Blog Post #9

What I Learned This Year - Volume 4 2011-2012

Mr. McClung has a wonderful perception about teaching. He states in his blog that teachers work for the students. I love this because when we work for someone, we always try to do a good job. I guess instead of the children paying us with money, they pay us by learning. Mr. McClung's goal is to ensure his students are enjoying themselves while they learn. What I took from his first theme, was work with who you have. The students are who we teach and have all day, so worry and take care of them; everyone else will/should be happy and respect a person for this. His theme is Dance with who you came with. I believe my take on his theme is on target with his words. If his students are learning and happy, his peers should be happy for him.

By writing and keeping a blog, teachers can do a self-assessment on themselves each year. The blog will allow a teacher to reflect on good things that happened within the year and improve on things that went wrong. Other peers and students reading the blog may offer their opinion and also help better my teaching skills.

Mr. McClung's second theme was Challenge Yourself. This theme tells how a teacher can get bored with themselves if they do not change it up sometimes. As a future teacher, this is something I worry about a lot; How will I keep my students excited about learning? What kind of skills will I teach as a physical education teacher, that will keep my students excited about good health. Mr. McClung used words that helped to express his feelings; the words were suck and funk. I have sat in classes that were so boring, I hated to go to them each day.

After reading this blog and even having these thoughts before reading it, I probably need to consider a minor in another area in education,just to have a choice. Mr. McClung will always be a good teacher because he will always try to make his class enjoyable for his students.


What I Learned This Year 2008-2009 I chose to read Mr. McClung's latest blog first. After reading his first one last, it seems as though Mr. McClung grew as a teachers. Maybe he didn't grow so much, but had different things to learn as a new teacher. Even in this blog, Mr. McClung realized he had to change the group he was trying to please. He learned in that first year, his goal had to be focused on the students. As a new teacher, I do plan on having good communication skills. I also hope I am placed with a good mentor, who will help guide me through my first year. An important point made by Mr. McClung is for us to remember that we are dealing with children. He suggests we don't go crazy and to be sure to make our expectations attainable for our students.

This blog definitely helps me to feel more comfortable as a future educator. Mr. McClung's suggestions is to realize we are not perfect and we will make mistakes; this takes a lot of heat off the rookie teacher. The last point made by Mr. McClung was for us to always be willing to learn. This is a statement that has been made throughout this class. With technology always changing, we should always be willing to learn.