Mr. Fallon Represents What it Means to Be a Teacher at Galloway
In the Galloway community, everyone plays a role in making Galloway the incredible school it is. A key factor to a smooth-running school is the teachers - when our teachers fail to meet the expectations of Mr. Galloway, it shows. When teachers exceed those expectations, it’s pretty obvious; these are the teachers who inspire students to learn and change their perspective on learning. For me, that teacher was Mr. Fallon.
Mr. Fallon has been a part of the Galloway community for 15 years, and he loves it more every day due to its “uniqueness” and “identity.” Although he’s taught at four other schools, he feels Galloway is the best place to teach because he can see how much Galloway’s students “value and love learning.” He says that he appreciates Galloway because it’s a “progressive school,” and because it’s constantly trying to stay true to “Elliott Galloway’s mission of fostering the love of learning, lifelong learning, advocacy, [and] service.”
In Middle Learning, Mr. Fallon is the 8th-grade science teacher, and he gets to express himself freely throughout his class. Because Galloway tends to be more untraditional and has “no conformity” compared to other schools, Mr. Fallon gets to bring his originality to his class by creating assignments such as the boat race, which has become famous for being students’ all-time favorite project. During the boat race, students get to build cardboard boats that they will attempt to row across the Chastain pool. Mr. Fallon’s class is very interactive, which is partly why he thinks students enjoy his class. Mr. Fallon enjoys teaching 8th graders because they are more mature than the grades below them, but they’re still young enough to have fun in class. Additionally, there’s a lot of visual growth that happens from the beginning of the year to their middle school graduation, which Mr. Fallon enjoys because “it's rewarding being able to watch [his students] grow and become successful - in and outside of the classroom.”
Mr. Fallon is constantly striving to be a better teacher because he knows that being a part of the Galloway community is no small task and that it requires a lot of work to meet Mr. Galloway’s expectations. To do this, he says that he has to remind himself of a few things: “[his] students have other classes,” they have their own lives outside of school, and teaching requires patience. Every day, even after almost two decades, Mr. Fallon approaches each class with the goal that his students will “be engaged, hands-on, [always] thinking, and collaborative, rather than just being fed information” so that “they can get excited about science.” He can continue teaching after so long because, he says, “I love what I do, [and] work doesn’t feel like work.”
Mr. Fallon is an excellent example of what it means to be a teacher at The Galloway School; he never fails to represent the mission and legacy of Mr. Galloway. As a past student of his, I can say that I’ve seen his dedication to teaching, and he makes sure that there’s an equal amount of respect reciprocated between him and his students. Mr. Fallon tries to do more than just be a teacher - he seeks a genuine relationship with every one of his students. By doing all these things, Mr. Fallon has successfully achieved the goals and values of the school, with his contributions ultimately making Galloway a better place.
By Marin Zocca