Blog Post 9

What I've Learned 2009

In Joe McClung’s blog post, “What I’ve Learned”, he shares his experience on what he has learned about teaching in the classroom for his first year. In his essay, he mentioned key ideas for beginning teachers. His first thought was telling us to read the crowd; many teachers today only think about what is best for them. As a future teacher I hope to always think about what is best for my students. Secondly, he tells us as teachers we should be flexible. Growing up has taught me that things do not always go as planned. Change is always good. Thirdly, we learned that communication is very important but is the hardest skill to develop. Fourthly, he talks about being reasonable by not setting our expectations to high.
He tells us to don’t be afraid of technology. While being in EDM 310 I have learned great ways to use technology efficiently in my future classroom. Listening to students is very important. Sometimes all children want is to be heard and giving attention. I believe the bond between students and teachers reflect how a student learns in the classroom. Lastly, never stop learning. I believe this goes for any field. I had the pleasure of having a college professor whom was also a psychologist. He told us he has numerous degrees and is constantly taking classes to learn more. I believe the only way you can keep up with this world is to continue learning. Things are changing rapidly and we have to learn new things to make it in this fast
moving life.

What I've Learned 2011

In this blog post McClung talks about his third year of being a positive teacher although faced with many changes. He has gotten comfortable with what he is doing and how to do it the best way he can. He has learned that being an outsider comes with many benefits. He has also learned that everything should be centered on the students. Sometimes teachers will be so worried about serving the administrators that they forget why they are teaching. One thing that stuck out to me was “don’t touch the keyboard”. This made me think back to recently when I was child sitting. My neighbor’s son is in the third grade. One day I was watching him and he had a black history project to do. His task was to look up facts about Jackie Robinson, and put it on the poster board. His mom told me if I could, to get him started. As a college student I wanted so bad to help him when I saw him writing with a pencil all tacky on the board. I left out the room and told him I will be back in ten minutes to see his progress. When I got back he was finish. When his mom came home she was excited to hear that I got him to do his project all by himself. From that moment I felt like I accomplished something.
This just shows that sometimes you have to sit back and let the students struggle to teach them success. Lastly, he talks about not becoming comfortable. Looking inward I can tell that a teaching routine can get boring. As a teacher he learned quickly to become involved in different things to make his time enjoyable. As educators, teachers should be willing to be “movers and shakers” and exceed the traditional demands. I look forward to learning how to change and become an excellent teacher. Reading McClung’s posts have taught me many things that will help me become a great teacher.