Blog Post #9

For this blog assignment we were to read two of the four blog posts written by Mr. McClung which talks about his first four years of teaching. I chose to read about his first year of teaching and his most recent year of teaching. Then I would be able to see the difference on his outlook on teaching.

Volume I
Mr. McClung’s blog post for his first year titled, “What I've Learned This Year (2008-2009)”, caught my attention by the picture he put at the top of the post. It said, “An important decision I made this year is ‘stay positive”. “Stay Positive” was written in his own handwriting. This is one of my mottos. I feel as though parts of this blog post he wrote strictly for me. In one part, he commented about how teachers need to be flexible and not strive for perfection.

In this blog, Mr. McClung has great advice for teachers, teachers who are now teaching or will be teaching. I feel like his blog was a mini lesson for me. A lesson that I need to hold on to and remember on my first year of teaching to be flexible, communicate with others, be reasonable with you expectations with students, do not be afraid of technology, listen to your students, and never to stop learning. All of these are great points and that Mr. McClung learned them all after one year of teaching is wonderful.

Volume IV
In Mr. McClung’s blog post for his fourth year, “What I've Learned This Year (2011-2012)”, it was interesting to hear about his struggles with being accepted by his peers. After reading the first blog, I thought the last was going to be even better. I did enjoy the blog. I just thought he would give a pep talk the whole post. Yet Mr. McClung gives us an insight on what his struggles were with I thought was refreshing.

After that point, Mr. McClung talks about how he was a little lazy because he had all of his lesson plans already mapped out, and there was nothing more for him to do. It is funny that he says that. I shadowed some teachers a few semesters ago that said in a few years a teacher has his or her lesson plans down, and teaching gets less stressful. Makes me wonder if these teachers meant you do not have to do as much.