Blog Post Assignment #9

What I Learned This Year 2010-2011 By: Mr. Joe McClung
Mr. McClung is a teacher who writes blog posts to summarize what he accomplishes, what he learns, and what adventures he encounters each year of his teaching career. I read the 2010-2011 school year post, this was written after his third year of teaching.
I really enjoyed reading this particular blog post by Mr. McClung. He made some great points for teachers that are not as experienced as he is. One that Mr. McClung pointed out is to remember who your boss is. He said that as teachers we do not need to get wrapped up in a "social co-worker" life, because we need to remember the reason we are in the education field, the kids. I think this is a great point. While teaching we need to realize that we maybe the only positive influence in our students' lives. If we get wrapped up in pleasing others rather than our students our job will never get done. Another point Mr. McClung made was, "don't touch the keyboard". He explained that if a co-worker helps another co-worker on a difficult task and he/she takes over while explaining the task then the other person will never learn how to do that one task. This is the same idea with students, as teachers we are there to teach the students, not do their work.

What I Learned This Year - Volume 4 By: Mr. Joe McClung
This was Mr. McClung's fourth year of teaching and he realized that he was not the teacher he use to be. He was worrying about what his co-workers thought of him and what his reputation was with them. He got into a routine with his teaching and he realized by getting into a routine his creativity was drifting away. To change himself back to the teacher he use to be he told himself that he needed to remember the rule "remember who his boss is" and not worry about what his co-workers thought of him. To bring his creativity back into the classroom he accepted new subjects to teach in the upcoming school year. Mr. McClung will now be able to construct new lesson plans and get out of the routines he got himself into.

The points that I have read in these post are beneficial to any first year teacher or twenty-fifth year teacher. Basically Mr. McClung says that as teacher we need to be there for the kids, never get into routines while teaching, and do not depend on others to do your work. I agree with all of these points. If every teacher would focus on just these three points their teaching careers will take a tremendous turn.