I read Mr. McClung's first two posts, What I've Learned This Year (2008-2009) and What I learned This Year (2009-2010). I really enjoyed reading about everything he has learned over the past 2 years. I think that a major misconception that many education students and new teachers have is that once we get our degree, the learning is over. However, this cannot be further from the truth and I believe Mr. McClung's posts prove that to be so. As Mr. McClung's posts imply, being a teacher is all about learning and adapting to a new circumstance. Whether the new circumstance be a new subject, a new school, a new grade, or a new class at the beginning of the year, teachers must always learn to "go with the flow".
One thing that many education students (myself included) and new teachers are guilty of is setting their mind on what grade they want to teach. Just because I want to teach second grade does not mean that I will come right out of school and start teaching second grade. Mr. McClung wrote that he had never taught 8th graders and he was not sure how to go about it. He had to learn how to adapt to the new grade and the new subjects he was teaching.
Another important point that Mr. McClung wrote about was making lessons student-oriented. It is so important to make sure our lessons are geared toward the students and not towards our superiors. Also, Mr. McClung also wrote that we need to realize that the lesson plans that we write and the ones that we teach are going to vary. I believe when I become a teacher that this will be one of my biggest challenges. I am the type of person who wants everything to go according to plan. However, with children, that's often not the case. Mr. McClung wrote that he had to learn not to beat himself up for all of the little things that did not go according to plan. Teachers are going to have lesson plans that did not go well or did not go according to plan.
When I become a teacher, I am going to do my best to remember all of the things Mr. McClung has written about. His blogs are very informative and they will be something that I refer back to when I become a teacher.
Awesome writing!!
ReplyDelete