(Page 92) "Hamlet isn’t the problem; the problem lies in how the work is taught.”
(Page 94) “I am a teacher, not an assigner, and my students need me most while they are reading.”
May I go back to high school and have Kelly Gallagher for my English teacher? For all four years? I have seen him present before, so I know he’s good at delivery. (I have seen a professional education author before who was horrible at presenting…she even made the comment that it was the norm to lose half the audience after lunch. Huh?!? That doesn’t happen if you’re good at what you’re doing.) If I had Mr. Gallagher as my English I, II, III, and IV teacher, I think there is a strong possibility that I may actually like the “classics.” I don’t think I’d necessarily become a classic literature a fan on Facebook, but I probably wouldn’t abhor most of it quite so much and would be able to get something from it.
I realize the two quotes I selected pretty much reiterate what I wrote in the final paragraph of my last post, but I suppose that’s because I think how the teacher approaches material is so important. When asked, can we even explain why we teach the particular texts or issues we choose? (I’m talking about things that we aren’t required to teach—the material that we select.) I recently asked a couple of teachers why they were teaching a particular book, asked what they wanted the students to get out of it. One teacher gave me a long answer and the other just basically said, “The same reasons she said.” The second teacher didn’t even try to add an additional thought. I wonder if the second teacher truly agrees with the first or if she didn’t have a clue why she uses the novel. There’s a strong possibility that the second teacher chooses to teach the book because she does think it’s a “good book” and “stuff” is already done for this particular novel—it’s been taught for years so there’s nothing to create for it. It’s so much easier when everything is already done!
The bottom line is good teaching is hard work. Dang hard work. And it takes time. Yes, there are many things that we can use from year to year, but we need to tweak them when necessary. How many times have you done the same lesson multiple times in a day when it went well for one class and bombed for another? We have to make material relevant to students’ lives so it sticks with them. Gallagher made a great point when he said he doesn’t expect every student to enjoy reading the books he uses (page 93), but he does want them to get something out of it. Just because we think a book is good doesn’t mean all of the students will, so we have to have a better reason for teaching something. What is it that we want students to get from it? And how are we going to deliver the lessons so that the students do get something from the material and don’t just “play school” with what we’re teaching?
(Page 94) “I am a teacher, not an assigner, and my students need me most while they are reading.”
May I go back to high school and have Kelly Gallagher for my English teacher? For all four years? I have seen him present before, so I know he’s good at delivery. (I have seen a professional education author before who was horrible at presenting…she even made the comment that it was the norm to lose half the audience after lunch. Huh?!? That doesn’t happen if you’re good at what you’re doing.) If I had Mr. Gallagher as my English I, II, III, and IV teacher, I think there is a strong possibility that I may actually like the “classics.” I don’t think I’d necessarily become a classic literature a fan on Facebook, but I probably wouldn’t abhor most of it quite so much and would be able to get something from it.
I realize the two quotes I selected pretty much reiterate what I wrote in the final paragraph of my last post, but I suppose that’s because I think how the teacher approaches material is so important. When asked, can we even explain why we teach the particular texts or issues we choose? (I’m talking about things that we aren’t required to teach—the material that we select.) I recently asked a couple of teachers why they were teaching a particular book, asked what they wanted the students to get out of it. One teacher gave me a long answer and the other just basically said, “The same reasons she said.” The second teacher didn’t even try to add an additional thought. I wonder if the second teacher truly agrees with the first or if she didn’t have a clue why she uses the novel. There’s a strong possibility that the second teacher chooses to teach the book because she does think it’s a “good book” and “stuff” is already done for this particular novel—it’s been taught for years so there’s nothing to create for it. It’s so much easier when everything is already done!
The bottom line is good teaching is hard work. Dang hard work. And it takes time. Yes, there are many things that we can use from year to year, but we need to tweak them when necessary. How many times have you done the same lesson multiple times in a day when it went well for one class and bombed for another? We have to make material relevant to students’ lives so it sticks with them. Gallagher made a great point when he said he doesn’t expect every student to enjoy reading the books he uses (page 93), but he does want them to get something out of it. Just because we think a book is good doesn’t mean all of the students will, so we have to have a better reason for teaching something. What is it that we want students to get from it? And how are we going to deliver the lessons so that the students do get something from the material and don’t just “play school” with what we’re teaching?
