Dave Burgess Quotes

I'll always choose a teacher with enthusiasm and weak technique over one with brilliant strategies but who is just punching the clock. Why? An enthusiastic teacher can learn technique, but it is almost impossible to light a fire inside the charred heart of a burned-out teacher.

When you interact with someone who is fully engaged and filled with passion, it can be an overwhelming and unforgettable experience. There is no faking it…you can’t “Meg Ryan” that type of passion!

If you haven’t failed in the classroom lately, you aren’t pushing the envelope far enough. “Safe” lessons are a recipe for mediocrity at best.

It’s not supposed to be easy—it’s supposed to be worth it.

teaching is no longer about relaying the content standard…it’s about transforming lives.

Yeah, God forbid that we incorporate artistic elements and creativity into a class outside of the art department. Next thing you know, kids might start enjoying school and become well-rounded individuals.

Building rapport is all about interacting with your students as fellow human beings, not just as subordinates.

If you can't explain why someone should pay attention to what you're saying, maybe you shouldn't be saying it.

At some point in your career you have to decide if you care more about teaching to tests or teaching kids. My decision was made a long time ago. I teach kids.

Education shouldn’t be about raising statistics. It should be about raising and fulfilling human potential. Focusing on the stats leads to a lost perspective of what is truly important—the game.

Why have so many schools reduced the time and emphasis they place on art, music, and physical education? The answer is beyond simple: those areas aren’t measured on the all-important tests. You know where those areas are measured… in life! Art, music, and a healthy lifestyle help us develop a richer, deeper, and more balanced perspective. Never before have we needed more of an emphasis on the development of creativity, but schools have gone the exact opposite direction in an effort to make the best test-taking automatons possible. Our economy no longer rewards people for blindly following rules and becoming a cog in the machine. We need risk-takers, outside-the-box thinkers, and entrepreneurs; our school systems do the next generation a great disservice by discouraging these very skills and attitudes. Instead of helping and encouraging them to find and develop their unique strengths, they're told to shut up, put the cell phones away, memorize these facts and fill in the bubbles.

Education shouldn’t be about raising statistics. It should be about raising and fulfilling human potential.

I can walk by the open door of a classroom and tell you after a couple of minutes whether the teacher is a lifeguard or a swimmer.

Light yourself on fire with enthusiasm and people will come from miles around just to watch you burn!

Pirates are daring, adventurous, and willing to set forth into uncharted territories with no guarantee of success. They reject the status quo and refuse to conform to any society that stifles creativity and independence. They are entrepreneurs who take risks and are willing to travel to the ends of the earth for that which they value.

The exact same principle holds true when we turn school into a twisted version of fantasy sports and over-emphasize standardized testing. An intense focus on test scores can lead to a shallow and narrow view of what is important.

Professional passion is an absolute treasure chest filled with everything we need to steadfastly refuse to enter the classroom with anything less than a burning hot passion for the awesome job and responsibility that lies before us.

George Bernard Shaw said in Man and Superman: “This is the true joy in life: the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I'm selling education... a life-altering product that can transform the human spirit and literally change the world one student at a time.

Sure it would be nice for society at large to put the proper value on what we do, but notoriety isn’t necessary for greatness or fulfillment.

It is your individuality and uniqueness that will always lead you to become the most effective teacher you can be.

Why have so many schools reduced the time and emphasis they place on art, music, and physical education? The answer is beyond simple: those areas aren’t measured on the all-important tests.

When you have a high enough calling, it is much easier to commit yourself to doing whatever it takes to accomplish your life’s purpose. You have to decide if what you’re doing is worth your complete effort and full attention. If it is, don’t let anything stop you. The word “decide” has an interesting etymology. It means, literally, to cut off. When you truly decide, truly commit, you are cutting off all other options. Making a decision about your life’s purpose isn’t something to be done

Why have so many schools reduced the time and emphasis they place on art, music, and physical education? The answer is beyond simple: those areas aren’t measured on the all-important tests. You know where those areas are measured… in life! Art, music, and a healthy lifestyle help us develop a richer, deeper, and more balanced perspective.

