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In the Best Interest of Students: Staying True to What Works in the ELA Classroom
What is in the best interest of our students? Is it teaching to the newest standards movement, like the Common Core? Teaching that prepares students to take a test? Or is it something more meaningful and authentic?
In his new book, In the Best Interest of Students, Kelly Gallagher notes that there are real strengths in the Common Core standards, and there are significant weaknesses as well. He takes the long view, reminding us that standards come and go but what remains constant is the need to stay true to what we know works in the teaching of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Instead of blindly adhering to the latest standards movement, Kelly advocates:
· Dialing up the amount of reading and writing students are doing.
· Balancing rigorous, high-quality literature and non-fiction with high-interest, student-selected titles.
· Giving students much more choice when it comes to reading and writing activities.
· Encouraging readers to deepen their comprehension by moving beyond the “four corners of the text.”
· Using modeling to enrich students’ writing skills in the prewriting, drafting, and revision stages.
· Helping young writers to achieve more authenticity through the blending of genres.
· Resisting the de-emphasis of narrative and imaginative reading and writing.
· Providing students with more opportunities to sharpen their listening and speaking skills
· Planning lessons that move beyond Common Core expectations.
In this provocative and insightful new book, Kelly surveys the teaching landscape since the publication of his highly regarded book Readicide, and finds that although some progress has been made, more needs to be done. Amid the frenzy of trying to teach to a new set of standards, Kelly Gallagher is a strong voice of reason, reminding us that instruction should be anchored around one guiding question: What is in the best interest of our students?
In his new book, In the Best Interest of Students, Kelly Gallagher notes that there are real strengths in the Common Core standards, and there are significant weaknesses as well. He takes the long view, reminding us that standards come and go but what remains constant is the need to stay true to what we know works in the teaching of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Instead of blindly adhering to the latest standards movement, Kelly advocates:
· Dialing up the amount of reading and writing students are doing.
· Balancing rigorous, high-quality literature and non-fiction with high-interest, student-selected titles.
· Giving students much more choice when it comes to reading and writing activities.
· Encouraging readers to deepen their comprehension by moving beyond the “four corners of the text.”
· Using modeling to enrich students’ writing skills in the prewriting, drafting, and revision stages.
· Helping young writers to achieve more authenticity through the blending of genres.
· Resisting the de-emphasis of narrative and imaginative reading and writing.
· Providing students with more opportunities to sharpen their listening and speaking skills
· Planning lessons that move beyond Common Core expectations.
In this provocative and insightful new book, Kelly surveys the teaching landscape since the publication of his highly regarded book Readicide, and finds that although some progress has been made, more needs to be done. Amid the frenzy of trying to teach to a new set of standards, Kelly Gallagher is a strong voice of reason, reminding us that instruction should be anchored around one guiding question: What is in the best interest of our students?
248 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 8, 2015
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674 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
August 5, 2016
Kelly Gallagher seems to have little love for either school administrations or governmental education laws; but then, who amongst us does? He makes his feelings for them pretty obvious as he argues his case for teaching "in the best interests of the students." His words really resonate with me. I don't know how other teachers feel about it, but I despise teaching to a test. It goes against every motive I had for becoming a teacher in the first place. Every impulse I have to teach students to love reading and good literature, how to understand what they're reading, and the joy of being able to express themselves effectively and creatively in writing--all of that is constrained and quashed beneath the unrelenting demands of the test and the administration's determination to have successful passing numbers at all costs.
His book focuses pretty exclusively on the Common Core standards, which I suppose is pertinent to most of his audience. Although my state has rejected CC, looking at the CC standards makes me think that the framers of our new state test may have had an eye cocked toward them when creating the STAAR. The STAAR has certainly raised the rigor on our testing, but has also resulted in that laser focus on the test in our classrooms. We are unabashedly asked to tailer our instruction to fit the test, and "how will this impact STAAR?" is the foremost question in every step of the planning. Fortunately for me, I teach juniors, and the English STAAR tests are administered in the 9th and 10th grades. That helps me avoid most of the ridiculousness and keeps my head from exploding, but my heart goes out to the ninth and tenth grade teachers. Unfortunately for me, the 10th grade students who pass their English class but fail the test are placed in classes that are labelled as STAAR classes and focus on the test to the exclusion of all else, and I am required to teach some of those. These are not supplemental classes; this becomes their English class for the year. This, to me, is a travesty. These kids miss most of what is taught in the regular "on-level" class, and yet get the same grade credit. It's a betrayal of both the students in the STAAR class who are shortchanged, and the kids in the regular classes who have to work harder for the same credit. Whichever standards you are following, schools are much too focused on the tests, and I couldn't agree more with Gallagher on this point.
