Saturday, October 27, 2012

Blog Post #9

Mr. McClung’s “What I Learned This Year” Post 2009-2010

For this assignment Dr. Strange provided us links to Mr. McClung’s reflections of teaching throughout the years. I decided to choose the post for 2009-2010, where the teaching role had change for Mr. McClung. In the post he refers moving from Missouri to Fayetteville, Arkansas. He had to change his mentality as an educator to adapt from sixth grade to eighth grader students. In the first section, he speaks of how he adapted to multiple lessons, instead of only one. He had to teach science, social studies, and the history of Arkansas. It was a rough start for him, but he finally found a routine for him and his students. The important note to get out of it is, to never get to cozy as an educator; there are changes all around and it is a good thing for teachers.

The next section was about students thinking for themselves. He ran into a barrier, as he was teaching his social studies class, his students were unsure if they could make opinions in the classroom setting. He had to leave his opinions out of topics, or else the students would dig to find the right answer from him. Now his students are able to debate and think analytically on each situation that comes up. It is very important to allow students to share their opinions on subject matter and research for the answer; this way they can rely more amongst themselves, not teachers.

Another important section he mentioned is to make sure you show your students how much you enjoy your job. He says how sometimes he had to make a joke out of himself or lessons to keep his students involved in what they are learning. Educators should not expect students to take the lessons seriously, if we do not show them how passionate we are about our jobs. Educators have to do whatever it takes to teach the curriculum, even if that consists of making a fool of yourself in the process.

He mentions more useful tips for first year educators like finding your school mom, or the scope and sequence technique. Find your school mom simply means find an older teacher who does their job very well, to help you through the ropes. Scope and sequence is when you plan out lessons, stick with it, but also keep a cycle for the lessons you teach. The last important tip Mr. McClung states is to make sure never to bring outside problems in a classroom setting. This can affect the students, which they should have no part in the matter, of other grown folks business going on around school. As well as, make sure to keep focused in the classroom setting, listen and observe other teachers to find what fits your style as an educator.

My final thought on his post is he seems to be an amazing teacher. He is reflecting, and developing the life style as an educator through his students. Developing a relationship with your students and understanding how they enjoy learning is the key to being a good teacher. There are those teachers, who teach just to teach. I do not plan on becoming one of those teachers; I want my classroom full of excitement, so that my students will always have fun learning. I think Mr. McClung’s first tough year, he handled pretty well. I appreciate him for sharing his posts because it will help me keep a good mind set when I become an educator.

“What I Learned This Year” Post 2011-2012

Mr. McClung’s fourth year as a teacher post is a little shorter having only two main points. One point he makes was he was trying to define himself as a teacher. He was having a tough time this year, because he was starting to question what other peers thought of him as an educator. However, in the end he was not going to change himself for others approval. His students enjoyed his approach in the lessons, and that was all that mattered. The next point was in a comparison to his 2009-2010 post. Mr. McClung mentions how he was starting to rely on old lessons and becoming comfortable with the same environment. He states this is bad as for teachers because you start to lose the excitement for your students, while teaching. You pretty much become a boring teacher, if you get too cozy.

What I got out of his final post is, not to worry so much of what others think of you as an educator. This might be hard for me because I am constantly wondering what others think of me. I will do my best to not let it get a hold of me as an educator, in order to keep a pleasurable classroom environment. As of his second tip, seems like educators should always have something new up their sleeves. To always save some creative work for other years will help you as an educator. Again I thank Mr. McClung for his informative learning’s as an educator, and I plan to look back at his post throughout the years of his teachings.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Jazmin! I really enjoyed reading your blog post on the assignment. I agree that Mr. McClung seems to be an amazing teacher. Your post was very thorough and very well thought out. I did find one error: "the teaching role change for Mr. McClung..."-change should be changed. You did a great job. Keep up the great work!!

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  2. Hi Jazmin,
    I really enjoyed reading your post! You can have written great posts! Your post is thoughtful! I also like his reflection for his teaching experiences. However, you have little grammar problems. Present forms and past forms are mixed up together in a sentence. For example, "One point he makes was he was trying to define himself as a teacher." I think "One point he made was he was trying to define himself as a teacher."

    Good job!
    Keep up your great work!

    Keiko

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  3. Hi Jazmin, I'm Jessica my person didn't have a post so I decided to comment on yours. Didn't you like the way Mr. McClung reflected on his teaching skills? I agree that teachers shouldn't focus on what others might think, and I also agree that might be hard to do. Of course we care what our peers think it's hard not to. All around I thought this was a good post.

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  4. Hey Jazmin,
    Very well worded and thought out post. I loved the detailed descriptions you gave of Mr. McCloud's posts. I feel like you. He is defiantly a great teacher. I hope you continue to get better and better as a teacher and blogger. See you in class.

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