Building Rapport

I've been trying to become a PIRATE teacher this summer.  The R in PIRATE stands for rapport.  And building that rapport is one of the things we try to do those first few days and weeks of school.

Most of us....dare I say all of us spend those first few days going over rules and procedures.  We try to get our students to be kind to each other and build a classroom community.  But do we spend any time really getting to know our students?  When I taught 2nd and 3rd I could tell you who was new to the school (in K all are new, haha), but I don't know if I could tell you who played on a sports team, liked to go camping, or had a new baby at home.  Dave Burgess in Teach Like a Pirate tells us that building rapport with your students is important.  It is important to building classroom community and to making connections with your students when you are teaching.

He describes several hooks that work only if you know your students. Dave Burgess calls them his what's in it for me hooks.  Capitalizing on student hobbies, being opportunistic, and allowing for student choice can let you get you get your students actively engaged quickly and increase learning.

I have a couple of little games to play with your students.  They are short fun time fillers, or an extended activity that will have your students up and moving.  You can play inside or outside.  Make up your own questions that are specific to your own class and area of the country.

The first game is Stand Up for Friendship.  The game premise is simple.  Ask a question and if the answer is yes, stand up.  You could then talk about the similarities, you could talk about your own similarities.  Use these questions (and make up your own) to make connections with your students.  Tuck away this information to help you create hooks for future lessons

The second game is Walk the Line.  In this game give the students a choice between two things.  For example, Do you like chocolate or vanilla?  Have them stand on either side of a line, then have both sides look at each other and walk to the line.  Now they should be across from someone (if numbers are uneven...don't worry have one person talk to several on the other side of the line).  Have them talk to each other about why they picked the way they did.  Great for getting to know you....but GREAT for practicing conversational skills too.  In Kindergarten that is part of our common core standards (SL.K.1).  The anchor standard for any grade level is Speaking and Listening 1 (Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively).  It is a great way to teach how to talk to others and be polite, how to listen, how to state your opinion while respecting others'.  In Kindergarten teaching students to have conversations can be a tricky thing.    Can't wait for the kids to come!!

How are you getting to know your students this year?

HELP!!! I don't want to drown!!

Do you ever feel like that....afraid you might drown?  All these great ideas swirling around in your head and you have no idea where to start. 

I am lucky enough to host chapter 17, Where Do I Start, and Dave Burgess talks about just that.  Where do you begin?  Why do you feel like you are walking the plank?  If you just jump in, the water is fine and you will learn to swim...seriously you will not drown.  Aaaargh, You ARE a Pirate after all.

When I first knew I was going to blog about this chapter....before I read the chapter and I only knew the title, lots and lots went through my head.  

Every chapter I read got me thinking about starting.  Just like when we teach our students I knew I needed to start from where I was.  I needed to look at my own teaching and was there anything I was already doing that was pirate like....I started writing in my notebook (happily I thought of a few right off the bat). 

Then, is there anything I can easily add? (I thought of a few more)

And lastly I was asking myself, What really needs fixed? (Plenty....I need to keep asking myself all 170 "Captain Hook" questions as I prepare my lessons and keep a notebook handy)

THEN I read the chapter and realized that this wasn't about doing....but was about what is holding us back from doing.  It is about overcoming our fears.  So True!!  I always have good intentions.  But talk is cheap and why don't I do more of what I talk about doing?  FEAR!

Dave Burgess says, "taking the first step is often the hardest part of the journey".  I love to go repelling.  But the absolute hardest part every time is taking that first step backwards off the mountain.  I know it will be fun.  I have checked my ropes and I know they are secure.  I trust my belayer, but I am scared to death until I just step, once, then twice....now I am having fun!

I procrastinate a lot.   A lot!  I read once that perfectionists do that.  Their fear of failure keeps them from doing.  That I think is me.  Dave talks about four excuses people use for not being the great teacher they really want to be. 

First, I like to call the all or nothing....if I am not perfect I have failed.  Dave calls it Fear of Failure.  So what if you fail, at least you know something not to try.  So what if not every student is engaged, at least more are engaged than would have been if you had not tried.  Teaching, and life, does not have to be an all or nothing game.

Second, is You Have to Figure It All Out Before You Begin.  This is my, "If you wait until it's perfect....you will never get started".  I like when Dave says, "Nobody is going to die if we experiment in the classroom and it doesn't work out."  Just come back the next day and try again, your students will be better off than if you were standing still.

