If you have been on Twitter in the past few months and follow the education community and PLNs, you may have already heard about this book. Its author, Dave Burgess, is a social studies teacher and professional development speaker who developed a system and thought process which allows teachers to become more creative in the classroom and more engaging for their students. The book seems primarily aimed at middle and secondary level teachers of all subjects.
Two of the three main sections of the book focus on the why and how of teaching. In the first section, Burgess outlines the meaning of the P.I.R.A.T.E. acronym. Though I won’t spell it out explicitly for you here (why ruin the surprise?), the qualities that are outlined are meant to awaken and reinvigorate the joy of teaching. At times, the acronym seems forced, or perhaps obvious; if you already thoroughly enjoy teaching and have engaged and engaging students, there probably won’t be many revelations in this section. On the other hand, for even the most joyful teacher, it is nice to hear that the things you do are universal and worthy of emulation. In the end, the first section is definitely a feel-good pep talk which will have varying degrees of efficacy with different people.
The second section is where a lot of the “meat” of the book lies. In it, Burgess recommends many “hooks,” or essential questions, that force the reader to think critically about their classroom practice. They touch on some familiar territory, like the idea that multiple learning styles (auditory, visual, kinesthetic) will engage students much more readily than worksheets or plain lectures. Once again, there is a familiarity from those classroom-practice courses you took in college, but Burgess has both general and specific recommendations for reaching your students more effectively. The obvious and not-so-obvious are layered together and have already inspired some new ideas for my own classroom. I think any kind of teacher, from those fresh out of college to the burnt out to the already-engaged, could find useful information here.
I would recommend this book to most people. Much of its effectiveness comes from the reader’s desire to improve their practice; if you think you are doing fine as you are, you might dismiss some of this book’s ideas. Burgess is definitely an energetic and passionate teacher, so it rubs off as you read. Additionally, because this book has taken the country by storm, there are a plethora of Twitter chats, blog posts, and conversation surrounding its contents. It is not a book you are likely to read once and put on your shelf; rather, you will invariably find colleagues with whom you can discuss the merits of the ideas within.
If you would like to get involved in the conversation, you can follow Dave Burgess (@burgessdave) or use the hashtag (#tlap).