He advocates examining other results than the state tests for the bigger picture of the effects of teaching to the test: for example, college entrance exams. Schools may be having success with their tailor-made state test preps, but the real story is showing up on college entrance exam scores and in college classes. Students have no reading stamina, are unable to understand what they read at any depth below the surface, and are unable to think beyond what they are spoon-fed. He makes a very well-supported and persuasive case for his viewpoint, but then, he had me at "hello!"
As usual, he generously gives you a ton of classroom-ready activities that you can implement, which I love. My book is full of flags and post-its, and I do plan to use at least some of these this year. I only wish I had the freedom to incorporate more of his ideas, but unfortunately, my administration would not be on board with some of the things he uses in his class. My school is set up in teams, and all of the teachers at a grade level have to do the same things. If I wanted to include more independent reading and take some grades from that, every person on my team would have to do it, as well. He has inspired me to advocate for changing some things, though. We'll see what happens!
His book focuses pretty exclusively on the Common Core standards, which I suppose is pertinent to most of his audience. Although my state has rejected CC, looking at the CC standards makes me think that the framers of our new state test may have had an eye cocked toward them when creating the STAAR. The STAAR has certainly raised the rigor on our testing, but has also resulted in that laser focus on the test in our classrooms. We are unabashedly asked to tailer our instruction to fit the test, and "how will this impact STAAR?" is the foremost question in every step of the planning. Fortunately for me, I teach juniors, and the English STAAR tests are administered in the 9th and 10th grades. That helps me avoid most of the ridiculousness and keeps my head from exploding, but my heart goes out to the ninth and tenth grade teachers. Unfortunately for me, the 10th grade students who pass their English class but fail the test are placed in classes that are labelled as STAAR classes and focus on the test to the exclusion of all else, and I am required to teach some of those. These are not supplemental classes; this becomes their English class for the year. This, to me, is a travesty. These kids miss most of what is taught in the regular "on-level" class, and yet get the same grade credit. It's a betrayal of both the students in the STAAR class who are shortchanged, and the kids in the regular classes who have to work harder for the same credit. Whichever standards you are following, schools are much too focused on the tests, and I couldn't agree more with Gallagher on this point.
He advocates examining other results than the state tests for the bigger picture of the effects of teaching to the test: for example, college entrance exams. Schools may be having success with their tailor-made state test preps, but the real story is showing up on college entrance exam scores and in college classes. Students have no reading stamina, are unable to understand what they read at any depth below the surface, and are unable to think beyond what they are spoon-fed. He makes a very well-supported and persuasive case for his viewpoint, but then, he had me at "hello!"
As usual, he generously gives you a ton of classroom-ready activities that you can implement, which I love. My book is full of flags and post-its, and I do plan to use at least some of these this year. I only wish I had the freedom to incorporate more of his ideas, but unfortunately, my administration would not be on board with some of the things he uses in his class. My school is set up in teams, and all of the teachers at a grade level have to do the same things. If I wanted to include more independent reading and take some grades from that, every person on my team would have to do it, as well. He has inspired me to advocate for changing some things, though. We'll see what happens!
March 9, 2015
On the whole, Kelly Gallagher the writer doesn't disappoint, and though this book has echoes from older ones (as well as from the works of other writers in the field), it is, like a May forecast, mostly satisfying.
Unfortunately, the Common Core standards are pored over (I say "unfortunately" because I've seen them so much in books on teaching English of late), but it's all so KG (sans Eli Wallach) can point out the good, the bad, and the ugly about them. He goes on to point out the down side of hitching your wagon to the the CCSS whole hog and explains that we need to teach "in the best interest of students."
Like his last book, Write Like This, IBIS is chock full of paragraph-sized ideas you can use in the classroom. What's good is that it's not confined to reading, writing, or speaking/listening. Instead, KG offers plays from his playbook on all fronts.
Surely he does not use all of these ideas regularly, unless he has the kids all day like elementary teachers do, but as a teacher/reader, you can cherry pick plans and give them a go. If some are in your repertoire already, give yourself a pat on the back. You're already teaching "in the best interest of students." You can build on it from there.
Shout out to Goodreads: One of KG's proposals is that teachers not be judged by standardized test scores but my more important stuff, the first of which reads "What percentage of your students can walk into a bookstore (or visit Goodreads.com) and know where to find books that interest them?"
Teachers pay, in this case, will be dependent on students negotiating the floor plan of B&N brick and mortars as well as virtual Goodreads web pages. Attractive idea? I leave you with that thought. Right now I need to find a book that interests me -- and win by old English teacher (if she still walks) a justly-deserved raise.
Shout out to baseball fans: KG is an Angel's fan. The Red Sox have sent them packing more than once. This is not in the book.
