim class than focusing on each student from above while blowing a whistle as a life guard. To teach a classroom, you must be there more than physically – you have to get in the water and swim alongside your students.  Although I plan to be immersed in my lessons with my students, I know Mrs. Cambruzzi will help me achieve it; I have the passion but lack the professional experience that she has with her students. 

To wrap up my initial reflection of this book, I have learned that it is more than okay to fail and you should always strive for more effectiveness than completeness.  At the end of the day or class period, have you made each and every student feel successful?  These simple yet challenging questions will stay with me throughout the next few years to guide me in becoming the professional educator that I strive to be, while also enhancing my knowledge of teaching and in the world of agriculture. 

For Mrs. Cambruzzi, the following questions are directed to you!  I know I will be seeing you at FFA State Days, so we can discuss more in person if necessary!

How do you open your first day of class? -What is it like having the first day with returning students versus new students? What do you do differently?

In Teach Like a Pirate, it is brought up that we as educators are always creative, and we never lose that spark.  What are some ways you keep your creative juices flowing?  Do you have any helpful tips? 

How do you know when your students are successful?  Is it them simply just saying "I understand this" or is it a visual cue?

How adaptable is Teach Like a Pirate to your students and your classroom? 

And last but not least, would you mind sharing some of your professional, personal and content passion with me?