Blog Post #9

I read Mr. McClung's What I have Learned This Year (2009-10) and What I have Learned This Year (2010-11) and honestly learned a lot from them. In Mr. McClung's What I have Learned This Year (2009-10) he talks about how he had to take a transition from teaching 6th grade science to teaching 3 subjects to Junior High students. He was comfortable teaching his first year and even got a little cocky because he knew a lot about science, but when he had to teach History he did not know where to begin. At first he was simply becoming like most teachers and feeding their students notes and becoming "ghost of  history teachers past." Then he strived to make his history class relevant and interesting to the students and he learned he was passionate about history too. He also talked about how in his history classes he had a lot of discussions but during them the students wouldn't give their real opinion and instead wanted the teacher's because they assumed it was the right one. He wants his students to not only look for the "right answer" but a different approach to that answer. I loved the part when McClung said teachers had to leave the ego at the door. Teachers wound not worry about being embarrassed or cool but loose themselves in the things they are passionate about, education. Going "crazy" for your subjects makes the students interested and makes them respect you because you show how passionate you are and that you take your job to educate them seriously. Also Mr. McClung spoke about Scope and Sequence. He stated that we should not just focus on the things we are interested in and go in more depth on those things, but instead focus on also the things you do not find as interesting. I agree with this because not everything you find interesting is interesting to others. You have to assume it is all interesting to the students and be just as passionate at each and every thing.
In Mr. McClung's What I have Learned This Year (2010-11) he speaks about how he does not spend time being a teacher pleaser, but instead focuses on his students and does not feel like an outsider because his job is for the students and therefore he should be with the students. He also talks about "naysayers" who are not as excited about change as he is. He says that you cannot let that effect you and you have to keep the fire of your passion. I believe if we listened to "naysayers" then creativity would be lost. If you love an idea or a different approach to something you should go with it and not listen to the people who are negative because there will always be those people. Also a point that I thought was the most important in this post was the one about "Don't Touch the Keyboard" he talks about if you teach your class to do something and a students do not understand and you explain more and they still do not understand you should not simply give them the answer but think of a new way of explaining and reexplaining. I honestly am looking forward to continuing reading what Mr. McClung writes about what he has learned in his 2011-12 teaching year.