It is a Thursday, in the summer, and my gallbladder is dying. It isn’t even a good death. It isn’t fighting, giving me moments of calm. Instead, it has found my body inhabitable and rather gut it out, it’s giving up. The only thing that is getting me out of bed is Kelly Gallagher. He is the keynote speaker at the 2019 North Dakota Council of Teachers of English this year, and I have missed my last two opportunities to see him, so gallbladder or not, I’m going.
Maybe because I am in the throes of infection and gallbladder bacteria is swimming through my veins
(perhaps even to my brain), I feel oddly connected to Gallagher’s mission. Like my gallbladder, kids
are quitting. They are getting accepted to college but dropping out. They send their thoughts via static
facial expressions in snapped photos across vast internet networks to hosts of “friends” but avoid
face-to-face communications, snuffing out empathy. They read what they are forced to, what they can’t
google, what is enough to answer reading guides but skip everything else.
(perhaps even to my brain), I feel oddly connected to Gallagher’s mission. Like my gallbladder, kids
are quitting. They are getting accepted to college but dropping out. They send their thoughts via static
facial expressions in snapped photos across vast internet networks to hosts of “friends” but avoid
face-to-face communications, snuffing out empathy. They read what they are forced to, what they can’t
google, what is enough to answer reading guides but skip everything else.
So, is it all lost? Gallagher might say a major operation is needed. But, not on kids. On teaching,
specifically on how we teach reading and writing. If we want kids to be successful, we need to give
them more freedom while demanding more: more words written, more words read, more opportunities
for more.
specifically on how we teach reading and writing. If we want kids to be successful, we need to give
them more freedom while demanding more: more words written, more words read, more opportunities
for more.
And less helicoptering.
We’ve all heard the term “helicopter parent”. Most of us can identify these parents by the emails they
send before school starts. Gallagher extends this term to teachers. He states that when we become
“helicopter teachers” (teachers who control all of the reading and writing in the classroom), we take
away the rigor students need to push beyond formulas. If we want students to think deeply about
literature or writing, that thinking needs to come from them. It’s the difference between answering
a question that is guided compared to one that is open. As an example, Gallagher put an infograph
(“10 Companies Control the Food Industry”) on the screen and asked us to look at these two
questions:“What are the three biggest companies in this chart?” and “What argument is this chart
making?”
send before school starts. Gallagher extends this term to teachers. He states that when we become
“helicopter teachers” (teachers who control all of the reading and writing in the classroom), we take
away the rigor students need to push beyond formulas. If we want students to think deeply about
literature or writing, that thinking needs to come from them. It’s the difference between answering
a question that is guided compared to one that is open. As an example, Gallagher put an infograph
(“10 Companies Control the Food Industry”) on the screen and asked us to look at these two
questions:“What are the three biggest companies in this chart?” and “What argument is this chart
making?”
If the teacher is doing the hard work of figuring out what part of a reading is important, which places
to ask the questions, where to direct the focus, how to revise the writing, how to put paragraphs
together, then what work do students do? It is a question worth asking, and one each of us needs
to answer.
to ask the questions, where to direct the focus, how to revise the writing, how to put paragraphs
together, then what work do students do? It is a question worth asking, and one each of us needs
to answer.
Maybe my gallbladder won’t make it. The antibiotics I’m taking won’t squash the infection and it will
die, threatening to take me down with it until it is cut out of my body and discarded. My DNA or eating
habits or environment will successfully kill it. It’s okay. I can live without it.
die, threatening to take me down with it until it is cut out of my body and discarded. My DNA or eating
habits or environment will successfully kill it. It’s okay. I can live without it.
But, I can’t live with my teaching or lessons or control issues killing my students’ futures. Stomping out
their college graduation, cutting off their literary lives, silencing their voices. Gallagher reminds us that
the best teachers in the world try to get 5% better each year. 5%!
their college graduation, cutting off their literary lives, silencing their voices. Gallagher reminds us that
the best teachers in the world try to get 5% better each year. 5%!
Work more. Let go. Embrace confusion. Build stamina. Push forward.
Continue the fight.
You rightfully show the importance of listening to one of our nation's great teachers speak, and I so enjoyed reading your style of writing. There is always that smiling hint within your lines.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the title "Gallblader and Gallagher" is brilliant.