Blog Post 9

Mrs. McClung

On May 27th 2009 Mr. McClung talks about what he learned his first year of teaching. He first taught in Noel Missiouri. I think that he had a lot of great pointers and things that he learned his first year. I'm sure his first year out on his own (teaching wise) not following anybody and doing all the work 100% on his own was difficult. But I think that is is very good that Mr. McClung is able to point out the things that maybe didn't go 100% as he wished or he found a new outlook on some aspect of teaching. Teaching will always be lessons learned to the teacher as well.

The things that Mr. McClung learned his first year of teaching was:

How to read a crowd
-You have to know your audience to know what and how to teach the material.
Be Flexible
-This is one thing that I have already preached about in many other classes. Mainly on a technology level, because many times before I have had teachers cancel class because the internet was down and they did not have a "Plan B" That goes for anything I think you should always have a Plan B
Communicate
- I think Communication is key in any situation but definitely in the work place. You definitely do not want any confrontation when there are children involved because they play off of your emotions and plus it would not make work fun.
Be Reasonable
-I think he says it best. "As teachers we hold very high expectations for our students....sometimes they live up to those expectations, and sometimes they don't. Often we build our expectations too high for students, and become upset when they do not meet the expectation"
Don't be afraid of Technology
-I think that is what Mr. Strange is trying to teach us now. But yes you have to always be one step ahead of the students which means technology is going to be very important
Listen to your students
-Your students is your classroom so you have to take what they say into consideration. Not only listening to them for help with an assignment but you need to be their friend, and that is often what small children look for in adults.
Never stop Learning
-As I said before teaching will always be a lesson learned for the teacher.


You can tell that Mr. McClung has learned a lot from teaching because four short years later he does not have as much to say of what he has learned. That does not mean he has stopped learning as he advises not to do, but simply he is on another level and is learning different things.

The two main things he says on June 13 2012 that he has learned from the previous year are:

You gotta dance with who you came to the dance with
-He means you have to remember your peers, and
Challenge Yourself
-I think challenging yourself is kind of like never stop learning. If you know "all" then you are not challenging yourself and therefor not learning.