The Galloway School

New Teacher Orientation

Philosophy Documents

Revised May, 2012

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The Galloway School Mission and Promise Statements

MISSION STATEMENT

Galloway is the philosophically grounded, learner-focused independent

school where students age 3 through grade 12 develop an abiding love for
learning. Preparing students to live successfully as enlightened citizens in a
changing world, our community embraces diversity, insists upon common
decency, and fosters human dignity. Through innovation, enthusiasm, and
high expectations, Galloway draws students joyfully into learning and
cultivates the intrinsic curiosity and unrepeatable talents of each one.

MISSION AND PROMISE STATEMENTS

Galloway is the philosophically grounded, learner-focused independent

school where students age 3 through grade 12 develop an abiding love for
learning. Preparing students to live successfully as enlightened citizens in a
changing world, our community embraces diversity, insists upon common
decency, and fosters human dignity.

At Galloway, we believe that

 learning is a way of life, not just a precursor to college and career;
 learning originates in the learner and grows in the classroom;
 every learner deserves respect and trust;
 teachers, students, and parents act as partners in the enterprise of
learning;
 each person can continuously progress toward master of knowledge
and of self.

From these values, we create a school environment where students feel free
to learn, where they grow into mature, free, fearless thinkers. We reject
artificial competition as the primary motivator of learning, never ranking
students or attaching arbitrary significance to grades and test scores. Rather,
through innovation, enthusiasm, and high expectations, Galloway draws
students joyfully into learning and cultivates the intrinsic curiosity and
unrepeatable talents of each one.
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1988 Position Paper on the Galloway Philosophy

By Mark McCandless as requested by Elliott Galloway

Galloway School and its community philosophy -- and the educational philosophy of its
founder, Elliott Galloway -- are inseparable. Central to this philosophy are several
assumptions: children learn best when they are drawn rather than pushed to learning,
when they are comfortable, when they are respected, and when they are challenged.

Children from ages two through the end of high school enjoy learning at Galloway
School. Their learning experiences encompass structured group interactions as well as
teacher-directed activities, free-flay, physical skill development, problem solving, and
socialization, all across broad curricula. Yet, even with the range of activities that take
place within and without the walls of Galloway School, each experience is thought out
with respect to individual differences among students. Children are drawn to learning at
Galloway because they are neither asked to do things for which they are not ready nor
held back when they are able to move ahead.

Children from ages two through the end of high school are comfortable at Galloway
School. They sit in circles and around tables rather than in uniform rows of desks. The
overall atmosphere is caring, encouraging, and conducive to the development of self-
esteem. Students, parents, and teachers recognize that individuals develop along diverse
pathways and at different rates. Children have different styles of learning, different
backgrounds, different interests, and different aspirations. At Galloway School, respect
for these differences is paramount. It is a respect that supersedes simple expediency and
that guides the entire planning and teaching processes at Galloway. It is, finally, a respect
that permeates the Galloway community of children, parents, and teachers.

Children from the age of two through the end of high school are challenged at Galloway
School. A low student-teacher ratio of ten to one makes it possible for teachers to
effectively address individual differences. Throughout Early and Middle Learning, the
development of problem-solving skills is an important part of the curriculum. This focus
continues in Upper Learning as students are encouraged to select from an array of
rigorous, college-preparatory courses. The core curriculum in Upper Learning is four
years of English, three of mathematics, science, and social studies and two of foreign
language; students throughout all levels of the school are exposed to music, art, and
physical culture. The whole program at Galloway School is crafted to bring children into
themselves, to bring them to a point of acceptance of responsibility for their actions, their
freedoms, and their learning for life.

Galloway School is many things. It is a place, an idea, a process, a student body, and a
faculty. It is all of these things together and more. Galloway School is a community of
learners and doers and thinkers.
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Who We Are and How We Present

By Howell Kiser, Greg Kelley, and Mark McCandless

Defining who we are as a school and how we communicate that self-image to insider (UL
teachers; the Board of Trustees; our students and their parents; ML students and their
parents; EL parents) and outsider (other schools; the broader community; applicants and
their parents; colleges) audiences:

We are an institution that supports, promotes, celebrates, and reveres the primacy
and worth of the individual, and this leads to child-centered approaches to teaching
and learning.

