This is a quick follow-up to my last blog about Teach Like a PIRATE Day at Utica Junior High School in Ohio. A number of people have emailed me to ask how it went and several have expressed an interest in conducting a similar day at their own school.

When you are willing to step out on the edge and try something innovative and risky, you also have to be willing to deal with the consequences of failure. The other side of that same coin, however, is that you might experience a brush with greatness. In this case, it was the latter!! The first ever Teach Like a PIRATE Day was a smashing success!

I send my sincerest congratulations to Ryan McLane and his whole staff for not only embracing the challenge, but also rising up to meet it.

Ryan referred to it as his most rewarding day in 14 years as an educator. He also described the scene on campus as resembling Disneyland, with kids rushing about in between periods to get to their next “ride.” One student even made the suggestion of incorporating a Fast Pass next time because there were huge lines at some classes with kids desperate to get in.

You can read Ryan’s thoughts and reflections on the day (pictures included) on his blog.

Here are his .

Here are some , including his rules for the day.

Here are some from the classrooms of amazing experiences that teachers provided for students.

The day has also received some media attention. There is a great lesson in this: We don’t do a good enough job of promoting what amazing educators and students are doing in our schools. We can’t allow the naysayers to tell our stories. If we don’t get the word out and promote the positive, life transformative work that is taking place on our campuses, that void will be filled by our enemies and those with an agenda counter-productive to our mission. I applaud Ryan and his staff for getting the word out and welcoming reporters in to see and record the experience.

Here are the articles:

Utica Junior High School teachers use pirate lessons to experiment

Teachers embracing PIRATE concept

Pirate Day a huge hit at Utica Junior High

If you would like to learn more about the Teach Like a PIRATE Day concept, I personally invite you to join us in our #tlap chat on Twitter this week (Monday, 6/3) at 8:00 CST. We have invited Ryan to be our guest moderator and I know he is also going to have some of his teachers participate.

As I mentioned in my last blog, the most important takeaway is this:

Inspiration without implementation is a waste.

 What are you going to implement in your class or on your campus? Help us make school an amazing place where kids leave with a true love of learning!!