Review_Author: Amanda Bishop, Becky Luening, Susan Schwartz
Book_Author: Karen Gallas
Book_Title: The Languages of Learning - How Children Talk, Write, Dance,
Draw, and Sing Their Understanding of the World
Reference: Teachers College Press, 1994, New York
Date: 2/20/2001
Time: 8:01:44 PM
Remote Name: 165.227.138.251
Gallas' book contained many observations on teaching which resonated with our collective past teaching experiences. As we are beginning to see ourselves as budding researchers and observers of students' learning process, Gallas' emphasis on becoming classroom anthropologists was particularly appealing, giving us a conceptual framework from which to see ourselves as data collectors. We think that the following quotes sum up her philosophy: "What might the potential for thinking, learning, and being look like for our children if, over the years, their entire education provided opportunities for them to expand, rather than narrow, their range of expressive and narrative functions?" (p. xvi) "The teacher looks into the life of the classroom with imagination, and without preconceptions that limit, rather than expand, his or her ability to understand." (p. 9) "Each child's journey as a thinker moves outward in ways I cannot anticipate and should not limit." (p. 98) Each of us took away something different from the text, perhaps reflecting our particular interests in education or questions/difficulties we are each pondering. Our individual written responses are contained below:
Becky Luening's Comments "This book offers a glimmer of hope for the future of teaching. Here is someone with a radically different model, successfully creating expansive opportunities for self-expression for her students. A must read!" -Becky Luening, Student Teacher In the concluding remarks of Ruqaiya Hasan's article on Semiotic Mediation (the one we all had so much trouble deciphering), she writes about supporting a reflective mode in students which "has the potential of questioning all voices, listening to all voices and probing into all assumptions." What Hasan writes about, Karen Gallas is DOING in her grade 1-2 classroom. Gallas talks about being confounded by how "children of this age can often devise explanations for difficult questions that are very close to theories currently accepted by the scientific community." She would never have made that discovery had she not bothered to create a space for them to talk, and then made the effort to hear what they were saying. Interestingly, through this process she has finally come to a place of questioning the very nature of science as a discipline. She describes how children are able to write and speak eloquently about the natural world using metaphor and everyday language and, as a teacher who appreciates what her students are able to communicate about science using their own modes of expression, she has become increasingly uncomfortable with the lines that separate their language and the precise, elitist language of science. She concludes, "the object of teaching science is not to teach the correct usage and application of scientific concepts and terminology, but rather to engage as many children as possible in observing, experimenting, talking, and writing about the world." Gallas' theme throughout has to do with expanding, rather than limiting, the ways students think and talk about their world. It's important to note that Gallas' role as teacher- researcher, while ultimately exciting and rewarding, requires deep commitment and much labor. The richness of her students' talk was not immediately enlightening or even understandable. Gallas explains that it was only after hours of painstakingly taping and transcribing her students' talk for research purposes that she began to truly hear their voices. She also emphasizes the role of imagination and intuition in her teaching. Her explanation of what it is to be a teacher-researcher is all the more powerful and inspiring because of her commitment to remaining in the classroom. Gallas is also an exceptional writer. The following quotes sum up her philosophy: "What might the potential for thinking, learning, and being look like for our children if, over the years, their entire education provided opportunities for them to expand, rather than narrow, their range of expressive and narrative functions?" (p. xvi). The teacher looks into the life of the classroom with imagination, and without preconceptions that limit, rather than expand, his or her ability to understand." (p. 9). Amanda Bishop's Comments Just like Becky, I loved this book. There is no ambiguity in my position. I recommend it to everyone to read because it’s not just a someone telling us what we should do, but a committed teacher showing us what really is possible in the public classroom and the steps she took to get there. Gallas presents a very hopeful picture of whom we can become as teachers and the influence we can have on our kids. In the interest of keeping this review brief, I will just describe one of the critical elements of her classroom environment: community. I saw the community she developed in her classroom as the foundation for everything else that went on throughout the year. She is committed to a community of learners where every voice is valued and listened to. And class didn’t just come that way, she had to work very hard, making constant choices to create and maintain the space for the kids to feel safe, allowing their narratives to come out. Only in a community steeped in trust can the kids rise to their full expressive potential as artists, poets, dancers, writers, etc. Gallas did not have a blue print when she began changing the fabric of her classroom, but she provides one for us in this book. Gallas narrative is an invaluable guide through the kinds of questions and issues we will face very soon! Susan Schwartz' Comments Gallas' concept of teaching through the use of metaphor leapt off the page at me. I had taught a lesson to 5th graders yesterday on the structure and function of bacteria, and halfway through the lesson, I realized that there was an apt comparison that I could make between each component of the cell and things the children had seen and experienced before. For example, when I likened cytoplasm to the "jelly that connects everything together" the children instantly got the idea, since they were familiar with this through observations they had seen previously in the natural world. Her concept reminded me never to underestimate children's' preexisting knowledge as a building block to extend their knowledge, even when using the ordinary to explain the intricate. The idea she expresses of "making thinking visible" is a very formidable concept. I see its application in many grade levels--from the most mundane to the vastly complex. Gallas notes that when children are supported in using scientific dialogue (discourse), they are able to express complex thoughts on topics such as sociology, anthropology, archeology, religion, philosophy, paleontology, linguistics, creativity, and many other fields (pg. 98) when given the opportunity to use their own voices through reading and writing. I agree that to encourage children's dialogic ability is conceivably one of the most important things a teacher can do for his/her students as a means to help students (and me) extend our thinking on particular subjects. These particular techniques of dialogue, she maintains, are essential in assisting each child's "journey as a thinker" in ways that no teacher can ever anticipate. I concur with her reasoning. I believe strongly that we can never fully understand our students' rich and varied background, and can simply serve as mentors for the construction of meaning for each individual. I loved this book. I will re- read it in the future.