RRVWP: Landing the Helicopter: Kelly Gallagher and MCTE

By Angela Hase, RRVWP co-director and Moorhead Public Schools Teacher

It has been two years since I’ve attended a conference in person. I am at the Minnesota Council of Teachers of English, sitting at a table with nine (NINE!) other people, and I realize that I don’t know how not to take up space anymore. It feels awkwardly tight. Like I can feel all of the muscles in my upper arms tensing together to keep my elbows by my sides.

But, it is Kelly Gallagher, and he is sitting at the table in the front of the room, mask on, preparing for his presentation. He is here to talk about his new book 4 Essential Studies: Beliefs and Practices to Reclaim Student Agency that he co-authored with Penny Kittle.

And, honestly, I am ready. I am ready for new ideas, to be inspired, to be professionally developed.

Gallagher starts by telling us that “kids are not making enough decisions” and that they are relying on teachers to do the heavy work. He poses the question, “Who is doing the thinking?” It is a question that I have been thinking about lately. How much of the thinking in my classroom is done by me?

It is a question we all need to grapple with.

Writing

First, we need to acknowledge that real-world writing does not match classroom writing. Rarely do real-world essays follow a five-paragraph essay, start with a thesis, or allow for students to struggle through the messy part of the organization. Gallagher says that this disconnect between classroom writing and real-world writing happens right away when students move from high school to college. He displayed a college writing prompt that his colleague Penny Kittle has her students write to at Plymouth State University. Here it is:

Could your students do it? Would they know how to pick a topic? What structure would they use to create the essay? Would they know how to pick ideas to respond to from the readings discussed in class?

It is this thinking Gallagher is advocating for. What is removed from learning when the teacher decides the idea, names the elements to discuss, decides how many readings to respond to and what the order of the response should be? It might seem like adding those into a prompt helps students understand what to write. But, really, doesn’t it just take all of the agency away from the student?

I am not immune to this. I know I am guilty of giving a prompt much like this one:

Analyze how a main character from The Crucible changes over the course of a text. Tell how the character was at the beginning of the play, the middle of the play, and the end of the play. Make sure to discuss the important events that created change in the character.

In this type of prompt, the teacher has decided what part of the play to focus on. The teacher has decided that there will be three parts to this essay: beginning, middle, and end. The teacher has decided what is needed in the essay to prove the opinion. There is very little left for students.

If we want students to be able to answer the type of questions asked in college, then we have to let go. We have to stop being “helicopter” teachers. In an article on ASCD, Gallagher and Kittle state that “when students haven't been required to wrestle with difficult writing decisions—and when much of that decision making has been done by the teacher—they lose their sense of agency and their confidence as writers.”

So where can we start?

Volume

More volume. Gallagher says that kids need to write more than teachers can grade, more than they can even read. They need exposure to low-stakes writing so they can experiment, practice, and learn how to write. This routine practice and exposure build the confidence students will need when given an open-ended writing question.

Mentor Texts

Next, analyze writing. Use mentor texts to identify the organization and structure. To ensure students have seen different ways essays can be created, make sure to use a variety of structures. During the analysis process, here are some things that can be done:

Notice the author’s craft. What moves does each make in creating their text?
Look at the text in the “drone” view. Identify and label the different chunks of a text. Identify where the text pivots or changes purpose. This way students can see an overview of how texts are put together. It will give them ideas and options for their own writing.
Notice the transitions authors use to move from one chunk to another.
Compare several texts to find patterns. These patterns become elements of the specific text structure and can be written on an anchor chart to remind students of what they can put in a specific text.
Evaluate and rank different essays. Allow students to discuss the different elements of texts and the different moves authors make. Have them pick the best one and defend their choice. This purposeful discourse will deepen students’ understanding of how to create quality texts.

Throughout this analysis, create and continuously add to an anchor chart, so students have a visible reminder of what the text structure should include and what needs to be in it to be of quality.

Reading

After lunch, Gallagher asked us to think about rigor. The curriculum might have difficult texts in them (like Hamlet) but if students are not actually doing the reading, then there is no rigor. He makes the point that it does not matter if the teacher likes the book, has taught it for many years, and has all of the assignments put together. If the students are not reading the book, then the book does not serve its
purpose.

This is a hard realization.

Book Clubs

To help students, especially reluctant readers, actually read, Gallagher suggests starting with book clubs. Book clubs are less formal and allow for more choice than whole-class novels. He states that his book clubs have the following goals:

Increase joy, interest, and volume
Increase complexity
Develop an allegiance to authors and genres
Expand an understanding of race, class, and the world

He ties the reading selections to a question, a theme, or an author. Or, he might use a whole-class novel as a core reading and then move into book clubs that extend on the theme of the core reading.

For example, he has done a book club on the theme of social justice. Here, students picked from selections like All American Boys, American Street, and Refugee. Recently, he did an author study book club on Matt de la Pena. Students read through several selections by this author and analyzed the author’s craft, repeating themes, and characterization.

Less Teacher-Directed Instruction, More Discussion

Often, this type of unit includes lessons that test if the book was read. They include chapter questions, giving a regimented reading schedule for each chapter, having students analyze teacher-chosen passages.

Gallagher pushes back on this, though. Instead, he advocates for less chapter analysis and more big chunk check-ins, like a check-in after the first five chapters instead of chapter by chapter. He also gives students open-ended questions:

What is worth talking about?
What big ideas are emerging?
How was this experience of reading and listening to others changed your thinking?

To move away from chapter questions, try creating a two-page spread where students demonstrate that they have been thinking about what they are reading or generate a list of beautiful words or take note of the most interesting things that have been written and said in the part of the text they are reading.

This freedom allows students to decide what is important without teacher intervention. It gives students agency. When students have a choice over what they find important and worthy of learning, it will increase engagement and participation.

It can be difficult for teachers to give up so much control. In a way, our classrooms work because of our ability to control the small details. But, we need to allow students to do more thinking, to carry more.

Because they are strong enough.