Blog Post #9

The first post of Mr.McClung's that I read was "What I Learned this Year (2008-09). " In this post McClung writes about his first year teaching as a stand alone teacher. He talks about how the student comes first and we as teachers often forget this. Teachers make lesson plans and get so worked up about how they will get evaluated that they forget how the student will interpret it. We cannot get stressed to much about the lesson plans because they will never be perfect. The important thing is to make sure we realize our mistakes and learn from them. He also mentions technology and how we should not be afraid of it. We as teachers need to embrace and take advantage of it.

This is probably my favorite blog post that I have read this semester. It was great getting to hear about a teachers first experiences in a classroom. It prepared me for some things that I will encounter when I start teaching. I really enjoyed how he incorporated the importance of communication in his blog post. I agree that most conflicts can be resolved through communication.

The second blog post that I read was "What I Learned this Year (2009-10)." This blog post was about Joe McClung's second year teaching. He moved grades form 6th to 8th. He writes about the transition and the hardships that he had to overcome. McClung also talks about teaching subjects that you really have no idea how to teach. This is helpful to many people because I am sure most teachers have to deal with this at least some point in their career.  

This post reached out to me just as much as McClungs first post did. He wrote about another important thing to do when it is your first year teaching, and that is finding a friend in a school mom. I know this is important because my mom was a school mom. I can remember how much she helped my teacher and how grateful my teacher was. Another topic that I enjoyed reading about was discussing current events in school. McClung says that so many of these children do not think for themselves and we as teachers must figure out a way to help them do this.