Shout out to teachers: Don't think you must "wait until September" to implement some of these ideas if they are new to you. Do one this week, another the following, and so forth. March is a long month and the end of June a distant mirror.
Shout out to the publisher: Your kingdom for a copy editor! I found a couple of typos, but the worst was in KG's own exemplar argumentative essay on gun control using the Newtown, CT, tragedy as an example. Instead of "slippery slope" (which KG meant), we get "slippery slop." Kind of takes the air out of an argument, oversights like that....
Unfortunately, the Common Core standards are pored over (I say "unfortunately" because I've seen them so much in books on teaching English of late), but it's all so KG (sans Eli Wallach) can point out the good, the bad, and the ugly about them. He goes on to point out the down side of hitching your wagon to the the CCSS whole hog and explains that we need to teach "in the best interest of students."
Like his last book, Write Like This, IBIS is chock full of paragraph-sized ideas you can use in the classroom. What's good is that it's not confined to reading, writing, or speaking/listening. Instead, KG offers plays from his playbook on all fronts.
Surely he does not use all of these ideas regularly, unless he has the kids all day like elementary teachers do, but as a teacher/reader, you can cherry pick plans and give them a go. If some are in your repertoire already, give yourself a pat on the back. You're already teaching "in the best interest of students." You can build on it from there.
Shout out to Goodreads: One of KG's proposals is that teachers not be judged by standardized test scores but my more important stuff, the first of which reads "What percentage of your students can walk into a bookstore (or visit Goodreads.com) and know where to find books that interest them?"
Teachers pay, in this case, will be dependent on students negotiating the floor plan of B&N brick and mortars as well as virtual Goodreads web pages. Attractive idea? I leave you with that thought. Right now I need to find a book that interests me -- and win by old English teacher (if she still walks) a justly-deserved raise.
Shout out to baseball fans: KG is an Angel's fan. The Red Sox have sent them packing more than once. This is not in the book.
Shout out to teachers: Don't think you must "wait until September" to implement some of these ideas if they are new to you. Do one this week, another the following, and so forth. March is a long month and the end of June a distant mirror.
Shout out to the publisher: Your kingdom for a copy editor! I found a couple of typos, but the worst was in KG's own exemplar argumentative essay on gun control using the Newtown, CT, tragedy as an example. Instead of "slippery slope" (which KG meant), we get "slippery slop." Kind of takes the air out of an argument, oversights like that....
July 27, 2015
To sum up best how I felt about this book, let me channel my inner ninth grade self who was breaking up with her boyfriend using these words: I'm just not that into you.
Does Gallagher thoroughly review and analyze the standards as promised? Yep, every last one.
Does Gallagher offer practical ways for ELA teachers to help meet the standards? Yep, I have lots of ideas marked to use.
Does Gallagher address shortcomings of the standards? Yep!
Maybe what I needed or craved was more voice. Or maybe I just wasn't into him.
Does Gallagher thoroughly review and analyze the standards as promised? Yep, every last one.
Does Gallagher offer practical ways for ELA teachers to help meet the standards? Yep, I have lots of ideas marked to use.
Does Gallagher address shortcomings of the standards? Yep!
Maybe what I needed or craved was more voice. Or maybe I just wasn't into him.
January 3, 2022
Gallagher begins his book by talking about how administrators and teaches overreacted to No Child Left Behind, too many relying on standard test scores and assignments that promoted lower level thinking. Because writing wasn't part of NCLB, educators didn't focus on that as much as they should have and pleasure reading (hello, informational texts) was a no go. The result? More learners lost their love of reading and were unable to write competently. As Gallagher says, "testing pressures led schools away from those practices proven to be in the best interest of developing literate, well-rounded students." Okay, Gallagher, you had me from page 1.
This book deconstructs the standards and helps us to understand how to use them and how to create authentic assignments that require students to think at higher levels and to produce quality work. Gallagher also explains how the standards fall short. For reading his concerns include staying within the four corners of a text, not valuing pre-reading activities, ignoring pleasure reading, misrepresentation about the amount of reading informational text, and not using reading targets. Amen, Gallagher, amen. He has similar concerns about the writing standards, too. Rest assured, Gallagher is not saying the standards are unnecessary or not good; he is saying there are some things that were overlooked.
All of the examples, units, assignments, student sample work, and templates are very helpful. There are so many reading and writing assignment ideas! The subtitle might say this is for the ELA classroom, but most of these reading and writing assignments work for all disciplines. I would love to see an educator make a chart/cheat sheet/pamphlet of the many suggested assignments.
