In reading, Mr. Joe McClung's "What I've Learned This Year" (May 27, 2009) he stated: "An Important decision I have made this year is
Stay Positive"
In this post Mr. McClung talked about how inexperienced he was as a first year teacher, but also about how much he learned during that year! He talked about how teachers could get carried away, teaching for their superiors, rather than focusing on their students and making sure they understand the lessons.
"NO LESSON IS EVER PERFECT. THE LESSON YOU TEACH AND THE ONE YOU PLAN ARE ALWAYS DIFFERENT."
Mr. McClung explained how he always liked to be in control, and didn't like it when things didn't go his way or the way he planned. He said he learned he had to "get over it". He would just try to make due with whatever came his way. He said You, as a teacher, need to: be flexible, communicate, be reasonable, don't be afraid of technology, Listen to your students, and Never stop learning!
He advised to always communicate with fellow teachers and co-workers, to build better relationships. When he talked about being reasonable, he said not to hold our students expectations too high, and don't be dissapointed if they don't meet our expectations. We, as teachers, are to encourage a student who fails at something, to try again and not to be afraid to do so.
When Mr. McClung talked about technology, he was very humerous, saying,
"Grown adults everywhere are afraid of computers like it's a bad horror film and computers are trying to take over the world."
To me, this was a good way to get his point across that computers will not harm us, and can actually be a great resource for us to use. I really enjoyed reading the part about listening to your students. I agree with him, that listening to what your students have to say is a giant necessity! It is important that we know our students and what is going on with them. By knowing this information, it can help us understand how and why a particular acts the way they do.
Finally, at the end of this blog post, Mr. McClung talked about how important it is for us to always be learning. We will be of no use to our students if we are "set in our ways" or refuse to change our outlook or absorb new information. Like he said, "We owe it to our students."
I also read Mr. McClung's blog post from his third year as a teacher.
"What I Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung
To start off, I noticed in this post that he seemed more familiar with writing and he even had a picture of his homeroom students, from the last day of school. He began the blog by talking about how (his third year) was the "first experience as a head coach", and how it was also his first year "as a computer applications teacher". He also talked about how he found himself trying to please everyone.
"Our decision making process should always be student centered and not centered around pleasing adults."
He insisted that students should always be the main focus on how we teach. I completely agree with this, as I have four children, I know how everything I do in life is for them; To help them, benefit them; and teach them. The same is true of the students we teach (that is why we are there). We are here for them; to help them; benefit them; and teach them!
Mr. McClung also talked about how there will always be teachers who don't want to change things or try anything different. In light of these people, we don't have to become discouraged. We remain excited about the things the interest us and make our own ways, our own changes. He also explained that it's even okay to "not fit in with teachers". He enjoys eating and staying connected with his students. (I also read the comments that other teachers made, at the end of this post, about this point. It was very interesting to me, how the teachers gave their opposite opinions about certain points that Mr. McClung made. I enjoyed reading the comments, especially when Mr. McClung wrote back and thanked them for their comments, and even wrote back to them.)
He mentioned that we need to let our students learn for themselves as much as possible, and not take over for them. They will never do the work on their own, if they know we will do it for them! At the end he explained, that as teachers we should not get "comfortable" with how we teach. We need to be willing to make changes and keep things different and interesting to our students.
I truly enjoyed reading Mr. McClung's blogs. They were very helpful to me. I feel like I learned a lot from what he had to say!