Third, ties all my excuses together, Perfectionism.  For me this is big.  If I am not 100% perfect, I don't start.  I will wait until I have it all figured out.  I bounce from this thing to that trying to find the one that is perfect.  Dave says, and this must become my mantra...."You can either talk about all the great things you are going to do or you can actually do them."

Fourth, Focus.  We need to be careful about keeping ourselves busy and over-scheduled.  Just like in the chapter where we learned that everything is a choice, we are reminded that any time you say yes to something, you are saying no to something else.  Pirates need to stay focused on that which is most important.  Like Stephen Covey tells us, we need to fill our jar with the big things first. 

 Last is Fear of Criticism or Ridicule.  I love when Dave says, "You can fear it all you want....it's still coming."   I always told my Cub Scouters at trainings that you can't be a good Cubmaster if you are afraid to make a fool out of yourself.  In scouting, while I am singing, or performing I don't mind being silly or foolish, but in the classroom I don't want parents, administration, or other teachers thinking I am a fool,  For that reason I often play it safe. 

Nike says...Just Do It!  Dave Burgess says...When in doubt, take action!  He reminds us that, "the best way to overcome fear is to take action.  The more action you take and the quicker you take it the better."  I know that when I am afraid of doing something (like making a phone call, I hate making phone calls of any kind)....when I finally take a deep breath and just start dialing it is never as bad as I imagined it to be.  I just need to learn to take that breath quicker. 

Whether we are stepping backwards off a cliff or walking the plank, it is best to just JUMP in and DO it.  Take a deep breath and begin.  Rip that bandage off all at once, quickly.  The water is fine once you get in.  Pirates can learn to swim!

Pirate Lessons ~ Chapter 7

I was reading away....trying to get caught up on my reading and posting, when too many ideas started flowing into my head.  Aaaargh!  My pirate brain is working overtime.

I am sitting with my feet in a baby pool playing water games with my 2-year old grandson.  He is squirting me with water and I am holding the book up and out of the line of fire....still trying to read.

I finished chapter 7, and now I'm trying to make myself read the next chapter.  I can't.  Whether it's his distractions or the thoughts going through my brain I figure I better put to good use what I have been learning ~ out comes my notebook (gotta get those ideas down before I forget them).  The one I am using is a bit bigger than the one I carry in my purse and I don't care if it gets wet.

So here's my brilliant learning thought:
I have some pretty good hooks and beginnings to my lessons.  But sometimes I spend hours and days thinking through the lesson sequence (the transitions).  I had been thinking I need to quit doing that.  BUT....in Teach Like a Pirate, Dave Burgess is telling me that the time I spend pondering, worrying about the order I want present things, is time well spent.  Yes, time well spent rehearsing the lesson in my brain.  Time well spent making decisions about small things and big things.  Decisions about how and when will I pass out papers, will there be music, do I want students on the carpet or at their tables?  All those decisions big and little make an impact.  Great hooks are good, but I don't want to stop the learning by having dead time while I do administrative things or search for a prop.

I love this reminder:
"Your key content - the most important information you are trying to teach - should be delivered at the moment of peak engagement." 

"Far too many times, teachers capture the attention and engagement of their class and then lose it by adding some unnecessary delay between the hook and the delivery of the content.  It's not that I'm overly concerned about lost minutes.  Engagement is the real loss." 

      

Thanks to JCSweatpea, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Ashley Hughes, and KCFonts for their wonderful graphics and fonts.

Pirate Soul

Do I have a pirate in my soul?  I hope so.  As I have been reading and following along with Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess I have gotten stuck on chapter 4, Ask and Analyze.  Stuck you say?  Well, not stuck exactly....but I do want to wrap my head around a few things before I move on.  This chapter is becoming life changing!

Blog stalking has become a favorite activity of mine.  There are so many talented people out there and I have grown as a teacher by reading about what they are doing and by trying some of their activities in my own classroom.  I greatly appreciate all the work they do and how generous they are with sharing their knowledge and their hard work.
 
So first, THANKS! to Deedee Wills, Fran Kramer, Kathleen Pederson, Hadar Moar, Debbie Clement, Crystal Radke, Deanna Jump, Heidi Butkus, Maria Manore and I have to stop because there are many many more.  I have been watching and following you and you have inspired me!

Now...not that I didn't ever think that these talented teachers weren't working hard.  I know they are working hard....long hours, taking classes and workshops, continuing to learn, reading, researching, practicing and trying out new things.  Not that I didn't know that not everything they did worked out the way they wanted it to the first time.  I know that.  My brain knows that....my heart, well, that's another story.  I still want to say they are naturally more talented than me.  Their creativity comes easier, they are naturally better.  That's where I am stuck.  Stuck trying to get my heart to believe what my brain knows.