This book deconstructs the standards and helps us to understand how to use them and how to create authentic assignments that require students to think at higher levels and to produce quality work. Gallagher also explains how the standards fall short. For reading his concerns include staying within the four corners of a text, not valuing pre-reading activities, ignoring pleasure reading, misrepresentation about the amount of reading informational text, and not using reading targets. Amen, Gallagher, amen. He has similar concerns about the writing standards, too. Rest assured, Gallagher is not saying the standards are unnecessary or not good; he is saying there are some things that were overlooked.
All of the examples, units, assignments, student sample work, and templates are very helpful. There are so many reading and writing assignment ideas! The subtitle might say this is for the ELA classroom, but most of these reading and writing assignments work for all disciplines. I would love to see an educator make a chart/cheat sheet/pamphlet of the many suggested assignments.
July 13, 2018
I love teaching English language arts, and I love Kelly Gallagher's very practical, experience-based ideas about how to help students grow in their skill with and love for reading, writing, speaking, and listening. If you are an ELA teacher and have not yet read Gallagher, this is a great introduction. He refers to some things from his other books, and adds many new ideas. If you have read his earlier books, this is still excellent--important reiterations, new ideas, helpful perspective on the new standards and testing (what's good, what's not), and his own modeling of growth as a teacher. (I love it that he's still in the classroom after 30 years, writing about it at the same time, rather than having moved on from teaching to writing, and referring back to his classroom history, as so many writers of books in the field of education do.) After my last several professional development books on broader topics—instructional coaching, standards based grading and assessment in the differentiated classroom, and creativity—all important and stretching topics—this was like speaking my mother tongue again after traveling to exotic lands and wrapping my tongue around learned sounds and syntaxes. Now I really want to read his 2018 book with Penny Kittle, too, but I think that will have to wait until next summer while I give this one some time to work its way into my pedagogy.
September 21, 2017
I found this book very inspirational. I love that Gallagher offers real world applications and models for how to effectively meet the best interest of our students.
November 9, 2017
The perfect balance of research and practical teaching ideas. Read this and walk away with a renewed sense of purpose for teaching English AND with realistic yet inspired ways of living that purpose.
April 16, 2017
Solid work...just what I'd expect from Gallagher....A POV that's pro-student, and ideas that can really work in a real classroom.
I was hooked from the first, but then began to squirm when I saw the focus of the book was CCSS. Since our state has banned and outlawed CCSS and anything resembling CCSS, I was worried that this book might be discounted by professionals in #oklaed.
Gallagher's subtitle, "Staying True to What Works in the ELA Classroom," keeps him on point...What about CCSS is positive and what is problematic? He has hit on all the points I liked and didn't like...and he does not push CCSS or David Coleman's singular view of ELA.
Lesson 1, page 2 of Chapter 1: "Avoid falling in love with these standards. They won't be her forever." My career is a testament for all those reforms that were gone from the landscape before teachers figured out how to fully implement them. I was heartened by his insight here.
The book highlights NCLB's hyperfocus on only reading in ELA classes, and shows that CCSS, at least, expands to writing, speaking and listening...but the assessments that are so closely aligned to the Standards do not reflect that alignment. Reading will be the basis of the assessments, with canned writing based on reading right behind.
When you read a Gallagher book you know he'll share the work from his own classroom. I appreciate that about his books...and his website where he encourages us to borrow.
His belief in the power of reading for pleasure will forever endear him to me...and I like his ideas about building in more choice in the regular ELA classroom: a whole-class book, book club books with similar themes or issues, and free-voluntary reading all together in the classroom.
A strong piece...still concerned about connecting it so closely to CCSS. Hope it doesn't date the book.
I was hooked from the first, but then began to squirm when I saw the focus of the book was CCSS. Since our state has banned and outlawed CCSS and anything resembling CCSS, I was worried that this book might be discounted by professionals in #oklaed.
Gallagher's subtitle, "Staying True to What Works in the ELA Classroom," keeps him on point...What about CCSS is positive and what is problematic? He has hit on all the points I liked and didn't like...and he does not push CCSS or David Coleman's singular view of ELA.
Lesson 1, page 2 of Chapter 1: "Avoid falling in love with these standards. They won't be her forever." My career is a testament for all those reforms that were gone from the landscape before teachers figured out how to fully implement them. I was heartened by his insight here.
The book highlights NCLB's hyperfocus on only reading in ELA classes, and shows that CCSS, at least, expands to writing, speaking and listening...but the assessments that are so closely aligned to the Standards do not reflect that alignment. Reading will be the basis of the assessments, with canned writing based on reading right behind.
When you read a Gallagher book you know he'll share the work from his own classroom. I appreciate that about his books...and his website where he encourages us to borrow.
His belief in the power of reading for pleasure will forever endear him to me...and I like his ideas about building in more choice in the regular ELA classroom: a whole-class book, book club books with similar themes or issues, and free-voluntary reading all together in the classroom.
