Blog Post #9

What I learned this year - 2009/2010
In his second post, Mr. McClung talks about his achievements, faults, and lessons learned in his second year of teaching. He brings up some very good points. You have to adapt your lesson plan to your students. Otherwise you will become the "ghost of [history] teachers past". If you go through your lessons without taking into consideration of who your students are and what is important to them, then you're not helping them grow to their full potential. You're simply passing them along into the next grade level. I like his idea of finding a "mother figure" in the school. Finding someone who knows what's going on in the school can really help you to stay sane and up-to-date. They can also be a source of comfort when you're going through stressful times. McClung says to "leave your ego at the door". This means, don't be afraid to be passionate or "crazy" about what you do. Students follow by example and if they see that you love the subject then they're more likely to love the subject too. It's never dorky to be in love with what you do.
He also says not to be a control freak. If you try and control your students too much, then you could stifle their learning. There's no freedom or chance at creativity. Students need time to figure things out for themselves and use the teacher when they've hit a mental "barrier". You can't let the students always depend on you for the right answer. You might not have it. They need to know that not everyone has a right answer and some things only require an opinion. I want to get my students talking and see what their opinions are.

What I learned This Year - Volume 4 (2011-2012)
In his fourth post, Mr. McClung expresses what he has learned during his fourth year of teaching. He said that although he has had another full year of experience, he hasn't learn anything particularly new. He blames this on the fact that he has gotten comfortable with his surroundings and is beginning to fall into his own place in the school. The students and staff know him and were he stands as a teacher. He talks about his concern with his comfortable situation. He worries that this level of comfort is messing with his creativity. In order to fix this, he stepped out of his comfort zone and is teaching two new classes.
In this post, Mr. McClung also expresses that he is more aware of how his coworkers feel about him. He's starting to care too much about what his peers think of him and less of what his students think, although, his students opinions should be the ones that matter most. I completely agree with this. I will know that I am doing a good job as a teacher when my students love coming to my class. It doesn't matter what your fellow teachers think. They're not the ones who have to take your class.
I put a link to Mr. McClung's blog on my PLN. I plan on checking back with him to see what else he has learned. I can learn a thing or two from his experiences.