Blog Post 9

Mr. Joe McClung May 27, 2009

Mr. McClung starts off explaining he was a new teacher in Noel, Missouri. He describes that he had no idea what to expect as an elementary teacher but over the past year he has matured and learned a lot. I understand exactly how he felt that first day. I feel that way all the time right now. I have no idea what to expect my first year teaching. Thankfully, Mr. McClung has given me hope that after my first year I will grow as a teacher and learn a lot through the experience.

Mr. McClung goes on to explain a few things he learned through the year. The first thing he talks about is how to read a crowd. He talks about that when he was going through college he thought it was all about him and how he was being looked at by his superiors. Through this thinking he lost touch with the students when he gave lessons. He sees a lot of problems with teachers now days is they do not make lessons student centered. This leads to the students not fully comprehending the material. I could not agree with him more. I think so many teachers are concerned with how other teachers and the principal of a school feel about the lessons they are giving students that they forget about the student. I hope that when I teach I will make sure my students comprehend what I teach. I think if your students are able to comprehend your lesson then the way your superiors look at you is already taken care of.

He then explain how to be flexible, communicate, be reasonable, and to not be afraid of technology. He explains in his post that we have to remember that "the lesson you teach and the one you plan are always different". He then goes on to say that you cannot let mistakes get to you and get over the fact if a lesson does not go well. He give positive reinforcement by saying "simply work with it and try to better the situation". I am sure this is one thing I will have a lot of trouble with. I am a person that likes to plan out everything. I am getting better about being more flexible but still have a long road in front of me. Mr. McClung talks about communication and how it is important in building relationships with other teachers. He says that communication is a hard skill to develop. Thankfully, I am very good at communicating. I am not scared to ask questions and admit when I need help. I also am very good with talking to kids. They seem to like to talk to me and feel like they can tell me anything. Hopefully, this will be helpful in my first year. He then says to not be upset when a student does not meet an expectation. He then says "our job as teachers is to simply pick them up after they fail, dust them off, and encourage them to try again. I feel confident that I will be reasonable. I have always had high expectations set for me. The one good thing is if I did not meet the expectation my parents would do exactly what Mr. McClung says the job of a teacher is. This really helps me as a teacher because I have had great role models show me how to do this.

I think the too biggest things in the post he learns are to listen to your students and never stop learning. He had a child list on their end of the year survey that he/she knew the teacher cared about them as a person when he listens to what they say. This not only impacted Mr. McClung but it has impacted me. This makes me really what to know my students and take the time to answer every question and listen to every story the children want to share with me. We, as teachers, have a chance to make a difference in every child's life, but we have to listen to them for them to trust us. Finally, he talks about how we owe it to our students to learn new ways of thinking, learning, and styles of teaching. This statement is so true. I have seen through EDM 310 that technology is changing every day. In order for teachers to really impact a student and make sure they succeed in life the teacher needs to continue to learn.

Mr. Joe McClung June 23, 2011

Mr. McClung talks about his experiences as a teacher after his third year. He starts off saying this was his first year to be at the same school for more than one year, be a head coach, be a cross country coach, and be a computer applications teacher. He then lists the things he has learned the past year as in the two posts before this one.

He starts off with stating you need to know who your boss is and to not expect others to be as excited about change as you are. He starts off with something I remember he said in the first post I read. "If you are not careful you can become completely consumed with trying to please so many individuals that sometimes your own students get left out of the picture." He does not mean that you need to know who you boss is meaning principal. He means your boss needs to be the students. They are what your primary focus should be. I love the way he phrases the students as the boss. I could not have said it better myself. I want my students to be my primary focus that is why I am a teacher and I hope that is why other teachers are teachers. He then explains that you cannot let other people put a damper on things you find exciting. I hate to say it but I am one of those people he describes that sits in the back of the room checking facebook and not really paying attention. However, now that I am taking EDM 310 I see how important it is to be excited about new techniques and new technology. I will now be like Mr. McClung and be the person sitting in the front engaged in the lecture and excited about the changes in education.

Two others things he mentions in this post is to not be afraid to be an outsider and do not get comfortable. Mr. McClung does not realize this but he explains me and the way I look at school. I have always been the outsider throughout school. I do not really care about fitting in with people. I go to school to get an education and a degree. I thought that was what school was there for so I am making sure I do what it is there for. I will approach my teaching career the same way. I am there to teach students and make sure they comprehend what I teach them. I am not there to be accepted by the teachers. The biggest advice he gives in my opinion is about noe getting comfortable. Once you start teaching the things you worried about while in school are now easy because you are not stressed and there is not a grade for what you are doing. The way you can prevent yourself from getting comfortable is think of new ways to plan, grade, and instruct. He states perfectly "we cannot afford to be passive in education; we need to be willing to be 'movers and shakers' and be advocates for the changes that need to happen in our schools".

Finally, he states something in this post that our teacher Dr. Strange in EDM 310 has also been trying to teach us by him instructing us this way. "If you touch the keyboard and take over the task that they are trying to learn than they will never learn how to do it on their own and you end up doing all the work." Dr. Strange teaches us by making us use tools that we will have to use in classrooms, however, he is not there to do it for us. His helpers and him will help if you need it but they will not sit there with you and do the project for you, you have to do that yourself in order to learn. Mr. McClung relates this to teaching and how we, as teachers, want to help a student who is having difficulty and accidently end up doing it for them. Doing this will lead to the students never mastering the skill and it hindering them through school.