A strong piece...still concerned about connecting it so closely to CCSS. Hope it doesn't date the book.
February 15, 2015
Kelly Gallagher does it again! He is an inspiring educator for both students and teachers. He is one of my biggest teaching influences and is a teacher that I strive to emulate. I have learned so much from his books on teaching reading and writing. He has helped shaped me to become the teacher that I am today and inspires me to work on being a better teacher for tomorrow.
His new book is a helpful guidebook for teachers to navigate the new Common Core Standards and high stakes testing. It is a helpful reminder to not get lost in the demands of the standards and the limitations of the standardized testing and to focus on what teachers know to be in the best interests of their students' education in reading and writing. Kelly Gallagher does a nice job of sifting out the positives and negatives aspects of the ELA CCSS and helps teachers to focus their efforts on appropriately and effectively developing the reading and writing skills of their students.
His new book is a helpful guidebook for teachers to navigate the new Common Core Standards and high stakes testing. It is a helpful reminder to not get lost in the demands of the standards and the limitations of the standardized testing and to focus on what teachers know to be in the best interests of their students' education in reading and writing. Kelly Gallagher does a nice job of sifting out the positives and negatives aspects of the ELA CCSS and helps teachers to focus their efforts on appropriately and effectively developing the reading and writing skills of their students.
March 16, 2016
This is an excellent resource for any teacher. While this is tailored to the ELA classroom, Gallagher's paradigm of developing deep literacy for students is applicable to all disciplines. I think it's excellent that he employs various "texts" to develop literacy including images, videos, paintings, and various models of writing.
The only thing I hoped to see but didn't was his assessment of the IRA/NCTE Standards. His position on many of these topics is palpable, but I thought it would have enriched the book if he would have included them. However, I understand that the CCSS is what most teachers are concerned with, so it's understandable he focused heavily on them.
The only thing I hoped to see but didn't was his assessment of the IRA/NCTE Standards. His position on many of these topics is palpable, but I thought it would have enriched the book if he would have included them. However, I understand that the CCSS is what most teachers are concerned with, so it's understandable he focused heavily on them.
January 16, 2017
Wow. What an amazing, honest review of the American approach to ELA in the time of CCSS. This book seamlessly weaves critique with solutions. As a practicing educator, this is imperative. We can debate about the standards endlessly, but Gallagher actually offers solutions and techniques framed with students in mind. He models and discusses what modern ELA can be, a brave new world that takes to heart the beauty and importance of being a literate citizen. I can't recommend this book enough.
July 14, 2015
Ok, I have been known to stay up all night finishing a novel, but never have I ever stayed up all night to finish a professional book - until now. ELA educators, literacy coaches, administrators - please read this one. And Kelley Gallagher - thank you for validating what so many of us strive to implement in our own little corner of the ELA world.
June 16, 2015
This book was very helpful in my thinking about the HS world. There are MANY great lesson ideas for grades 6-12 and it is a good reminder to stay true to what I know is good for students and learning!
November 17, 2015
This is another great book from Kelly Gallagher. Really makes you think about your classroom and your school as a whole. What is important and what things do you need to stand up for - in the best interest of your students.
February 26, 2016
Finally! The truth about how to handle teaching the core in English. Ignore it!
I love how Gallagher points out that best practices are just plain good teaching. Common sense, no nonsense good practices. Wonderful read.
I love how Gallagher points out that best practices are just plain good teaching. Common sense, no nonsense good practices. Wonderful read.
June 29, 2016
The guy is a genius.
May 16, 2016
Terrific--
May 31, 2015
Great reminder that standards come and go, so teachers need to focus on the needs of the students and provide a well-rounded education to prepare students for life!
April 28, 2018
This book can safely be divided into two distinct veins: pragmatics and foundations. Gallagher is spectacular on the first front, but deeply unsatisfactory on the other. Each of his eight chapters features wonderful activities, exercises, and plans for engaging students in reading, and his advice on classroom strategies seems both well-founded and true. The book was weighed heavily in this direction, even though it seems that many of these pragmatic tidbits were simply from earlier books; the book appears to bill itself more as a foundational philosophic exploration of the concept of Standards in learning, but I found that the analyses of the standards were vastly outnumbered by lists of activities.
