ESSENTIAL QUESTION: HOW DO WE KEEP OUR LESSONS ENGAGING? DOES INNOVATION PLAY A PART IN THIS?I believe engagement is always changing. What works for one class may not work for another. With that being said, I do believe there are techniques that promote engagement such as: mixing up your teaching style, getting rid of "dead time" or having students collaborate to name a few (De Frondeville, 2009). You can also engage students by showing how excited you are to teach them. As Burgess (2012) says "passion is all about being on fire in front of your class. I’m fond of the quote, 'Light yourself on fire with enthusiasm and people will come from miles around just to watch you burn!'" Findlater (2013) argues that for a lesson to be engaging it must weave together fun and learning. She advocates for the use of visuals, audio, or props to help bring students in. These kinds of things can give students something to talk about. Engagement is about providing a new experience for students and I wholeheartedly believe innovation is key. We can think about innovation if we think about pirates. A pirate is someone who is okay with being unconventional and changing things up. They are after one thing: treasure. Burgess (2012) advocates that teachers need to embrace this philosophy where we are after making school "fun" for students. Almost all pirates have hooks so to embrace this philosophy we need to hook our students to fully engage them. If we do this then everyone will receive the "treasure" which is a love for learning. In my quest to fully understand what I was reading I googled David Burgess and Outrageous Teaching: Teach Like a Pirate. I found 2 video links the first one is below. I can read all I want, but I couldn't get a sense of the person writing it. The videos really helped put me in the right mindset and allowed my reading to come alive. On a side note, Teach Like Pirate really made me think of the gamification class I took last semester. Every idea he threw out made me think of some aspect of gamification. He advocates for hooking students and drawing them in. I can't help but wonder if his classroom provides units that are gamified? I know he has aspects of it, but they seem to be separate an not tied together. I really wish I could witness one of his classes but the YouTube video helped me to get an idea. Sources
Burgess, D. (2012). Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost your Creativity, and Transform your Life as an Educator [Kindle]. Burgess, D. [TEDx Talks]. (2013, November 05). Teach like a pirate: David Burgess at TEDxLitchfieldED. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-c3-tdSo6s. De Frondeville, T. (2009, August 03). How to Keep Kids Engaged in Class. Retrieved January 19, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/classroom-student-participation-tips Findlater, S. (2013, August 07). A teacher's guide to immersive lessons. Retrieved January 19, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/aug/07/teaching-immersive-engaging-lessons
17 Comments
Tristan Leiter
1/21/2017 09:48:16 am
I agree, engagement changes with every class. I've really been noticing that this year. This is the first year where I am teaching the same subject all day and not a different subject each class period. I have definitely been able to see what works with one class period doesn't work for another and it may be dependent on the students and the time of day. I have good kids in the afternoon, but it is so much more challenging to keep them hooked on the lesson in the afternoon.
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Sara Lucas
1/22/2017 12:24:55 pm
I'm so jealous you get to teach the same class each period!!! Although my day does go by quickly with each class being different, but my prep work is ridiculous.
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1/21/2017 11:09:00 am
I could totally visualize how he is from the book, but it's great you found a video to share. He definitely has energy, passion, and enthusiasm. I am aging myself a little but do you remember that movie in 1984 called Teachers? It's with Nick Nolte, Judd Hirsh, Ralph Macchio, and others. Well, one of the best "teachers" in that school was a sub that had no idea how to teach except to wear outrageous costumes and had students engaged in stuff like crossing the Delaware River as Washington during the Revolutionary War by acting it out and getting kids involved in rowing the boat. It seemed weird and wacky, but it worked!
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Sara Lucas
1/22/2017 12:26:35 pm
I could picture energy but I was wondering how that translated to a classroom. It was nice to see what a lesson would look like.
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Natalie Morgen
1/21/2017 02:47:54 pm
I also found the Edutopia 'How to Keep Kids Engaged' by Tristan de Frondeville a helpful source when researching classroom engagement. The ideas were general so they could be adapted to different classrooms and ages. The list also had a lot of body movement and class collaboration tips as well. An important tip was to keep mixing teaching methods and strategies.
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Sara Lucas
1/22/2017 12:29:09 pm
There are so many methods for engagement. It is hard to sort through them all. But I guess we never need to worry about running out of ideas. I definitely agree that changing things up is key to keeping students engaged.
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Lee
1/21/2017 08:46:07 pm
He used to talk to our class, but he's gotten so busy these days, I haven't asked him. If you want to you can connect with him on twitter @burgessdave. There is also a #tlap chat, although I'm not sure when they do this anymore but you could look at the hashtag feed and I am sure it says :). Dave didn't gamify per se but his whole approach - especially the aspect of story - was very gamelike, and that made him an important part of our early foundational gamification classes a few years ago!
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Sara Lucas
1/22/2017 12:31:13 pm
Thanks for the suggestions. I think I glossed over his Twitter stuff in my quest to find a video of him teaching. I will have to look into it more. It would be so awesome to talk with him!! He has a lot of great ideas!
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Jule
1/22/2017 05:21:52 pm
One thing you said that really struck a chord with me is how engagement is about providing a new experience for our students. I love this idea! Learning is truly limitless and there are SO many different avenues we can use to guide our students toward the learning objective. This is a good trick for teachers to plan a meaningful lesson. If we always ask ourselves, "Is this lesson going to to provide a new experience?" then I think this would guide us towards a more creative and enriching lesson. It could be something as small as the type of media used, the way we assess, or how we introduce a topic in order to give students a new experience.
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Sara Lucas
1/22/2017 09:28:35 pm
That is so true. Students need to have an experience they can resonate with. The more we can try different avenues the more likely we are to reach every student and show them learning that is fun for them.
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Jim
1/22/2017 06:01:29 pm
I appreciate you including the video! Thank you!
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Sara Lucas
1/22/2017 09:28:56 pm
You're welcome!!!
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Andrea Colvin
1/22/2017 06:54:26 pm
Sara,
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Sara Lucas
1/22/2017 09:30:07 pm
I loved his energy and it was cool to see him include magic into his lesson. It got me too!
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Larissa
1/22/2017 07:39:46 pm
Sara,
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Sara Lucas
1/22/2017 09:31:41 pm
It is easier written down than done in class. I love to try new things and sometime they work other times they don't. I think the biggest thing is to get student feedback as often as possible. That is what I am trying to incorporate into my high school classes this semester.
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1/23/2017 06:50:45 am
Sara,
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