In true Pirate style, Day 2 is supposed to keep student's attention and cultivate the behaviors of an exciting, nurturing and relevant classroom. Dave Burgess starts out acting out scenes similar to what I created in the video clips above. I am not as comfortable as he is with the stage. While I know I need to push myself to let my guard down more, I also realize I don't need to be a parrot of Teach Like a Pirate, more of a cultivator of its intentions.
Day 2 begins with the video presentation followed by the Survivor Island Scenario. Students are assigned to groups and then discuss who will be rescued and who will be allowed to be saved. I also tried playing the song "Should I Stay or Should I Go Now," as they began their examination. The students ponder the situation, discuss, and then work to create a collaborative group decision that they can justify. This activity provided a lot of great teaching moments. First we discuss the idea of consensus. It was important that all students agreed, which also meant that they had the expectation of all sharing and being heard. I made a group leader who was responsible to ensure all were actively engaged. Students were give 15 minutes to discuss then we listed their results for who would be rescued and who would be saved. This actually took us to the end of the hour for Day 2, so our discussion of the results was carried over to Day 3. What an amazing day this was. Not only did it provide opportunities to again reinforce expectations for group work, but it also helped students understand what I mean by justifying or supporting your ideas. I emphasized that there would be no right or wrong answer, but they would be evaluated on their rationale. Having never done an introductory task with so many possible answers, I was nervous about what I would hear from students. What did help is that during the discussion process I did make it around to groups and listen to their discussions and ask questions, or even play devil's advocate at times to spark extension of conversations. The whole class sharing was enlightening. Students had so many different approaches to how to solve the task. Some looked primarily at who should be saved and the others were left to fend for themselves, others focused on making sure those on the island would have the best chance of survival, and finally, some tried to make it possible for all to survive balancing at times those they thought should be rescued with the skills they could provide to those stranded on the island. The analysis of how they went about tackling this task became a topic for discussion that I used to further the idea of how critical thinking varies for every student. There isn't a right approach, or one right answer. Another area that led to some very cool discussions was what to do with the murderer. I learned so much about how people perceive the idea of a murderer. Most students saw this person as a male and someone who was prone to violence. They viewed him as a threat to those left on the island and many sent him home to save those on the island. Others still viewing him as a threat, or a bad person, left him on the island because they had a hard time giving him the seat of someone they felt more deserving. In the end we discussed their views or perceptions and had a very cool conversation that I think opened the door for future dialogue about perspective. This activity is another piece of the framework I am hoping will fit together to show my students that my classroom is different, this year is different, and I, as their guide, am unique.
John Davis
8/13/2014 06:39:46 am
I am looking to TLAP my class this year and have been excited about day 2. Great job on the video! Thanks for sharing and your post helps me more than the video.
Ben Brazeau
8/16/2014 02:44:36 am
Glad you enjoyed the post. Anything I can do to help with your TLAP mission please let me know.
Jeremy
8/11/2015 11:39:51 am
Where would I get a list of the 10 survivors? I would love to do this activity in my class.
Jeremy
8/11/2015 11:53:53 am
Never mind. I found it.
Darci
9/7/2015 04:57:59 pm
I am having no luck finding the list of survivors. Please share
Brenda
9/30/2015 03:52:08 am
Thank you for sharing the list of characters!!!
Ashli Schwartz
7/1/2016 06:40:07 am
Thank you so much for posting the list. I just read Dave's book and wanted to try this activity and didn't know where to start creating the list. Awesome!
Katie
8/2/2016 07:30:58 pm
Do any of the students have an ethical dilemma deciding the fate of people? Do they take it to heart that they might be leaving people to die on the island?
Ben
8/3/2016 05:48:20 pm
I find many try to save both those they send home and those they leave behind. Each time I do this I see a variety of approaches and many do look at the task with moral issues. It is an amazing activity to experience.
Randy
9/5/2020 08:06:33 am
I wonder at which grade level this would be appropriate. First the video even though it doesn't show the blood and gore that would happen being sucked out of a crashing plane, it doesn't seem appropriate for a 6th grade class. I appreciate that most people try to basically save both groups by leaving behind a diverse group that has the best chance of survival. However it seems that there is also a chance that we are teaching children how to place value on life and placing them in a role of who lives and who dies.
Pam
8/24/2016 04:51:25 pm
Thanks for the great video. It worked really well!
Erica
9/6/2016 07:33:29 am
Thank you so much for creating the list. I read TLAP this summer and I'm excited to use the approach. I loved the introductory lesson but wasn't sure where to start with creating the characters. You're list is so detailed and well thought out that I find I'd be debating these characters for some time to decide who should go on the plane first. Thank you again! I look forward to reading more of your blog entries :)
Zac Eash
8/2/2017 09:50:37 am
Just started TLAP today and could only put it down to plan out a couple of days of school. This was a huge help. I was thinking of scenes to edit together and how I would come up with characters. You saved me so much time that I can now put forward into other learning experiences for my students. Thank you!
Ben
8/2/2017 01:16:08 pm
Glad you found it helpful. I created different lists for each class as I did this for all of my classes the first year I did this. It is interesting to hear how students think. It reminds me of the real magic of activities like this is listening to student's thinking and reflection. So much of learning is about the process and not the answer, yet we focus too often on the answer or destination and forget the journey. Let me know how things go.
Mary
8/14/2017 06:18:08 pm
Great activity for decision making, but I would never show my 6th graders the video. That is too disturbing.
Joy
8/10/2018 01:16:50 pm
My Teach Like a Pirate was delivered yesterday and our students come next week. All the resources you have provided are a God send. Especially, the list of survivors. Thank you so much. Pray for me, first timer next week.
Ben
8/10/2018 01:34:44 pm
Joy good luck .I am sure your kids will love the first days and all of them if you are embracing TLAP. I wrote this post years ago, just wondering how you came across it. Thanks for the feedback and have a great year!
Heather Brothers
8/15/2018 07:10:29 pm
The video is awesome. Thank you so much for sharing!
Sue
5/7/2019 02:25:55 pm
I would be interested in seeing a video of the "debriefing" part following the demonstration and the intitial independent list made by students. How do you facilitate creating a master list for an entire class? I start with small groups and then bring those 4-5 groups of 4 together. Thanks Comments are closed.
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