Sunday, October 23, 2011

Blog post #9

The word experience magnified

What I Have learned this year 2008-2009
     This post was after the first year of Mr. Joe McClung's teaching in Missouri. In his first year of teaching he learned 6 major things. Something he learned that I find to be important, is that you have to have your students attention. The classroom needs to be students centered. He states most teachers worry too much about how they will present the lecture rather than how the students will take it and what they think about it. He also says as a teacher we are to be flexible. I know that I stress over things more than I should and after reading his post I thought about how I myself am going to have to learn things will not always go as planned. Mr. Joe says he learned communication is big in teaching. That you learn more with communication. This is something I agree with the most. I always enjoy talking and see what other classmates have done and plan to do with the assignments. It never hurts to discuss things; you never know what ideas may form. Mr. Joe says that encouragement is important with students. I know that as an after school counselor, the students I help would much rather hear, let’s try it again, rather than, you will never understand what i am showing you. Something Mr. Joe learned that I myself have learned in this class is to not be afraid of technology. I do have to push myself for this class but when I look back, I have come a long way. When we have projects, I find myself jumping on the boat to find something different to do. I also constantly find myself thinking of ways I am going to use technology in my classroom. Another thing he learned is that listening is very important. Your students look up to you and by listening you show them you care. He also points out that you may be the only one that shows it. The last thing he says that he learned in that year was that you as a teacher are to never stop learning. I agree with this for different reasons. Times change and more information is brought into the world every day. This goes with things in the classroom and ways of using technology. We must stay curious as a teacher and continue to find new things to go into the classroom. many of lessons that he learned through his first year of teaching I have already learned through some of the post we were assigned to read. The most important to me is to be there for your children and listen. Also to make the classroom students centered. Both of the people commenting on his blog found the post helpful for when one day they have a classroom. I know that by reading his post my brain has even more ideas for my classroom I will one day have. 
What I learned this Year 2009-2010
    Mr. Joe made this post after the next year of teaching and included some things he learned. I really think that these post are helpful and have began thinking on something I can do like this to let people know what I learn each year. this year he was teaching Jr. High students and learned that adapting was something he had to do. he made me realize that as a teacher at some point I will be put in a position that I am not going to comfortable with. It will be my job to face whatever I am given and perform to the best of my availability. He says that he had to get out of his comfort zone but he did what he had to do to "adapt." Mr. Joe also learns that he had to try a new approach. We as teachers have to help the students learn to help themselves. In my classroom I plan to find new ways for children to learn and when they are stumped on finding an answer I hope to help them think of the answer rather than just saying "here it is." Mr. Joe also that finding a "mom" is important. Even if you do not like the term "mom" I agree with him. You may not call them your mom or dad but finding someone with experience at your school is important. I hope that in my first year of teaching I am able to find a "mom" that can help me through at least my first year. I hope that years down the road and I am experienced that someone will come to me for ideas and anything else they may need help with. One thing he learned that I find very true is to watch your ego. He states that you can not be afraid to act silly that it can help the students. I do agree with that. With the classes I am taking now, we are required to teach lesson plans. This mainly pertains to the p.e. class. In order to do this we must be comfortable with acting like a child to show them how to do something. It may even involve something "goofy." Learning not to be a control freak is something Mr. Joe finds important. Letting students help whenever and as much as possible is always a plus. I have noticed by observing in a first grade classroom students love to help. One thing he learned that I have also recently been taught was that you need to plan how long you spend on what subject and how much of it you teach. You should never teach only on what you think is interesting. Another thing that he found out was that no matter what you face with your co-workers that the students are what matters. I feel this is correct. I know that when I become a teacher I will have people that I do not relate to or "bump heads" with. I will now keep in my head thanks to Mr. Joe that the kids are what matters more. I have enjoyed reading these two years of experience he had. I see it is important to always be open to advice. The comment that was left also felt the same as I do. She found this blog to be helpful as well. 

3 comments:

  1. Hey Brittany,
    I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I always love reading my classmates work because I always seem to read or find out something new, that I might not have picked up on the first time. Everyone has different views and ideas, I like to see what other people have to say. You did great on this post. Keep up the great work!

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  2. Hi Brittany,
    Good job on your post. Your absolutely right everything will not go as planned and we must learn to make the best of it. Yes, we have came a long way in this class and it will be worth it in the end.

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  3. Hi Brittany,
    Good quality blog post, I enjoyed reading it and had some of the same views. I didn't find any grammatical errors.
    -Meredith

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