The courage in teaching seems to be Gallagher's biggest emphasis here, and for once he got to the point quickly. He says that "If we are to find our way again--if students are to become avid readers again--we, as language arts teachers, must find our courage to recognize the difference between the political worlds and the authentic worlds in which we teach to swim against those current educational practices that are killing young readers, and to step up and do what is right for our students" (118). I couldn't agree with him more. We as teachers must advocate for our students and their learning needs and have to find the balance between the politics in education and the realities of the classroom.
I am going into the language arts classroom, and I often hear others in our classroom ask, "how would this be applicable to my classroom?". This statement that Gallagher makes is applicable across all contents. All educators must advocate for their students between the balance of the politics of education and the fights that come from policies that are implemented and the crucial realities that we as educators face every day. We are these students' voice and more often than not their needs are silenced through our inability to stand up and deal with this. I'm not saying that we have to be some superhero teachers, but I am saying that we must pick our battles within our classrooms and what we think is effective for the students that are in them.
