TEACH LIKE A PIRATE

Summary

There is far too much going on in education to handle on our own. There is far too much going on in education to do it without Passion, Immersion in the Process, Interpersonal Communication, Questioning and Analyzing, Transformation, and Enthusiasm in the Process. The status quo cannot be maintained. There are deliberate approaches to enhance what is happening in the classroom in order to engage students in a culture that values the learning process. Mr. Burgess suggests "starting a fire of passion and not worrying if it's not a controlled burn!" We need educators who bring the possibilities of the learning process to life.

Reaction and Reflection

Before the teaching internship program started, I have attended an orientation on what will happen while being deployed. I was able to know what requirements should be prepared before and after the teaching experience and one of which is to read a professional work. I had a thought that professional readings may be used to think of our experiences, reflect on it and adopt the changes that it offer. However, I made an extra effort reading professional narratives along with my internship journey for I thought that this may not just be the source of reflection, but may offer things essential to the teaching practice, and I didn’t failed.

I’ve read multiple readings that speaks about the teaching profession and among these readings, I was really captivated with this work of Dave Burgess, Teach Like A Pirate. At first, I had thoughts with the title of the book because it has the word “pirate”. There I started asking myself with the following questions: (1) Why teach like a pirate? (2) What are with the pirates that teaching should be done their way? (3) What makes me a teacher teaching like a pirate?

These questions pushed me to spend time comprehending the narrative, and it wasn’t a waste of time for I’ve realized a lot of things about myself which could best help me become an effective teacher someday.

As a teacher in the making, I was sure that before I entered my teaching internship, I was well prepared. Of course, I was too pressured on how I could bring out the best in me because it isn’t just for me to gain experience, but for me to prove that the institution where I came from, molds and shapes learners to the best they can to become productive nation builders. However, these preparations came out to be lacking and never matched with what the real setting actually requires.

As quoted in this reading, Burgess gave emphasis to the qualifications which aren’t written in the curriculum vitae. The real world looks for what is felt rather than what is seen. From this point of view, I figured out that it was actually the very reason why I was given the opportunity to have a teaching internship, because only through experience I could figure out everything.

I didn’t failed finding the truth about teaching for the moment I read Burgess work, I discovered the essential set of traits that must be practiced in order to become a better teacher. With Burgess stating, “It is far more powerful to “swim” with your students, they need the benefit of your complete immersion,” I accepted the fact that the amount of passion, enthusiasm, engagement I exert is not enough, that a growth-mindset is still questionable, that incorporation of life-changing lessons are actually left undone.

Thus, I was motivated to make a change. I got the determination to strive harder, to become more serious in my approach as a teacher for my students, as a friend to my colleagues, as a safeguard of knowledge and development.

Above all, for someone who made a teaching philosophy about the importance of role structuring, this reading served as a foundation towards the practice. For like pirates, they are unpredictable, but despite having no certainty with what they are doing, they are committed to their true intentions, so do I for myself, determined to make me a better pirate from being practice teacher – to gain experience, to find the truth, to change for the better, to become a true teacher.