Isn't he dreamy?! He can spot a sentence fragment faster than a locomotive. He can leap split infinitives in a single bound. He is my writing Superman!
So, how does my unhealthy obsession with this man relate to the blog topic this week? I am glad you asked! I was first introduced to this bespectacled god's work during my first semester as an English Education student at USU, which happened to coincide with my daughter's first semester in her freshman Honors English class at THS. At the same time that I was learning about "Golden Lines," real world writing, and writing improvement through feedback (here's a link to see what makes Gallagher so great, if you want to share my man crush http://youtu.be/Km1dQjVNu00), my daughter was writing endless essays to a seemingly unpleasable--yes, I did just make up a word-- teacher. My daughter and I would sit at the computer agonizing over essays (her final essay was a 15-page analysis) until the tears flowed, mine and hers. After spending hours writing and rewriting, she would get her paper back with red slashes and "weak thesis" or "proof?" written in the margins and a grade, that in no way reflected the time and energy spent, circled at the top of the page. There was no rubric, no praise, no suggestions to help my daughter. There were NONE of the great ideas and techniques that Gallagher suggests. There was nothing but criticism that crushed my daughter and made her doubt herself as a writer.
I decided two things very quickly during my daughter's freshman year. First, I disliked her teacher very much! Second, I vowed to never be the type of teacher that left students feeling like they have nothing of value to share. Students are going to grow into adults who will have many opportunities and responsibilities to write. They need to be given not only the tools to be good writers, but also the confidence to be good writers. I have had a professor in college who is the best at making me feel good about my writing. He does this through specific and thought-provoking feedback that shows me he is really reading my papers and thinking about how I can improve them. His feedback never makes me feel like I have missed my mark...it just makes me see that I can get a little closer to my mark with a few tweaks. This is the way to effectively teach writing. Take the students where they are and help them improve. I am not saying that every student will be a Pulitzer Prize-winning author by the end of the year, but I am saying every student can be better than they were at the beginning of the year with a little effort and a lot of Gallagher.
I loved your introduction! It had me laughing, especially the part about proofreading essays haha. So awesome! But I agree with you about not wanting to be the teacher that leaves their students feeling like what they share doesn't have value. It's so important to have a classroom that encourages students, and makes them feel like their work is important. I also hope to be able to provide my students with thought-provoking feedback. It gives students the chance to see in what ways they can improve without devaluing their work.
ReplyDeleteI loved your introduction! It had me laughing, especially the part about proofreading essays haha. So awesome! But I agree with you about not wanting to be the teacher that leaves their students feeling like what they share doesn't have value. It's so important to have a classroom that encourages students, and makes them feel like their work is important. I also hope to be able to provide my students with thought-provoking feedback. It gives students the chance to see in what ways they can improve without devaluing their work.
ReplyDeleteWow...what an amazing hook to this blog. I honestly thought, "Uh oh! What is going on here," until I saw the picture of Kelly Gallagher. It sounds like principles from the Gallagher book and the PowerPoint are similar in many ways...for instance, through providing clear expectations in advance and clear, actionable feedback that gives students specific pointers regarding how they can improve. (And hopefully, give them chances to improve based on that feedback.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your posting. Sorry for the pain that you and your daughter endured!
Brilliant post, Mrs. T. I enjoyed your introduction, and I too love Kelly Gallagher. I may not have a crush on him, but I do look up him as an educator. His videos inspire me to be an awesome teacher. Feed back is a necessary tool to improve anyone's writing. There is nothing worse than receiving a grade on an assignment and not knowing why.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, I am going to try to emulate many of Kelly Gallagher's techniques, especially pointing out student's "Golden Lines." Students need to know what they do well, just as much as they need to know what they should improve on.