My main concern with Gallagher's book is that he treats every issue as a single-variable equation: this is due to this, that is due to that, and this one thing has been caused by this one thing. Issues are never this simple, and I found his treatment of complex phenomena as having a sole cause in our educational system as tiresome and intellectually lazy. Here's an example from page 1: "The juniors and seniors who took that test were in kindergarten and in first grade when NCLB began, thus becoming the first group of students whose entire school experience was shaped by NCLB-driven instruction. Because of their allegiance to these new tests, schools started churning out memorizers instead of thinkers. We produced fewer students who could write coherent extended pieces. More students left our schools hating to read. And teaching students how to think deeply - to analyze, to synthesize, to evaluate - became a much more arduous task." Again, the phenomenon of students hating to read has likely been a trend ever since the introduction of home-centered media devices, and these trends have only gotten worse; NCLB-based instruction is only one piece in this equation. And because his book is focused upon standards, these other pieces are conspicuously left out of the cognitive calculus. Another intellectual point of umbrage for me is the fact that Gallagher repeatedly creates divisions between things that are not necessarily mutually-exclusive; in that example, he creates a hard distinction between memorizers and thinkers. I do not think the line to be so obvious; learning is necessarily dependent upon a huge amount of memorization, and just because we teach kids to memorize things does not mean we simultaneously discourage deep thought. It is overly simplistic to say that our schools were focused solely on memorization, and that one type of education precludes the other. I think we want our students to have all such relevant skills.
All that being said, I do appreciate Gallagher going toe-to-toe with more "friendly" and relativistic trends in teaching: those that seek to completely level all books as equals, or those that simply say that reading should be fun, and that the content of the book does not matter. Yet Gallagher himself, even while a champion of Great Works and of the universal humanity to be found and taught within them, seems to, at times, endorse less valuable goals. For instance, his list on pp. 144-5 states that students should be able to read for enjoyment and read widely, but he doesn't specify what types of books should be read. If we simply read for enjoyment, our growth as individuals would seem to be set up for failure. A life reading Clive Cussler and Danielle Steele with no mention of Salman Rushdie, Shusaku Endo, Hermann Hesse, or Emily Dickinson seems a life spent in complacent stagnancy. Our students should not know only what they enjoy reading and how to read such books, but also how to find and grapple with books that will help them grow as humans. To me, this should be the highest and most earnest goal of any teacher.
My main concern with Gallagher's book is that he treats every issue as a single-variable equation: this is due to this, that is due to that, and this one thing has been caused by this one thing. Issues are never this simple, and I found his treatment of complex phenomena as having a sole cause in our educational system as tiresome and intellectually lazy. Here's an example from page 1: "The juniors and seniors who took that test were in kindergarten and in first grade when NCLB began, thus becoming the first group of students whose entire school experience was shaped by NCLB-driven instruction. Because of their allegiance to these new tests, schools started churning out memorizers instead of thinkers. We produced fewer students who could write coherent extended pieces. More students left our schools hating to read. And teaching students how to think deeply - to analyze, to synthesize, to evaluate - became a much more arduous task." Again, the phenomenon of students hating to read has likely been a trend ever since the introduction of home-centered media devices, and these trends have only gotten worse; NCLB-based instruction is only one piece in this equation. And because his book is focused upon standards, these other pieces are conspicuously left out of the cognitive calculus. Another intellectual point of umbrage for me is the fact that Gallagher repeatedly creates divisions between things that are not necessarily mutually-exclusive; in that example, he creates a hard distinction between memorizers and thinkers. I do not think the line to be so obvious; learning is necessarily dependent upon a huge amount of memorization, and just because we teach kids to memorize things does not mean we simultaneously discourage deep thought. It is overly simplistic to say that our schools were focused solely on memorization, and that one type of education precludes the other. I think we want our students to have all such relevant skills.
All that being said, I do appreciate Gallagher going toe-to-toe with more "friendly" and relativistic trends in teaching: those that seek to completely level all books as equals, or those that simply say that reading should be fun, and that the content of the book does not matter. Yet Gallagher himself, even while a champion of Great Works and of the universal humanity to be found and taught within them, seems to, at times, endorse less valuable goals. For instance, his list on pp. 144-5 states that students should be able to read for enjoyment and read widely, but he doesn't specify what types of books should be read. If we simply read for enjoyment, our growth as individuals would seem to be set up for failure. A life reading Clive Cussler and Danielle Steele with no mention of Salman Rushdie, Shusaku Endo, Hermann Hesse, or Emily Dickinson seems a life spent in complacent stagnancy. Our students should not know only what they enjoy reading and how to read such books, but also how to find and grapple with books that will help them grow as humans. To me, this should be the highest and most earnest goal of any teacher.
September 25, 2018
This is my second Kelly Gallagher book, and it will not be my last. Once again in the world of ELA educational books, he proves to be an excellent resource for those teachers that want to have a list of ideas ready to help their students learn ELA to the best of their ability. Yet, this book also has some problems that may make other teachers want to wait before purchasing it.