Dave Burgess says, "Creativity results from properly directed attention, laser-like focus, relentless effort, and hard work.  Like any skill it takes practice and effort."  He reminds us that when we use those six terrible words, "It's easy for you. You're creative."  We dismiss all the hard work and effort put into all those lessons we so admire.  He reminds us that as outsiders we "see the glorious results but know very little about the blood and sweat that happens behind closed doors." 

I do not not want to dismiss the hard work and effort of those I so admire.  I know they work hard.  I just feel inadequate and that is where I need to focus.  That is where I need go to gain my pirate soul.

I have often said that my best teaching ideas come at the last minute.  I have been willing to change my plans as a better idea comes along.  I am beginning to realize that those ideas come because I have been putting in the work of planning, researching, pondering.  Dave Burgess says, "You absolutely will receive creative inspirations out of nowhere and at the oddest times, but you will only get them if you put in the work on the front end." 

I have also said my talent is recognizing a good idea.  I haven't really thought about that as being my own good idea.  Another quote form the book that I love is, "Commit.  Start working.  Then, be open.  Recognize this providential assistance when it comes, and leap to take advantage of it." 

Dave suggests that we figure out a way to record those ideas when they come.  My mom is an author and she keeps a notebook by her bed.  She said she lost too many good ideas she had in the middle of the night.  She was sure she would remember them when she got up, now she writes them down no matter what time it is.  She also has a notebook and scraps of paper (envelopes, flyers, notecards) with her all the time.  I have taken to carrying a small spiral notebook in my purse.  iPads and iPhones and other technology that people carry around with them are probably good choices for some, but I am much better with a paper and pencil.  Ideas get lost and forgotten and never seem to be as good when you try to remember what that perfect flash of inspiration was.

My new goal is going to be, "an open mind, and the willingness to suspend disbelief in (my) creative ability"  That is where I think I will find my pirate soul.  I want to print this out and glue it on my lesson plan book and my mirror at home.

Thanks to Michelle at the 3am Teacher for the fun frame and Kevin and Amanda for the fonts.  Click here if you want to grab one for yourself.

The Passionate Pirate

I have barely started this book and I WANT TO BE A PIRATE!!  I love the introduction where Dave Burgess says, "pirates are adventurous, daring, willing to set forth in uncharted territories.  They refuse to conform to any society that stifles creativity and independence.  Although fiercely independent they travel with a diverse crew.  If you are willing to live by the code, commit to the voyage, and pull your share of the load, then you're free to set sail.  Pirates don't much care about public perception; they proudly fly their flags in defiance.  And besides everybody loves a pirate."  I want that to be me!

He tells us that we are, and need to be passionate...just like a pirate!  He asks us to think about what are our passions in content areas, professionally, and personally.  I've done some soul searching.  And I have come to the conclusion that the content I love to teach is mostly because of how I teach it.  I LOVE teaching about insects and butterflies.  But not particularly because I love butterflies and bugs, but because we get to go outside and interact with them.  I set up a butterfly house that the kids can walk into and be with the butterflies.  I love love love that!

I love books, but I don't necessarily love to teach reading.  I've been reading the Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller too, and I am trying to be more like her in my approach to reading.  I have TONS of books in my classroom and I love to let the kids have free reading time.  They ask me, "Can I read ANYTHING? "  my answer YES!  I am passionate about that.

Personally, I am passionate about things in the natural world.  I love being outside: camping, hiking, anything to do with water or just sitting and listening to the birds and wind while the sun shines though the leaves (like right now with my laptop on my lap typing this post).  I also like artistic and creative things.  I am not very good at them...but I love creating all kinds of stuff.  Those are the two things I try to share the most with my students.  I take them outside or bring the outdoors in, and we do craftivities all the time (don't you love that word?). 
 
Maybe I am on my way to being a pirate after all.

I am a Pirate Book Whisperer....now that's a mouthful!

I love to read....I think everyone should love to read.  I love to get caught up in a great book and let the world spin around me while I stop time and let myself be transported to another place or time.  I am a pirate when it comes to reading!  But I hate teaching it.  I just want to read.  I just want to share with my students what I am reading.  I just want them to love it as much as I do.

This summer I am joining in two book studies:

Teach Like a Pirate by Bill Burgess....aaargh  I want to learn how to use his treasure map and be daring, adventurous, and willing to set forth in uncharted territories. 

and

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller....to help me create an atmosphere where even my Kinder Kids will feel like real readers and lovers of books.

Come along and join me on this daring adventure, we have all summer!