Blog Assignment 9

Joe McClung, What I Learned, Volume 1

Joe McClung gives a reflection of what he has learned his first year teaching in Noel, Missouri. McClung reveals that he has matured a lot his first year, and McClung shares seven of the most beneficial things he learned. Teachers should read the crowd because as first year teachers we are used to receiving the information, but not delivering. Therefore, when teaching, students should dictate where the lesson should go. The second concept is to be flexible. When teaching every lesson will not be perfect, therefore, do not get upset with students if a lesson does not go as plan, just fix the problem. Third, we should be reasonable it is okay to have high expectations of our students, but if student do not live up to the high expectations teachers should not get upset. Fourth, we should listen to our student. The last concepts are teacher focused, McClung suggests as educators we should not be afraid of technology, never stop learning, and communicate. Teachers must understand that computers were not created to take over the world, but as a tool to use to help us along the way. However, teachers should be always open to learning, whether it is about technology or anything that will help us.

Joe McClung, What I Learned Volume 4

Joe McClung is now a fourth year teacher in Fayetteville that writes a blog post at the end of every year. Volume 4 is about McClung's struggle of how his peers rate him as a teacher. He is so caught up wondering how his peers see him, that he loses sight of his reason for teaching; the students. McClung finally realized the only thing that matters was the happiness and the learning of his students. The second thing McClung learned was he should always challenge himself. McClung taught social studies and history for 3 years and he started getting comfortable with following the same routine. McClung failed to update his lesson plans or add new, creative ideas when teaching. McClung learned that if teachers get comfortable teaching the same lesson year after year and not add anything new; their lesson will be boring and will not be effective.

I found McClung's reflection of each year teaching very helpful because the reflections equip me for my years of teaching. Like McClung, I may have been conscious of being accepted by the teachers, but when I think about the student's perspective of me and how I teach, I could easily get over what others think. McClung's reflection also helps me when knowing what to expect my first year teaching. The most influential concept was not being afraid of technology and never stop learning. If teachers never stop learning, then they will always be up-to-date on new concepts to teach the students, resulting in new information being taught to the students. Teachers must also understand how valuable technology is and not be afraid of change. Older teachers are afraid of technology because they have not had enough training on the benefits, but young educators should not have an excuse not to use technology.