Students wil do amazing things if you can design a class and environment that is positive and empowering. Rising up to and overcoming challenges, building lifetime relationships, and forging positive connections to school won't directly result in better test scores. It will result in better people. Isn't that what we're really trying to accomplish?

Pirates are daring, adventurous, and willing to set forth into uncharted territories with no guarantee of success. They reject the status quo and refuse to conform to any society that stifles creativity and independence. They

As a basketball coach, I love to watch the player who rotates to provide defensive help, sets the proper angled screen to free up the three-point shooter, and blocks out the other team’s leading rebounder. Unfortunately, the majority of fans watching the game (and everybody reading the box score in the paper) miss these crucial elements in the win. Statistics just can’t properly measure the impact a player has on the game.

By lighting yourself on fire with enthusiasm, you can become a beacon of bliss amidst a bastion of boredom and banality. Your attitude carries with it your single most powerful tool to influence your classroom. Carlos Santana said, “There is nothing more contagious on this planet than enthusiasm. The songs become incidental, what people receive is your joy.” As a teacher, I would tweak this to the lessons become incidental, what people receive is your joy.

Light yourself on fire with passion…and don’t worry if it’s not a controlled burn.

Why should our students bother to learn what we are teaching? Why should they bother to give us their attention and active engagement in the first place?

At some point in your career you have to decide if you care more about teaching to tests or teaching kids.

Here is the secret: We are not passionate about everything we teach. It’s OK! Let the freedom wash over you. Now that the secret’s out in the open, let’s talk about it.

Creativity is not the possession of some special class of artistic individuals, but is rather something that can be nurtured and developed in all of us—including your students!

Much of your success as an educator has to do with your attitude towards teaching and towards kids. The rest of your success is based on your willingness to relentlessly search for what engages students in the classroom and then having the guts to do it.

Creative genius is something people tend to romanticize, but the reality is not very romantic at all. Like any skill it takes practice and effort.

When you have a high enough calling, it is much easier to commit yourself to doing whatever it takes to accomplish your life’s purpose.

Ultimately, we don’t want to develop techniques to win behavior management battles, we want to develop techniques that allow us to avoid the battles altogether.

Resist any movement that attempts to clone teachers and lessons and instead rejoice in the fact that it is your individuality and uniqueness that will always lead you to become the most effective teacher that you can be.

Pirates are daring, adventurous, and willing to set forth into uncharted territories with no guarantee of success.

I get some odd looks. But that's OK. I'm a teacher. Getting odd looks is part of the job.

Passion is like an intoxicating drug but without the dangers and side effects.

Capturing your thoughts validates their worth, an act that sends the subtle but powerful message to your subconscious that the effort spent on idea generations won't be squandered.

Making a decision about your life's purpose isn't something to be done lightly

Don't fall into the trap of thinking time spent developing yourself into a well-rounded person, above and beyond your role as an educator, is wasted or something to feel guilty about.

They have been made to believe their unique gifts and talents are not valued by the educational system because they are not reflected in test scores.

Cultivate new hobbies and watch new areas of your brain explode into creative output.

I can think of no higher purpose or calling than teacher.

Teaching is a poker game that must be played "all in.

Don't hang around negative people; they will sap your super powers as sure as kryptonite.

We are in a service profession, and there is nothing egotistical or selfish about wanting to provide world-class service to our clients.

Standing out from the crowd is the only way to guarantee your message is received in a culture that is increasingly distracted and where attention spans are plummeting.

The technological revolution is not going to go away. Students are used to the ability to connect to each other and have access to information at all times. We can either fight against this irrepressible force, or we can choose to use it.

...I would much rather my kids leave my class with the strength of character and courage to fight racism when they find it, than have memorized some facts about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I’m not saying you can’t have both, I’m just pointing out that only one of those things will be measured on the test — and it isn’t the most important one.

Among the general public, there is a misconception that education is completely broken and teaching has become a lost art. They harken back to some nonexistent perfect time when “things were different.” Those who hold to this opinion are wrong!

Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

Education can be used to uplift and inspire or it can be used as a hammer to bludgeon and beat down.