I think how much you should read this book depends on where you are in reading his texts, and/or where you are in your educational career. The whole point of this book is one that focuses on the Common Core State Standards. He looks at the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to how these replaced the old NCLB standards and what effect it has on the teachers who must write lesson plans with them in mind. He also takes the time to show some of the reading and writing strategies that he uses to increase the ELA ability of his students.
Yet, there are some issues that I had with this book. For all of the strategies that I saw in this novel, many, (at least from what I know of the reading section, since I have only read his book Readicide), are either barely mentioned, or skipped over completely, and the reader is told to check out his other book to find out more. For the reader that wishes to save time, when they have read all of his other books, this makes sense, but for readers like me, this presents a problem, in that I know have to buy another book to understand what he is talking about here. This makes some of his advice cheap at times, showing his need to sell books, rather than inform teachers, which can be distracting, to say the least.
On a side note, one thing I’d like to see from Gallagher would be a book on classroom management and how to work with struggling student. As I was reading this book, I could not help but wonder what he did to help those students who weren’t learning/reading/writing. He often paints teaching with rose colored glasses, and as any good teacher can tell you, you can have the best lesson plan in the world, but it won’t count for diddly, unless you have good classroom management techniques in place. It would have been nice/be nice to see what Gallagher thinks of this topic, and what worked for him, since every teacher is different and has different strategies on how to deal with troubling students.
At any rate, I think that you should get this book, if, like me, you are at the beginning of your teaching career. It is something that you can look at when people ask you what you think about the Common Core standards. However, if you are a veteran teacher who has read all of Gallagher's books, then you may want to either buy this one heavily discounted, or get it from the library. There isn’t enough new here to justify the (as of this review) nearly $30 price tag for the softcover edition. Still, as a new teacher, and someone who has only read his Readicide book, I found this to be very informative, and I give it a four out of five as a result. I can’t wait to not only look at his other books, but also look back on this one after I have been teaching for a few years, and have more experience to evaluate it properly.
I think how much you should read this book depends on where you are in reading his texts, and/or where you are in your educational career. The whole point of this book is one that focuses on the Common Core State Standards. He looks at the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to how these replaced the old NCLB standards and what effect it has on the teachers who must write lesson plans with them in mind. He also takes the time to show some of the reading and writing strategies that he uses to increase the ELA ability of his students.
Yet, there are some issues that I had with this book. For all of the strategies that I saw in this novel, many, (at least from what I know of the reading section, since I have only read his book Readicide), are either barely mentioned, or skipped over completely, and the reader is told to check out his other book to find out more. For the reader that wishes to save time, when they have read all of his other books, this makes sense, but for readers like me, this presents a problem, in that I know have to buy another book to understand what he is talking about here. This makes some of his advice cheap at times, showing his need to sell books, rather than inform teachers, which can be distracting, to say the least.
On a side note, one thing I’d like to see from Gallagher would be a book on classroom management and how to work with struggling student. As I was reading this book, I could not help but wonder what he did to help those students who weren’t learning/reading/writing. He often paints teaching with rose colored glasses, and as any good teacher can tell you, you can have the best lesson plan in the world, but it won’t count for diddly, unless you have good classroom management techniques in place. It would have been nice/be nice to see what Gallagher thinks of this topic, and what worked for him, since every teacher is different and has different strategies on how to deal with troubling students.
At any rate, I think that you should get this book, if, like me, you are at the beginning of your teaching career. It is something that you can look at when people ask you what you think about the Common Core standards. However, if you are a veteran teacher who has read all of Gallagher's books, then you may want to either buy this one heavily discounted, or get it from the library. There isn’t enough new here to justify the (as of this review) nearly $30 price tag for the softcover edition. Still, as a new teacher, and someone who has only read his Readicide book, I found this to be very informative, and I give it a four out of five as a result. I can’t wait to not only look at his other books, but also look back on this one after I have been teaching for a few years, and have more experience to evaluate it properly.
April 17, 2018
We used this book as a required text for a college course on teaching ELA at the secondary level. Personally, I enjoyed it. This was the first college textbook I’d eagerly devour before class and I’d mark up page after page, noting what I want to use in my “one day” classroom. Gallagher’s passion for his students is evident and infectious. He gives several great ways of engaging students in class, and emphasizes the importance of reading and writing, despite the CCSS not focusing on this at all. Gallagher describes a perfect classroom, with perfect activites, and the results are perfect student essays that you can’t possibly grade because your students are just writing so much!
That is my only problem.
Everything Gallagher presents within the context of a classroom is presented through rose colored glasses. He uses his best student examples throughout the text. I would, too! You do not want to put your “failures” or your “less than perfect” examples out there in such an instructional book. But because he never once addressed the kids who will circumvent the perfect teaching style, I hesitate to TRUST in Gallagher.
