Blog Assignment 9

My first selection of Mr. McClung’s was the one written after his first year of teaching entitled What I’ve Learned This Year (2008-09). In this post Mr. McClung discusses the great difference in his expectations and the real world. I believe this exists in all professions but most especially in teaching where I expect the expected to change every year and still be wrong. The clear message in this post was the disconnect between what is learned during school and internships and actual teaching. As we go through school we look to meet the grading systems of those evaluating us and as educators our evaluations change quite a lot. There is no more set presentation that we must get through and show our use of certain teaching skills, it is simply to educate however that may be best achieved. Mr. McClung also discusses the necessity of communication with other teachers and the students themselves to truly grow from the experiences. He also discusses the valuable role of technology in the classroom and the fears that many have of approaching this unknown land. Through all of this he continues to reiterate on the failure of your expectations and how little they must affect you. As a teacher each and every student will be different in what they bring to the table and how best they learn. This presentation of experiences from someone who just experienced their first year as a teacher shed a lot of light on what I can expect. Experiences of others help us not to think we are the freak in the crown and I hope that I can recount this blog during my early failures I am sure to face.

The second reading of Mr. McClung’s blog I selected was his second year What I Learned This Year (2009-10) which I selected because I was anxious to see his transition from first year teacher to second year teacher. Mr. McClung was unable to remain in his comfort of experiences in the first year and transitioned to older students and teaching multiple subjects. He reiterates the need for flexibility as his students entire set of mind had changed as the group was more mature. The flexibility was also needed on his part due the complete change of scene. Not only changing schools and grades Mr. McClung was forced to change subjects from the hands on science to the classical memorization and note taking classes of history and social studies. His attitude towards flexibility was needed as he tried to make the subject more involved only to discover that few of the students had actually been thought to think independently as current events were discussed. With some coaxing some results were found but he also found a wall in having to leave his personal opinions behind and direct discussion instead of lead it. Through all of the new experiences Mr. McClung gives a valuable tip in befriending a teacher with experience in the school to help guide you through the early days. Another point made is that during his change Mr. McClung entered the world of “too cool to care” attitudes found in young adults. Leaving the ego at the door and showing passion about the subject are valuable skills he found in making the students show interest as well. Many of daily duties of teachers like handing out papers waste time and lose attention of the class that must be regained. Simple things like letting students get their own papers and other small tasks save time and effort as Mr. McClung pointed out in his blog. Another point of view addressed is that of the management of the job itself. Mr. McClung mentions bad administration hurting the quality of his teaching and the priority that must be made for the students not to allow this to affect the quality they receive. They in fact are the customers and only ones hurt by teachers who allow other issues into the classroom.

All of these experiences continue to awaken me to the world outside of learning to be a teacher. I guess we all have this grand idea of walking into a classroom of students ready to hear what we have to say and learn from the way we mean them to. We don’t think about the attitudes we are going to face and the challenges that are going to arise when we fail or are challenged in ways we did not expect. Mr. McClung has given me great insight into this and a heads up for what is to come. Who thinks about a bad boss as a teacher? I know that I surely never thought about having to deal with the rest of the faculty in a negative way. In the end I can clearly see that I will have to be flexible and very self assessing to be a successful teacher. For the students to learn I must in fact learn myself.