One section in the reading this week from Teach like a pirate: increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator was the section that talked about rapport with your students. It talks about behavior and how students misbehave when they are disengaged. Burgess (2012) specifically says, “Misbehavior usually indicates boredom, overwhelm, or lack of connection to the material being covered” (p. 20). He then talks about how difficult it is to motivate and engage students unless you know what motivates them. By having a rapport with your students and learning their interests, he says that you will spend less time trying to get them interested in what you are trying to present and more time connecting ways to what they are already interested in.
A video from edutopia that was posted in August, 2016 highlighted a school in Nashville that has an advisor program for the high school students. Each student is placed in an advisor group of 15 students and they stay in that group for four years. Each student works closely with his or her advisor. The advisor develops a strong relationship with the students and identifies their interests to personalize their learning. The advisor makes a connection with the family and community of the student as well. The students are engaged in the learning through the strong relationship that the advisor has built with them. Another aspect of engaging lessons is making them exciting for students. One hilarious example within the Burgess (2012) text outlines his first three days of class. On his first day, he gives high school students play dough and asks them to create something to represent themselves. The second day consists of him fainting and pretending to be stranded on an island. He gives characters to the students and asks them to figure out who should be rescued and who should survive on an island. One the third day, he “sells” his class to the students to motivate them for the year. This well thought out engagement shows that he cares about his students and wants them to be excited to learn. To keep our lessons engaging, we need innovation. A way to think about innovation comes from George Couros. He uses Carol Dweck’s “growth” mindset as a springboard for the idea of the “innovator” mindset. He talks about how we as teachers need to have a “growth” mindset, but when we work with children, we need to go beyond that and create new knowledge. Couros says, “It is not simply about being open to growth, but focusing on what new knowledge you can create with that growth”(Couros 2014). Using this idea as educators forces us to think about what is best for the student. In summary, to have engaging lessons, we need to know and have a relationship with our students. This requires innovation for us as educators to continually challenge ourselves to grow and do what is best for the students. References Burgess, D. (2012). Teach like a pirate: increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc. Couros, G. (2014, September 11). The Innovator’s Mindset. Retrieved January 20, 2017, from http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/4728 Edutopia (2016, August 17). Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/practice/advisory-22-ways-build-relationships-educational-success
4 Comments
Tristan Leiter
1/21/2017 11:41:46 am
For the past six years I taught at a school where my largest class was around 12 students. It was very easy to get to know each of them individually and know their interests. I also was able to easily just talk with them everyday about anything that came up. We walked down the halls together, we ate lunch together, we went on retreats and I also coached many of them. Keeping students engaged in the classroom was very easy because of this. We could talk about an event that had happened in the past that was hilarious and I could interject with comments I knew would grab their attention during the lesson because I knew them. Engagement was easy for the last six years.
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Andrea Colvin
1/22/2017 08:54:18 pm
Wow, Tristan, I didn't realize you had moved! That must have been such a shock going from a small school to a large one! I like your input about how it is difficult to have a relationship with all your students at such with such a large amount of them. I think that it is important to remember the engagement strategies that keep the students attention.
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1/21/2017 11:39:09 pm
Relationship building is very important in having students be successful in school. I like your reference to the video of the school counselor. I have heard of other schools doing similar strategies. We have talked about doing such a thing at our school the last few years, but getting started and maintaining such a program is daunting. I have always thought having a "homeroom" period at a high school would be beneficial. There would be no homework assigned, but you are charged with helping students be successful. I think if students feel cared for, they would be more productive. There is always a proportion of students that come from broken homes, or have personal issues that inhibit them from being successful. Having a place at school that is safe and caring would be a step in the right direction. Thanks for sharing!
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Jim
1/22/2017 07:09:56 pm
I wholeheartedly agree that in order to have success (of any kind) we need to have a positive relationship with our students. We must know them.
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