Friday, March 22, 2013

Blog Post #9

Mr. McClung's Version 4 Post:

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Mr. McClung discusses some really great points on teaching at the end of his fourth year. The best advice he can give is that make sure your students are happy! He did focus a lot on how his students perceived him; but that was, of course, not a great idea. There is always going to be someone, somewhere that does not like something you do or say. This is especially hard for teachers because of the fact we have to do our jobs and do it effectively. He also made sure that his students did not resent school. This is very important because everyone has struggled with not liking school at one point in their life. I think it is very important for teachers and future teachers to make sure we make school as enjoyable as possible.  He also talks about how he lost a lot of creativity over the years because he taught the same material over and over. This is where he said his students started not to enjoy class and that was something he did not want to happen. That is why it is so important to make sure that each year; we strive to make sure our lessons are better than before and the lessons that were not so great should be revised and maybe new ones should be made. Yes, that means more work on top of the work we had before. But in the long run, our students will be happier and so will the teachers!

What I've Learned This Year (2008-2009):

This blog post was written after Mr. McClung's first year of teaching. He gives a lot of great advice. I'm just going to pick a few that really stand out for me personally. Be flexible with your lesson plans! There is never going to be a perfect lesson plan and that is okay! I think this is a problem among teachers because we do strive to be perfect and have perfect classrooms. BUT we are human and we are not perfect. So we just need to strive to be as great as possible. Mr. McClung talks about being reasonable with your students. We all hold students up to a very high standard and when they do not meet the expectations of what we think they are; we are very hard on them. He says that instead of letting them think they failed; pick the student up and tell them to try again. I think this is perfect with all aspects of life; but especially with school. We are not always going to understand everything the first time and that means we have to study harder or lok at from another perspective. Yes, school is very hard but the reward you get from accomplishing school is an amazing feeling! The last and most important piece of advice is to always listen to your students. It is very important to have a bond with your students. This means getting to know them on a personal level, as well. It is very important to listen to what a child says. I want to be the teacher that listens to her students and make sure they know I am hearing what they say, rather than just listening to them and nodding my head. Communication is a failing existence in our generation; which means that it is our job to make sure we communicate effectively with our students.

I really enjoyed reading Mr. McClung's blog posts about his teaching career! I have some great insight about what my future will hold as a teacher and I think I am up for the all the responsibilities ahead of me!

2 comments:

  1. I hope you will make annual reflections like Mr. McClung.

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  2. Kayla,
    You have written a thoughtful post about Mr.McClung's writings. I do have one suggestion about your writing, proofread your posts before you submit. This is one technique which has helped to improve my writing. This technique will help minimize easily overlooked grammatical errors. For example, "This is where he said his students started not to enjoy class and that was something he did not want to happen." This sentence isn't written as well as it could be, but the sentence is beneficial and has great potential. I enjoyed reading your thoughtful post. Keep at it!

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