Blog Assignment 9

What I've Learned This Year (08-09)

In this blog post Mr. McClung writes about his first year experience as a teacher. I really enjoyed reading this blog. You can read it here! I love the way he provided his personal experiences to gives advice to new teachers. His first point was "Reading the Crowd". With this he was explaining that it is not all about the teacher, but the students. As a first time teacher, I would think, it would be easy to get caught up in thinking that it is all about you, the teacher. He explains that it is not so much about the delivery of the content, but about the student comprehension. His next point was "Be Flexible". His point was that no lesson is perfect. As educators, we must realize that most of the lessons we plan will not go6 exactly the way we want them to. He gives advice by stating that when things are not going the way you plan, just work with it and better the situation, and to always do things with a smile. He also talks about communication and being reasonable with our students. As teachers, we must realize that students sometimes reach our expectations and sometimes they don't. When they don't reach our expectations we must not get upset or discouraged, but understand that we are working with children. We also must stay open to new things like technology, always listen to our students, and accept new experiences as learning opportunities.

What I've Learned This Year- Volume 4

This blog post is also written by Mr. McClung. This is his fourth writing on what he learned at the end of every school year he has taught. He only had two points to share with us in the particular blog post. his first point was "You Gotta Dance With Who You Brought to the Dance". In this point he writes about how he struggled with being concerned with what his peers thought about him as a teacher. I always find myself thinking about what other people think of me as a person and a student. The advice that Mr. McClung gives is to not change yourself based of other's perception. As an educator, we must always make sure that our students are having fun. He writes that regardless of what his peers were thinking, he asked himself, "Are the kids having fun?" As long as this question was answered for him, he knew that he was doing what it was he was supposed to be doing.

His second point in this blog post was "Challenge Yourself". In this point McClung enlightens us about him becoming too comfortable in his teachings. He advices teachers who have been teaching the same subject for awhile, to switch up things. He writes that you should never get complacent in your teachings, because with this, your students get bored. I love this advice, because the last thing I want, as a teacher, is for my students to dread my class. I will always remember this advice that Mr. McClung has given.
Check out this blog post here!