I Need To Teach Like This

Chapter 5 of Literacy as Snake Oil is the single best piece of teacher-education I have ever read.  I need to say that upfront because this post is supposed to connect Lynn Asterita Gatto’s work to other literacy diversity research. I am not going to do that in this post because to do so would be a disservice to Gatto as her work needs to recognized as a superior piece of teacher research that is quite frankly better than anything I have read on literacy diversity or anything I have read about how to teach in my undergraduate and graduate coursework.  In making connections to other studies I would be doing so only because it is my task and since this is my blog I am going to exercise some online freedom here.

Gatto’s chapter inspired me in a way that I have never felt before.  I wanted to immediately begin designing units as her style of teaching is the best I have ever come across in print, and I have to find a way to translate her methods in the 4^th grade classroom to my 11^th grade and 12^th grade classrooms.  Her theories on literacy are also the most succinct and relevant that I have read, and the fact that she has made her 4^th grade classroom a completely student centered classroom is amazing.  I am still in the process of making that transition as a 11^th and 12^th grade Social Studies teacher.  I have to cut myself some slack though as she does have at least 20 more years experience than I have.

Gatto often writes of authenticity and this is also a prime concern in planning my lessons.  How do I get my students to become engaged and motivated by the material?  Including student-teaching I have been in classroom since 2003, and it is from Gatto’s writing that I finally have a clear plan on how to truly get student buy-in, create a student centered classroom and develop better readers and writers.  When I return to teaching in Fall 2010 I am going to follow Gatto’s method in planning my units, and I can’t wait to compare my prior methods with my new plan of action.  The possibilities are endless as Gatto’s butterfly project has shown me that I can meet state standards without teaching to the test.  I am imagining an 11^th grade Classroom Civil Rights Museum modeled on and following the design of Gatto’s butterfly project, or a Graphic Novel Library, or a Public Policy Project for my 12^th graders during which they would choose the policies to research or propose entirely new ones.  My role will still be the most important in that I will guide the students towards creating engaging activities and authentic questioning that expands student literacy.  The difference is that the students will take control and ownership of their own education.  I could write about Gatto’s work for months, but in closing I encourage present and future educators to click the link and below and buy Literacy as Snake Oil, Chapter 5 will inspire you and that’s something we need to bring into our classrooms every day. 

 http://www.amazon.com/Literacy-Snake-Oil-Literacies-Epistemologies/dp/0820495433/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267682644&sr=1-1