Blog Post #9

"What I've Learned this Year (2008-2009)"

In this post, Dr. Mclung talks about what he learned hist first year of being a teacher. He tells about how he learned that it really isn't about the teacher, it is about the students being able to learn what you are teaching. He also talks about a solution he found to fix a problem in the work environment; communicate with your co-workers. He said that it is one of the hardest things to do, but it works! He then talks about how sometimes teachers build up their expectations too high for students, and he says that teachers should make sure they are being reasonable. He cracked me up when he began to talk about teachers being afraid of technology. He stated "Grown adults everywhere are afraid of computers like it's a bad horror film and computers are trying to take over the world. " Might I add, he is right! There are many teachers who won't touch anything except their computers, and that is either to get on the web, or to take role. Dr. Mclung also says that he learned to listen to his students, and that it was important to keep a good teacher-student relationship with them. Lastly, he says that educators should never stop learning. Can I just say, Amen to that!

There were several things that he said that really stood out to me. One thing was "A common theme that I have seen in a lot of teachers is the fact that they do not make their lessons student centered. They become so concerned with the delivery of the content that they are missing the most important aspect of teaching, and that is checking for student comprehension." I think he is so right! This is very true, and after reading this it made me think about whenever I give lessons. I am always worried about how to give it, instead of how the students take it. This is almost considered selfish, to an extent. From now on, whenever I go to teach anything I will always consider the students view first. Another thing I really liked that he said was to listen to your students. So many times, we ignore them because we are in a bad mood or just don't feel like hearing their input. We need to stop being selfish and try to listen to them more. A third thing that I liked was when he said we should never stop learning. I really liked that because if we stop learning, then we will stop "updating" our curriculum and lessons to go along with the current technology trends and learning styles.

What I've Learned this Year (2010-2011)

In this post, Dr. Mclung tells about his third year teaching. He says that it is his first year to be a head coach, a cross-country coach, to teach a second year at the same school, and a computer app. teacher. He says that he learned that it is far more important to focus on your students than to focus on what others think of you. I agree with him. It is more important for us to teach our students in ways that best work for them, than to worry about what other coworkers think about our method of doing so. As long as your methods are legal and they are teaching the students correctly, I don't see where it would matter. Second, he says "Don't expect other to be as excited about change as you are." He then tells about how he is an optimist, and there are others who are not so optimistic about new things. His opinion is that you should ignore them and go on with your excitement. Yet again, I agree! I am an optimist as well, and I think that if your school were to make "changes" and you were to go about it dead set that it was not going to work, then more than most likely it won't work for you. It might, however, work for others who go about it positively.


The next thing he mentions kind of goes along with the previous topic, and that's "Don't be afraid to be an outsider." He explains his point, that if you are going to be yourself, you cannot be afraid to be different. After that, he talks about not doing the students' work for them when they have questions. He mentions that if we do the work for them, then they will never master the skills. I understand what he is saying, and I believe he is right. It is easy for us to get annoyed sometimes with students who ask question after question and do not ever do the work right, and so sometimes we get "fed up" with them and just feel the urge show them how to do the work. It is ok to help them, but if we just give them the answers they might not ever learn how to fend for themselves. Lastly, he says "Don't get comfortable." He talks about how it is important that we not get "comfortable" doing the same thing every day, because then we will just be boring old teachers that don't try anything new. I know that growing up, I liked it when I had teachers that were willing to try something new, so I definitely agree with him here. I really enjoyed reading his posts! They have actually taught me a few pointers for whenever I become an "official" teacher.