CHAPTER 4 - "Ringing CHIMES"

In the book They Snooze You Lose, by Lynell Burmark, Chapter 4 motivates educators to be efficient and effective with their presentations. She says that in order to be effective we need to accomplish two things; get the student’s attention and make the presentation stick. Since it is impossible to cover all the state standards we should teach only the important ones. I like the quote her dental hygienist would say: “You don’t have to floss all your teeth. Just the ones you want to keep.” This says it all, we as teachers need to teach the most important standards otherwise according to Robert Marzano, we would have to go to school K-22. In other words kids will only retain the most important information that will help them later with real life experiences. I learned that as teachers we need to be efficient in how fast we can teach a lesson, not forgetting to be effective to help students retain information by making the class enjoyable.
Dr. Burmark shares one of her experiences where she was dressed as a Barbie with pink hair and sunglasses. She did get the audience’s attention and it helped her to demonstrate that presenters needed to attract but not distract. She says presenters must get audience’s attention and keep their attention long enough to make the presentation stick.
I really enjoyed activity 4.5 where she assigns to watch the video on YouTube “Britain’s Got Talent,” 2009. It is about singer Susan Boyle where she first performed in the show. It is very emotional, but sad to see how people prejudge other people’s physical and underestimate their potential. Susan gave us a lesson in not giving up, even when the audience laughs at our faces when they don’t believe a bit in our talent or potential. At the end she got her reward. It was Susan the one laughing of joy. With this activity Dr. Burmark encourages us to change our way in delivering a lesson. Our lessons and presentations need to stick like a Velcro; we need to hit our chimes even if we think it’s too late to change. She gives the advice to smile as we prepare and deliver our presentation because true joy is contagious. This week I followed her advice in smiling during my presentations and I can say students seem to be more enthusiastic. It’s time for me to start ringing my chimes!


Burmark, L. (2011). They snooze you lose: The educator’s guide to successful presentations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.