However, this book rekindled my passion for teaching. As long as you approach these topics and class activities with a healthy dose of skepticism, Gallagher’s text will be a great addition to your personal educator’s library. Needless to say, this is one college “textbook” I am so glad I purchased, and not rented.
That is my only problem.
Everything Gallagher presents within the context of a classroom is presented through rose colored glasses. He uses his best student examples throughout the text. I would, too! You do not want to put your “failures” or your “less than perfect” examples out there in such an instructional book. But because he never once addressed the kids who will circumvent the perfect teaching style, I hesitate to TRUST in Gallagher.
However, this book rekindled my passion for teaching. As long as you approach these topics and class activities with a healthy dose of skepticism, Gallagher’s text will be a great addition to your personal educator’s library. Needless to say, this is one college “textbook” I am so glad I purchased, and not rented.
June 10, 2020
This is a fantastic text. It reinforces everything I feel about forcing a classroom to be nothing but kill and drill for standardized tests. I love this text for reaffirming my feelings as a teacher in today's education system, but I also really appreciate Gallagher's examples for bringing solid teaching to our classrooms. Most all of us teachers already do a ton of his examples, but it's nice to be reminded of what is solid good teaching. I highly recommend this text. If you are a new teacher, this text will illustrate what a great classroom can look like. If you are a teacher who's been at it for a while like me and you're sick of standards that can make your class stale, and the standardized tests that are forced upon students, this text will affirm that you are not the only teacher who feels this way. And, I love the constant reminder throughout the text that everything we do in the classroom is for the best interest of our students. Too often, admin, district members, and politicians forget that teachers are here for students not for them.
July 15, 2017
First off, I LOVE Kelly Gallagher and honestly his book Write Like This was one of my favorite mentor texts for myself as a teacher over the last year or two so I had high expectations for In The Best Interest of Students. I have to be honest though, this one wasn't my favorite. It took me a WHILE to get through it (full disclosure: I started in the spring when I was manically trying to get through the school year) and then finished it in July. The beginning of the text, Gallagher goes VERY specifically through the common core standards and points out their strengths and weaknesses, then goes into the skills that are valuable for students along with his usual practical devices and tips. I would have liked a lot more sequencing and ideas, there wasn't a lot to take away but I did underline some things and I am sure some more Gallagher ideas will be making there way to my classroom!
November 12, 2018
This book is so great! I love Kelly Gallagher’s applicable lesson ideas and getting past standardized tests to really identify the why behind our teaching. “Never lose sight that our highest priority is to raise students who become lifelong readers. What our students read in school is important . What they read the rest of their lives is more important.”
Ideas I want to implement:
Reading Minute- commercials on books
3-ringed binder with Genre suggestions
Book pass
Poetry unit for AP
“What percentage of your students can walk into a bookstore and know where to find books that I treat you?”
Ideas I want to implement:
Reading Minute- commercials on books
3-ringed binder with Genre suggestions
Book pass
Poetry unit for AP
“What percentage of your students can walk into a bookstore and know where to find books that I treat you?”
July 31, 2017
I have a huge professional crush on Kelly Gallagher and am always interested to see what he has to say re: the current state of (specifically secondary ELA) education. As expected, Kelly G. had great tips for keeping middle and high school reading and writing classes fun, relevant, and engaging. I didn't completely agree with his analysis of the Common Core Standards, but I did appreciate his insight. I actually ended up ordering another one of his books to read before the school year starts before I even finished this one!
May 6, 2018
This was a great read for me as I get ready to jump into a new teaching position. The author shares lots of great research and strategies for teaching reading and writing, and he cautions teachers against letting the latest tests and standards push us into teaching that isn’t ultimately in the best interest of our students.
January 17, 2018
While I might quibble with some of the statements in the book, it aligns pretty solidly with much of my philosophy of literacy in the classroom. I really like how Gallagher breaks down what’s good in CCSS and what is lacking and provides useful classroom activities for both.
March 12, 2019
Anything by Kelly Gallagher is always a five-star experience, but the problem is--I realized as I was leaving his conference today (yay!)--that I will need to reread this over the summer so that I can have his words/ideas fresh in my mind as I plan another school year.
May 31, 2019
I love Kelly Gallagher. He's the closest thing I have to a teaching guru. He builds on some of his previous work and provides some other great strategies for helping students to improve as readers, writers, and communicators.
Would definitely recommend to any English teacher.
Would definitely recommend to any English teacher.
April 13, 2021
Great strategies--looking forward to trying some! I agree with his arguments and think administrators, instructional coaches, and curriculum directors would benefit reading some of the arguments.
To be used as a quick resource though, I think the organization could be clarified.
To be used as a quick resource though, I think the organization could be clarified.
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