Walking into the Glacier High School auditorium in front of 253 educators dressed like a pirate — wearing a skull cap bandanna and one big, gold-hooped earring — was not unusual for Dave Burgess.

Dressing up is one of the tactics Burgess, a San Diego high school U.S. history teacher, uses to turn students on to learning.

His attire often changes with the history lessons he teaches at West Hills High School. For Burgess, teaching is about creating unforgettable experiences that “hook” students to learning.

This was the message Burgess wanted to model for the Flathead Valley educators. Burgess is the author of “Teach Like a PIRATE — Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator,” and a self-described semi-professional magician specializing in stand-up comedy.

The night of pirate-derived inspiration was part of the fifth annual Teacher Appreciation event organized by Eliza Sorte-Thomas, director of the Northwest Montana Educational Cooperative.

The night was also a time for educators to get together, have fun and be celebrated for the work they do, Sorte-Thomas said.

Burgess shared the different hooks teachers could use to design lesson plans in creative and engaging ways in the classroom that he modeled through his own presentation by incorporating showmanship, passion, a high level of energy, a little bit of magic and a lot of laughter.

He described teaching as not just textbooks and tests, but creating experiences and setting the stage for learning.

Burgess talked about how he used different history topics to transform the classroom into an experience — staging a trail outside with different scenes for students to discover to teach westward expansion and the Trail of Tears or setting up a bar where students could order drinks as the start of a lesson on prohibition and speakeasies.

During part of the presentation, Burgess plopped a pink-striped Victoria’s Secret bag on a table. He then pulled out a bra with two burned holes to demonstrate how he used props to get students engaged and asking questions about the feminist movement in the 1960s.

“So yes, it’s about making education fun for kids. How can you make it memorable?” Burgess said. “I make it hard to not want to come to my class.”

He said teaching is not about designing lesson plans that are bearable, “like some bitter pill that must be swallowed to achieve some ambiguous future,” but instead are transformational.

“If they didn’t have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty room?” Burgess told teachers to ask themselves.

And to the teachers who say, “I’m not creative,” Burgess answered that creativity is open to everyone who invests the time and energy.

Evergreen Junior High School teacher Pam Doty attended the Teacher Appreciation night with her daughter Paxton, who is studying at Flathead Valley Community College to become a teacher.

After participating in a book study of “Teach like a PIRATE,” Pam Doty was inspired to re-imagine a history lesson on Lewis and Clark in the style of “Teach like a PIRATE.” She set up an “expedition” outside the school for students to take and learn about Lewis and Clark along the way.

Paxton Doty said she thought Burgess’ presentation was inspiring.

“There were so many ideas. I’m so excited to take them into the classroom. I want to be teaching right now,” Paxton Doty said.

Prior to Burgess’ presentation, educators were given awards for their work this year.

Six teachers were honored with the Extra Mile Educator award for going above and beyond this year.

Extra Mile educators are Vickie Buck, first-grade teacher at Russell School; Wendy Davis, middle school teacher at Marion School; Jennifer Doss, sixth-grade teacher at Evergreen Junior High; Stephanie Hill, French teacher at Glacier High School; Carrie Power, reading intervention teacher at Glacier; and Anne Marie Zorn, third-grade teacher at East Evergreen Elementary.

Marion Principal Cherie Stobie was given an award for her administrative work this year.

Michaun Archer, third- and fourth-grade teacher at Olney-Bissell School, was named Indian Education for All Ambassador by her colleagues.

The “Couldn’t Do It without You” award for support personnel was given to Jennifer Homan-Johnson of East Evergreen Elementary.

Cayuse Prairie school board trustee Kevin Fox was recognized for his efforts with a “Got Your Back” award.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.