Blog Assignment #9

In Mr. McClung’s 4th year self assessment post he said, “I pretty well know how my reputation stands with my students, but this year I have become very concerned with how my peers view me as an educator…” later he explained that he finally realized it didn’t matter how the other teachers viewed him, but it mattered if his students were having fun and learning.

I admire his strong will; not caring what the other educators think of him. As a student I did not care what my teachers thought of other teachers, all that mattered to me was: do I like them, am I learning from them, and are they nice to me and everyone else?

He also talked about how he ended up relying on his old lesson plans and finding himself boring. I could always tell when my teachers were bored with their own subject, and I always wondered if they are bored with it then, why do I need to know this? I want to be sure that I am always interested in what I am teaching my students. I also want to have a fun interactive way to show them how much I enjoy math.

I also chose to read his What I Have Learned this Year (2008-2009) post. I felt that reading his first experiences might help me understand what I should expect, within reason. In the beginning he says, “At the beginning of the school year I felt like I was trying to control things way too much, and I would beat myself up over lessons and activities that did not go well.” He said by the end when things did not go as planned he just went with it with a smile on his face.

He found that communication was a big deal in his first year. He says it is very difficult to communicate and to try to build relationships with fellow teachers. The next thing he pointed out is to be reasonable. Many teachers hold their students to a higher standard than the students do themselves. Do not be too hard on them when they do not meet your expectations. “Our job as teachers is to simply pick them up after they fail, dust them off, and encourage them to try again.”

Another thing he pointed out is to listen to your students. Take interest in the life of your students. One day you might see them all grown up. You may have been the one who changed their life, or you may be the one who put the fire of a certain subject in their heart. Unfortunately I will not see the teacher who did so for me, but I believe he is looking down on me as I come closer to my goal.

Lastly Mr. McClung says Never stop learning. You can always have a different outlook on things that you used to feel so strongly about, or you can change your style of learning or even teaching. There are always more things to learn. Do not stop soaking in the information around you. We expect children to continually do so, why should we stop?