Thursday, October 20, 2011

Blog Post Assignment 9

a bright red, smooth apple with a stem and leaf


What I've Learned this year 2008-20009
What I've Learned This Year 2009-2010

I read Mr. McClung's post about his first year and third year of teaching. he made some very interesting points and gave some insight about what he learned throughout the year as he taught. one of his first points was to make lessons students centered. Mr. McClung says, "Let your audience drive your instruction." I think this is a great point because we can get caught up in trying to meet certain criteria and forget about focusing on the students. He also says to be flexible when making and teaching lessons plans. I believe that we need to be able to adapt and change as we are teaching. He also learned that we must be reasonable.He says we should not set goals that our students cannot meet and we de not need to get upset when they do not meet goals we hoped they would. "Our job as teachers is to simply pick them up after they fail, dust them off, and encourage then to try again." McClung says to not be afraid to use technology and I fell that through taking this course I will not be afraid to implement it into my classroom. The last thing he states is to never stop learning. I think it is important to be a life long learner because you can never know it all. These are things that he learned in his first year of teaching in Noel, Missouri.
In his third year of teaching in Arkansas he was a head coach for the first time and he also was a computer applications teacher for the first time. He says, "Know who your Boss is." Don't get all caught up in trying to please others that you forget about your mission and main focus. I think it is easy for us to get caught up in trying to please others because we seek the approval of others. McClung says to remember that students are always the focus. Another point he makes is that we should remain and optimist but "don't expect others to be excited about change as you are." When he goes to Professional Development sessions he gets excited about the new ideas but when he looks around the room he sees people who are completely disinterested in the ideas. He says, " You have to embody the aspects of teaching that you enjoy and not allow others to influence or steer you away from that." He also has learned that it's ok to be an outsider. We should not worry about trying to fit in with the other teachers. Do what you like, it ok to eat lunch with your students and not in the teachers lounge. He has leaned some words of wisdoms from a fellow teacher he talks to on a daily basis, "Don't Touch the Keyboard." let students do for themselves, if they are struggling do not jump in and complete the work for them, they will never learn it for themselves if you do. McClung says that although they may suffer then, they will be better off in the long run. The last lesson he has lerned is to not get comfortable with his teaching. He says that things get easier but be careful not to fall into a routine because that when things can get boring for students. we need to challenge ourselves and as he said earlier, never stop learning.
I added Mr. McClungs blog,At the Teacher's Desk to my PLN. I thought he has some interesting ideas and I would love to read his post about what he learned at the end of this school year.

1 comment:

  1. Stephanie,

    It is clear that you have learned a great deal from Mr. McClung's experiences. Good job on the blog post!

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