Mr, McClung's post is something all aspiring teachers need to read. I haven't thought much about the things I am going to face when I actually do become a teacher. This post made me think. I think the most important information I took away from this post is to be flexible and to never stop learning. I don't want to get carried away in planning the perfect lesson and neglect the real reason I am teaching that perfect lesson, which is for my students to learn. Mr McClung said that "we have to remember that we are performing in front of a crowd the struggles remembering what they brought for lunch that day," which is so true. If our students are learning and having fun learning then we are teaching a perfect lesson whether it is the one we planned on teaching or not.
I also enjoyed the section titled never stop learning. Why would anyone want to stop learning? If we were to stop learning today then ten years from now we would still be living in two thousand and ten while the rest of the world had moved on. There is so much information out there, so many things that we can learn not only to better ourselves but to pass along to our students and inspire them. If our students see us putting forth effort to learn something, and going after something we want to more about then they will more than likely be motivated to do the same.
Mr. McClung discussed a number of things he learned in his first year of teaching: How to Read the Crowd, Be Flexible, Communicate, Be Reasonable, Don't Be Afraid of Technology, Listen to Your Students, and Lastly...Never Stop Learning. Each title had a bit of information on what he had learned about that topic during his first year of teaching. As I mentioned before, it's a great post for all aspiring teachers to read, as well as current teachers. I definitely feel more prepared for my first year.
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI have to say that this is my favorite response of all the McClung posts. I like that you brought attention to the fact that just because one person, one class, one school, or even one nations stops learning... The rest of the world will go on. It's up to us to decide if we will be left behind or not. I don't think laws can determine our progress, I think it is classroom culture. TEACHERS ESTABLISH CLASSROOM CULTURE. We decide what tomorrow is going to look like. You really have inspired me to take a look at my own actions and make some changes. I read a quote somewhere that said something along the lines of, if we don't change, nothing will ever change.