Philosophy

 we hew to the philosophy of The Galloway School

 we adopt humanistic as opposed hierarchic philosophies; democratic as opposed
to authoritarian approaches
 we teach the child as opposed to the subject or the class
 we understand and accept that it is imperative to take students from where they
are (with respect to their diversity) to where they should be – to help them
become who they are
 we put the child at the center
 we continuously strive to make Galloway a good and safe place for each student,
not just some of them
 we stress cooperation over competition while acknowledging the uses of
competition

Nature of the Child

 we accept and glory in the diversity of learners (development, background,

neurology, differentiated abilities)
 we accept that the student may come to us either as a proven learner or as an
inchoate learner

Relationship

 we are aware of how do we talk about children and youths; we avoid the zoo or
laboratory specimen model; the student is always a human being, first and
foremost, and as such, is always accorded due respect
 we do not gossip about the student, use sarcasm, or demean him or her in any way
 our conversations about the student are always solution oriented
 we explicitly acknowledge the teacher-student relationship – teaching and
learning are social activities, and, as such, are personalized
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Reflection & Best Practice

 we routinely reflect on what we do; indeed, reflection is organically enmeshed in

all that we practice
 we, as continuous, life-long learners, study, reflect upon, and apply best teaching
practice
 we strive to understand and apply the concept of mastery learning
 we design our teaching around essential questions that, in turn, drive both learning
activities and demonstrations of mastery
 we reflect on cultural and technical ramifications of the mastery learning model
 we reflect on the difference between freedom in the classroom versus license;
professionalism – this goes beyond paperwork professionalism
 we accept that one of the roles of the colleague is professional oversight; there are
joys and burdens of collegiality (or freedoms and responsibilities)
 we seek out critical friends who accept responsibility for helping maintain a
professional dyad; who are neither a rubber stamp nor solely part of a support
group
 we act as a critical friend to colleagues
 we focus on the process of learning and on growth rather than on grades

Curriculum

 we teach reading in all subjects – critical literary and textual analysis; reading for
pleasure and reading for information
 we teach writing rather than writing formulas or formatting
 we teach problem solving, a divergent or convergent process rather than a linear
quest for putative correct answers
 we teach effective communication in a variety of languages including English,
Spanish, French, and Latin
 we acknowledge that valuing and moral development are a part of all curricula
 we teach students how to think critically rather than what to think

We believe that if we accept and act on these things, that if we focus on our vision,
then the externals – what we expect of all graduates of The Galloway School, college
acceptances, public relations, admissions, and communications with all
constituencies of the school – will fall into place.
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Why The Galloway Way?

By Mark McCandless

We at Galloway spend an inordinate amount of time talking about how we implement the
Galloway Way, while at the same time, we reflect little on what the Galloway Way is and
why we might want to look at everything we do through its lens.

 TGW calls to mind the parable of the five blind men and the elephant. Each has his own
perspective on the elephant (leg, trunk, tail, flank, ear) and therefore perceives a part
without grasping the whole, the gestalt. Similarly, most Galloway students, teachers,
parents, and administrators understand facets of TGW without seeing the big picture,
particularly the “why”.

 TGW is not so much democracy as anarchy: individuals treading their own path in ways that do
not significantly impinge on the journeys of others. TGW assumes that people are
essentially good, if necessarily self-interested. See addendum: a segment on TGW and
anarchy from the Crane “Review and Reflection Paper”

 TGW is relationship as well as individual quest. Teachers and students are collaborators in the
learning process. At its best, TGW promotes caring and stewardship among students and
between students and teachers.

 Why TGW? We follow TGW because we – students and teachers together – crave growth and
freedom. Teachers want their students to grow to be whole, good, productive, caring, and
fulfilled people capable of sustaining their own growth both individually and in
relationship with others. Students, likewise, wish to grow and change and become who
they are.

 Why TGW? We follow TGW because we believe that it underlies the best educational practice.
It gradually places the onus of responsibility for learning on the learner. It promotes the
movement of locus of control steadily inward; that is, students pursuing TGW with
teachers who understand and practice TGW come to know that they are the ultimate
arbiters of their fate.

