Behavior Management or Engagement Management - Teach Like a Pirate Chapter 3

Okay - I know, its late.  I just got my book in the mail Tuesday, and I am just now getting to Chapter 3. Forgive me, but there will be at least 4 posts today on Teach Like a Pirate. 

I'm in the Ship and ready to go.  I must get caught up.

Here we go!!!

Engagement - Why is it one year a lesson works great, the students are engaged, and grasping the concept and the next year, they aren't?  My lesson didn't change?  My way of implementing the lesson didn't change? The concept to be taught didn't change? What changed, THE STUDENTS!!!! What works for one group, might not work for another group.  So how do we make it so the next years group stays engaged?  HELLO - FIND OUT WHAT THEY LIKE!!!  Sorry, all caps has to do with I just hit myself in the forehead and went DUH!!!  That is where Rapport comes in.  What isn't that helps this group of students to be engaged?

You mean that I must learn what each student likes, and get to know them?  YEP!!  So as I'm reading, I'm thinking about all those interest surveys I have seen.  Maybe I should use those, but that would be more paperwork.  That isn't much fun.  I don't have time to talk and have a here is what my life is about conversation with each individual student.  So how do we do it?  How do we build rapport?

CONNECTIONS -
        -  How did what we read in class connect to your life?  Remind you of something?
        -  Did you hear what happened on the news?  Maybe that can lead you to learning something.
        -  Hello, Writing - I have learned so much from my students through their writing.
        -  Everything we do on a daily basis, leads us to learn more about each student.

But then aren't we becoming more like friends and not teachers?  Doesn't this allow for them to take advantage of us? Not if we model appropriate behavior according do Dave Burgess.

We have all been taught to get procedures taught at the beginning to have a successful classroom.  Yea, so - Ive done that and six weeks down the road, I feel like it has been a wasted effort.  Why do it?  Dave puts it in a great way.  "Nothing is more important to me than creating the proper atmosphere right from the start. No content standard matters to me until I have established the safe, supportive, and positive classroom environment I need to successfully teach my students." (Teach Like a Pirate, pg 22)

Light bulb went off - Hello, Procedures are what create the right atmosphere.  Now it makes sense, it isn't about the actual procedure, it is about the atmosphere in the classroom it creates where a student can feel safe, supported, and encouraged.

Dave's first few days:

Day One -
      - Intro as into a movie theater
      -  Class is being hosted, not taught
      - One rule - NO MEANNESS (it is in all caps in the book too)
      - Playdoh activity (yes, he teaches High School and does this, so why can't we)
                - Create something that represents you
                       - Must be school appropriate
                - As host, I will ask you a couple questions about the item and your name
                - This allows me to go around and have conversations with students.
     - Part of building rapport is getting the students to know each others names and who each other is

Day Two -
     -  Collaborative Group Activity
     - 10 Stranded people, and can only save 5
     - Sorry fellow readers, but this is one you almost have to read to get.  I can't explain it with out rewriting they whole thing.

Day Three -
     -  Convincing the students  they can be successful no matter what their past school experience has been.

Wow, that was a long chapter.  All in all, build relationships, they are important.

Now for a brief break, and then for chapter 4. 

Hope you are having an amazing weekend.

Link up with Jana from Thinking Out Loud to see what her thoughts are on Chapter 3.  Don't forget to click on other peoples links to see their views of chapter 3.  Just click the button below to get started.

Are you in the pool or on the side? - Teach Like a Pirate Chapter 2

I have to start this post with a disclaimer.  I had to read off the preview as I am still waiting for my book.  With this said I am not sure I got to read all of chapter 2.

Are you on the side of the pool?
     I really enjoy Burgess' connection to a swim coach standing by the pool.  This probably has something to do with the fact I was a competitive swimmer in the past.  I guess the question I really need to ask, is am I the teacher who just tells the kids what to do and sit back and just wait for them to do it.  Sometime this can seem like what needs to be done.  I don't know about you, but sometimes I wish it was that simple so I could get all my paper work and grading done.  However, is this really benefiting the students?  Isn't this the time when you feel like they get what you are teaching the least.  This also seems to be what causes the kids to say "she goes to fast," or "she doesn't help me."  Sometimes I feel like I have to be the coach on the outside because I'm looking for that kid that is trying to pull another kid under, those behavior friends we have?

Are you in the pool?
    Are you the teacher who is in the pool?  Are you doing one on one conferences? Are you doing small groups? Are you going to those students and showing them the small things that make them just a little bit more successful?  I believe we all start off wanting to be this teacher.  The one who is in the middle of it all.  The one who has a class of complete engagement with the students totally focused on what is going on.  How many students need us to be totally immersed in what we are doing because it may be the only time during the day that someone shows them they are cared about?  

Is it fair for us to grade a child based on the sidelines (papers only) or should we grade them based on their growth, thinking, and effort (discussion, responses). I know last year I was bad about grading from the sidelines.  I felt like I had to have that paper.  How was that fair to my ELL Learners and my students with learning disabilities?  Just because they read the question and interpreted it differently or could truly explain there thoughts in written words, doesn't mean they don't have all the material.  Maybe if I would immerse myself in my teaching, I would find a few thing to be true:
     1.  I would have more engagement
     2.  I would know who was truly struggling and who wasn't and needed to be challenged
     3.  I would have more fun, and so would my students
    4. My students would feel like their teacher cared.

Till Sunday with Chapter 3.  May your week be blessed with fun and immersion in what ever you may be doing.

Want to see what others are saying?  Link up with Marie from "The Hands-On Teacher" and see her summary of Chapter 2 that she has. Just Click on the button below.

ARGH.....Teach Like a Pirate Chapter 1

Teach Like a Pirate - Chapter 1

So as I started reading this book, one of the first things I came across in the introduction was:

"Pirates are daring, adventurous, and willing to set forth into uncharted territories with no guarantee of success."

- That describes any teacher at any building with any class.  Here comes this new crew of kids, and we are going to try to incorporate new learning and new material into their brains, with the hope of them taking this knowledge and showing their mastery in an assessment of some sort.  Can we guarantee each child's success, no!  We don't control their home life, their social life, or what they may face outside the school day.  We can only control what we teach and pray that it is enough to lead them to success.

PASSION -
Question 1 - What are you passionate about in your teaching?  - Me, I am passionate about helping those students who are struggling with reading find the one thing that makes reading a joy instead of a chore.  If I had all the money in the world, I would be volunteering at low academic achieving, low income schools and helping those students who need that extra care that is almost impossible to give during a busy school day. 
Question 2 - What ignites a fire inside you? - This past year I had a sixth grader who came to me from another country and due to language couldn't even tell me his colors or shapes.  The joy, the my "heart grew three times bigger that day" (How the Grinch stole Christmas), that I felt is what ignites me.  To see the growth, the passion, the light bulb in my students when they begin to succeed is what makes me want to continue my passion as a teacher.
Question 3 - What is your personal passion? - I'm not sure I would call it a passion, but my stitching.  Can it be considered a passion if you never seem to find the time to do it?  Is that right?  

If you want to see Mary from Guided-Math giver her summary and retell of Chapter one, head on over to her blog by clicking the link below.

  Guided - Math   

Or go here and see what others are saying.


http://thirdgradetidbits.blogspot.com/2013/06/teach-like-pirate-chapter-1-passion.html