Meet Mr. Dan Gill Glenfield House Leader and Social Studies Teacher

Gill has been teaching at Glenfield since 1970, when he moved to the District from a teaching position in New York City. He came at the urging of Joe Bongo, his professor at Teacher’s College, Columbia University, who was also, at the time, principal of Hillside School. During the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Montclair schools were in the process of desegregating. Mr. Gill was 25 years old and, he says, full of confidence that he could make a difference. At Glenfield he was central to the implementation of the house system, whereby students stay with the same core teachers through their three years of middle school. Mr. Gill, who is the lead teacher of House Gill, says he views helping students find their curiosity as one of his primary roles as an educator. He is the recipient of two Weston Awards for Excellence in Teaching as well as the Montclair NAACP’s 2013 Teaching Award.

You have said, Mr. Gill, that there is a fundamental difference between junior high school and middle school. Could you explain?

The junior high model is about preparing students for high school, with a teacher at each grade level who specializes in each discipline. Students move classroom to classroom and year to year learning information in disparate ways; there’s no connection among math and science and social science and language arts. When we looked at how best to serve students in grades six, seven and eight, we looked at several areas: the social and emotional state of students—that’s the most important; the connection of disciplines to create a greater understanding of different subjects; providing guidance and encouragement; keeping parents informed with daily emails and meetings; and the arts, which are ancillary in the junior high setting. Here at Glenfield, art, dance, and music are huge.

Have kids changed in the 44 years you’ve been teaching?

First, I’ll say kids are kids. But they aren’t as well read these days, given other distractions, which is why I have them write monthly book reports and memorize important literary passages. This week they’re reading and reciting [Babylonian king] Hammurabi’s codes of law, the first laws in recorded history. People want to say that technology has changed kids. I don’t know if that’s a bad thing. It’s true it’s a distraction, but it’s my belief that if we have a shot at world peace it will be because kids are Skype-ing with one another across international borders. Students understand that the great power of the computer is for communication. But we’re still struggling to wrap our hands around how to use technology well as an instructional tool.

How has the teaching of social studies changed?

If you boil it down, social studies is about being a lifelong learner and being interested in human nature and how we organize ourselves. It’s about understanding big ideas and why they matter. None of that has changed. However, there are a lot more US presidents than there were when I started teaching.

What are your goals in the classroom?

I’m not big on getting the right answer. At some point before students come to me as sixth graders they’ve become immune to the curiosity they had as young children. They don’t want to appear different from other kids, so they try to blend. I don’t know when or why that happens, but it does, and when they come to me, my goal is to build back that curiosity. I ask lots of questions. I try to create an atmosphere where curiosity is rewarded and no question is dumb. And I try to get them to apply that curiosity to themselves and their world.

I want them to leave here a little more curious. For instance, do you know what’s on the walls as you enter the main doors of Montclair High? On the left is a plaque of the young men from Montclair who died during The Great War. On the right is a plaque of the young men who died during World War II. I want my students to know that they are connected to those young men.

I also want kids to be comfortable in their own skin, to be comfortable with their awkwardness. Understanding their social and emotional makeup is critical to their feeling safe in their learning environment.

Finally, I’d like for them to understand that the power of the pen is the greatest power of all.

Do you think you’ve made a difference?

Not long ago, one of my former students—her name is Sara Trongone—invited me to a special luncheon just before her Cornell commencement. She was an anthropology major, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and she was able to invite to this luncheon a high school teacher who’d made a difference in her education. Sara received special dispensation to invite a middle school teacher instead. She gave a speech during which she addressed me saying, “You told me in the sixth grade and then again in the seventh and eighth grades that you thought I could do better. In twelfth grade, I finally heard your voice in my head. And I decided to do better.” Events like that renew your faith in what you do.

What is the highlight of your teaching career?

Being part of this experiment, of creating a fabric that is the middle school experience.

When you look back on your history at Glenfield, what do you think?

It’s like being an artist. You’re never finished. Every day is an opportunity to paint a new mural.

Information and Photo Courtesy of the Montclair Public School District