Blog Post #9

What I've learned This Year 2008-2009

The blog post What I’ve Learned This Year 2008-2009 written by Joe McClung is about his first year of teaching. He talked about his first year accomplishments as well as those things that he learned from. Reading his reflections gives you a firsthand look at his personal experiences. I think it is important to notice that he did not have a perfect first year and many teachers don’t have a perfect first year but he learned unlike some teachers. This blog post was encouraging and made me feel less worried about first year teaching. He gave great advice on how to read a class or crowd of people, this is a very critical and important lesson to learn and remember. Mr. McClung thought teachers were often too worried about pleasing the administration and staff rather than focusing on the students, and the lessons at hand. He included in his blog a reminder to teachers to be flexible, this is very good advice. Students’ lives and classroom disruptions are irregular and change on a day to day basis. Communication and interpersonal skills are very significant when building relationships with children and adults, with students, parents and staff members.

What I've Learned This Year Volume 4

What I Learned This Year volume 4 was Mr. McClung's fourth year reflective blog entry. He talks about how he had a struggle with trying to define himself as a teacher. He spoke about how he was so worried about how his peers viewed him and this was a first for him because in the previous years of teaching he has never worried about how his peers viewed him. If you spend your energy worrying about your peers opinions, you lose focus on your students. The goal as a teacher is not to be a people or even student pleaser, your goal should be to teach your students, make sure they are enjoying class, and help make them truly learn. It is very important to remember that focus. Mr. McClung gathered himself together and realized that it really doesn’t matter what your peers think because you are not there for them you are there for your students and to make sure they are learning. I am glad he realized that because you never want to change yourself as a teacher due to a peer as long as the children are enjoying you and they are learning that is all that matters. Mr. McClung also spoke on about not getting too comfortable. He has taught at the same school and subject for the past 4 years and he realized that he was using the same lesson plans and was not doing new things which means eventually the kids get bored and aren’t having fun in the class and when the kids are bored and not having fun they are not learning. Mr. McClung realized what he was doing and was not happy about it and then he got the opportunity to teach a different subject which he said is a great thing. He said it will be a challenge because he has to learn the material and do new lesson plans but that is a good thing so he can change things up. I really enjoyed reading these posts because they help me learn what to do and what not to do when I become a teacher.