Teach Like a Pirate Chapter 17: Where Do I Start?


After all this wonderful information and great ideas and hooks from Dave Burgess where do we start? This chapter really addressed some of those fears we may have with starting something new. Several fears are discussed but the one that hit home with me was what we do with the critic. There's always one, right? There is always one person who has the mind set of "this is what we have always done" or someone who sees just a snippet of a lesson and wonders how in the world your lesson is rigorous enough to meet standards. We can choose to let those people ruin our enthusiasm or we can push it aside and keep striving for a classroom that is engaging and challenging at the same time.

Dave Burgess also talks about perfectionism. I may strive to be a perfectionist in many ways but I have learned to put myself out there with my lessons. I don't beat myself up if a lesson is an epic fail. I've even stopped lessons five minutes in and told my class, "Ok. This just isn't working. Ok kids....here was my plan. I want to try again tomorrow. Any suggestions?" Even first graders have great suggestions! (Plus I actually like them seeing that I tried and didn't succeed. I like them to see that I don't give up and ask for help.) 

My friend Teri from Kinder Kapers is hosting this chapter. You'll love the title of her post!

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