TLAP Book Study: Week 1

The Ahoy mateys!  Some of the NCPS crew is getting ready to set sail on a journey with Captain Dave Burgess' book,"Teach Like a Pirate".  Weekly questions will be posted on my blog and I encourage face-to-face participants and anyone else that wants to join the conversation to use the comment section on the blog or join the ongoing conversations Twitter (@burgessdave #TLAP) to interact and share your learning.  In the interest of "immersion" (see below), we won't be furiously posting our discussions in real time during our face-to-face book study but we will read and respond to any comments on the blog. 
   
For our face to face participants, we set sail at promptly each day at 3:45pm.  Like any good pirate, we will chart our course, below is our "map".

Tuesday May 3, 2016 - Pages 3-32
Tuesday  May 10, 2016 - Pages 33-71
Thursday May 19, 2016 - Pages 72-107
Tuesday May 24, 2016 - Pages 107-141
Tuesday May 31, 2016 - Pages 145-174

Week 1- Pages 1-32 Passion, Immersion and Rapport

Passion: Content, Personal and Professional

Content Passion- “Within your subject matter, what are you passionate about teaching?” (Burgess p5)

"Bringing your personal passion to the classroom empowers you to create a more powerful lesson because you are teaching from an area of strength." (Burgess p.9)

"I can absolutely be inspired and fully engaged in my attempt to present the topic in an entertaining way.  I can be passionate about providing an opportunity for my students to develop and exercise their creative talents and abilities." (Burgess p.8) “With a focus on professional passion, teaching  is no  longer about relaying the content standard...it’s about transforming lives” (Burgess p.9)

Question #1:  What are you passionate about teaching?

Question #2:  What is it about being an educator that drives you?  

Question #3:  Outside of your work, what are you passionate about?  Is there any way you may be able to integrate this passion in your teaching?  

Immersion

Are  you a lifeguard or a swimmer?  “A lifeguard sits above the action and supervises...although he or she is focused, there is a distinct sense of separateness...In contrast, a swimmer is out participating and an integral part of the action” (Burgess 14/15) "A lack of immersion in the present sends a clear message that this moment is somehow less important and not significant enough to be worth undivided attention." (Burgess p.14) “It’s far more powerful to ‘swim’ with your students” (Burgesss p. 15)

Question #4:  What are some things you can do in your classroom to truly be immersed - or to switch from focus to immersion?

Rapport

“We don’t want to develop techniques to win behaviour management battles, we want to develop techniques that allow us to avoid  the battles altogether.” (Burgess p.19)

Question #5:  How can we create an environment in our classes that develops rapport?

Question #6: I like to think of the students as all of our students, not just the ones in our classes this year. What are some ways we develop rapport with students in the larger school community?