"What I Have Learned this Year" (2008-09)
See this post here!
I especially loved this blog post! You can truly understand that he was a first year teacher. Mr. McClung posted lots of helpful tips for new, inexperienced teachers. Realizing that it is not all about me, the teacher, is crucial. We are there for the students and their learning, so the focus and energy should be on them, not ourselves. We have to realize that not everything is going to go smoothly, especially in education. Therefore, we have to find that flexible bone in our body! There is no need to get worked up over something that did not go as planned. We need to simply move on and come up with something else! Backup plans are key. Communication is important especially in the work place. Even though it might be tough, talk it out, it will be better in the end. We have to set reasonable goals for our students. Like Mr. McClung I could not stand coming to class. Sometimes I felt as if too much was demanded of me and I could never meet the expectations of my teacher. What our students have to say is important, so listening and getting to know our students better should be top priority. And lastly, we can never stop learning. Actually, we never should.
"What I Learned this Year- Volume 4"
Find this post here!
Mr. McClung found it hard trying to figure out who he was as an educator after his fourth year in teaching. He had a good standing reputation with his students, but he seemed to be placing importance on what his peers thought of him. He discovered that taking care of his students is what is important and that worrying about what others think of him has never resulted in anything positive. I think we can all learn from this. Like mentioned above in his previous post, our students are our main focus. Yes, it is easy to get caught up in things outside of class, in this case, peer acceptance. However, that carries over into our class and our students will suffer from our personal lives.
Mr. McClung has taught the same subject the past four years and he noticed himself becoming routine with what he was doing within the class. He was being dependent on old lesson plans and his creativity was slowly dwindling. Luckily, he was presented with the offer of teaching an AP course and he gladly accepted. He felt like this was a door opened for a fresh start. He mentioned that school was difficult for him as a child and he basically dreaded going to class. He knew that because of his lack of enthusiasm, his students would reap from that. He did not want his students to experience what he did in elementary school. This post really speaks volumes of how we as educators need to keep it fresh in our classrooms and be creative! We must remember our students futures are at stake.