 Why TGW? As teachers, we follow TGW because we are willing to be responsible for creating
a safe yet challenging learning – and living – environment for our students.

 Why TGW? As students, we follow TGW because we are becoming steadily less egocentric and
more able to accept responsibility for our freedoms and our choices.
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The Galloway Hierarchy of Being (Not unlike Maslow’s Hierarchy -- Pyramid -- of Needs*)

At the lowest level of being a Galloway teacher or student is daily survival: maintaining a
calendar; remembering the schedule; preparing minimally for class; negotiating the press in the
west wing hall.

For teachers, the next level relates to pedagogy and best teaching practice. For students, it
involves finding one’s social niche and developing the skills of studenthood. Once an individual
teacher has grown reasonably confident about day-to-day survival, he or she can focus on
building a repertoire of lessons, refining classroom management skills, differentiating instruction,
and generally improving teaching performance and effectiveness. Likewise, a student grows in
skill at juggling six or seven classes of varying difficulty, and he or she masters teacher-pleasing
along with academic skills such as note-taking and working in small groups to achieve a common
goal.

The penultimate level is the teacher-student relationship (also teacher-teacher and student-
student). If students are to learn, and if teachers are to reap any of the rewards of their craft, there
must be a social relationship based on mutual respect and acceptance.

The highest level – the pinnacle of Galloway being – is the Galloway Way. The Galloway Way
that can be named is not the true Galloway Way. The Galloway Way draws children to learning
without compulsion. The Galloway Way possesses children without holding them. Through the
Galloway Way, children become who they are within a social matrix of children learning from
adults and adults learning from children.

*Maslow’s hierarchy has as its lowest level the biological needs – air, water, and food. If these
requirements are met, a human being can seek to satisfy safety needs – shelter from the storm,
safety from physical and emotional harm or abuse. Once one is fed and safe, one can think about
belonging – to families, friendships, partnerships, and societies. Belonging frees one to have a
positive and relational image of one’s self. This, in turn, allows one to love fully and to be loved.
At the peak of the pyramid is the striving of all human beings to complete themselves; to grow
always; to know one’s self; to be fully human. In Maslow’s words, the highest level of humanness
is to be “self-actualizing.”

Addendum:

Crane Metamarketing. “Review and Reflection Paper – The Galloway School”.

2006:14-15.

Anarchy? Does this bring to mind chaotic lawlessness, the extreme methods of
anarchist radicals? What on earth can anarchy have to do with the utopian ideals
of the gentle Mr. Galloway?

In fact, the two philosophies have a great deal in common. Quite the opposite of
advocating chaos, nihilism, or anomie, authentic anarchists offer positive,
harmonious visions of what they consider a truly free society: one made up of
self-governing individuals. We find the philosophy best stated as “ a desired form
of human interrelationship based upon voluntary cooperation without coercion or
control of others; also, a social orgnization modeled to accomplish this dynamic.”
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This utopian vision bears striking similarities to Mr. Galloway’s dream of a

school where students are free to learn.

Again, we raise this loaded term not to shock or invite political debate – and
certainly not to label Mr. Galloway as an anarchist – but rather to recast the
current predicament of the Galloway School by drawing a useful comparison.
The conceptual resemblance includes:

 minimal laws or rules;

 a high value on personal freedom;
 the reliance on internal motivation to behave and be a responsible member of a
community;
 an abiding belief in the potential of every person to master such internal
motivation;
 a belief that in every person exists the innate desire for acceptance and
approval;
 and a reliance on natural and social consequences to curb destructive
or antisocial behavior.

In this popularly misunderstood philosophy, we can see many of the very same,
and often misunderstood, ideals that foster joyful learning at Galloway –
freedom, self-givernance, personal responsibility, to name a few. And what a
beautiful vision it is. Why wouldn’t every person want to live and work toward
such a society?

Indeed, why wouldn’t every person?

For additional musings on educational philosophy, &c., check out the following blog:

reflectiveteaching@blogspot.com