Follow Gary on Twitter: @AndersonGL
And/Or read his thoughtful blog about teaching and writing: What's Not Wrong
How long
have you been teaching?
This is year 33.
I’ve been at the same school for 26 years.
What
initially drew you to a career in education?
I’ve always respected what education can do to
improve the lives of individuals and the quality of a society. All I’ve ever wanted to do is make positive
contributions toward those ends. As a
student, I had a few very good teachers. From them, I learned important lessons
about how to do this job in ways that makes learning fun, interesting, and
relevant.
What
motivates you as a teacher?
Nothing is better than when students take steps
forward as writers or readers or thinkers, and they know it and are proud of
it. When I can see that I designed an
experience or laid the groundwork for making that happen, I get pretty excited
and look for ways to repeat it or build on it.
At this stage of my career, I’m also motivated by
designing programs and systems that help students, teachers, and schools make
authentic improvements in their approaches to improving literacy. I love helping my students, of course, but I
also enjoy helping other educators help their students.
What has
been your best classroom memory thus far?
I’ve been privileged to witness some moments when
people claim an undiscovered part of their identity or share a life-changing
experience. It’s incredible when
someone says or writes, “This is who I am,” or “This happened to me, and I
learned how to help other people because of it.” Because English teachers deal with expression, communication, and
artful story-telling, these kinds of situations will come our way if we provide
authentic opportunities for students to express themselves. And, no, those moments were not covered on
any test.
Other fun, memorable experiences have involved
directly connecting students with authors.
This has happened countless times through our school’s Writers Week
program, but also in more recent years through students’ book blog posts and
authors’ comments on them.
What do you
want the future of education to look like?
The future of education needs to be highly
individualized. Future (and current)
educators need the ability to help each individual student discover how she or
he can go about solving problems, creating new possibilities, and living a
satisfying life in an era of rapid change.
Technology will play a big role in that.
Students need to become responsible digital
citizens, and teachers need to take the lead in making it happen. Students are becoming more restless as they
find that school is less relevant than what they are learning online. I understand that frustration. (I was a
bored high school kid too.) That
frustration can serve as the basis for a new era in education if we can
transform their restlessness and channel it into curiosity, discovery, and
practical or creative applications.
What makes
you stay in the classroom?
I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I found a school and a community that values
education and educators, and allows me to provide an honest living for my
family. Although my on-site colleagues
and I face more and more challenges each year, especially in this current
educational climate, we do a fine job of preparing students for what comes
next.
In addition, my professional life is immeasurably
enhanced by the online colleagues who I learn from and share with each
day. We all need a professional
community supporting us and helping us serve our students. I’m blessed that my professional community
includes talented, dedicated people from within my building, across our state,
as well as from around the country and the world.
What do the words “use
your outside voice” mean to you?
Classroom
teachers are the lost voice in today’s education debate. We constantly hear from politicians,
policy-makers, bureaucrats, and self-appointed experts. Classroom teachers are the real experts on
what is happening in schools today, and we need to speak up and speak out. Others are framing and defining the debate,
and they’re getting it wrong and spreading misinformation.
So
much positive, important work is going on in classrooms all across America, but
the messages in the media about teachers are mostly negative. I personally know hundreds of teachers, and
that image is flat out wrong. The vast majority of classroom teachers are
noble, honest, dedicated, smart, generous professionals.
The
other half of “using your outside voice” is getting the right people to
listen. We need to do a better job of
claiming and maintaining the attention of decision-makers and the general
public. We can’t just be preaching to
the choir. We can’t just be trees
falling in the forest with no one there to hear the crash. Although talking to and supporting each
other is important, we need to be even more strategic in how we communicate
progressive ideas about reform.
Every
day we need to show our support for one another. Every day we need to counter misinformation with truthful
evidence. Every day we need to do
something positive for our profession.
