Post 9

Mr. McClung

What I Learned This Year 2010-2011
Know Who Your Boss Is
Here Mr. McClung asserts the kids are his boss and try not to get so wrapped
up into pleasing others. Pleasing others is rather time consuming and did not
leave time for him to tend to the needs of his students. "Our decision
making process should always be student centered and not centered around
pleasing adults." Well put, the students should be priority number one!
Don't Expect Others to be as Excited About Change as You Are
Not everyone is excited about teaching as I will be. Do not be discouraged by
the naysayers who have all the answers. Professional developement is exactly
what it says. It is to devlope teachers as professionals. I am forward thinking
by nature and will try to always keep moving forward in my
profession.
Don't be Afraid to be an Outsider
Status quo is not always the thing to be! Teaching is a job, with individuals
and just like every other job, everyone will not "hang out" with each other. It
is ok to be yourself and true to yourself.
Don't Touch The Keyboard
"This means that our students will struggle a little bit in the front end but
it will help them excel in the end game."While I was in the Navy, I served as
the training Petty Officer (PO). As the training PO, I was responsible
for training my division in all facets of our job. One of the ways I trained was
to let the trainees to operate the controls. My thinking was, how were
they going to learn if they never did it themselves!
Don't Get Comfortable
He problably should have said do not get complacent. I can understand how
comfortability can translate to lazy and complacentcy. "While routines are
good in the sense they allow me to be more effective, they can also be bad
because they can foster apathy." In the midst of a routine, the challenge
is to do things to keep the routine exciting.
What I Learned This Year 2011-2012
You Gotta Dance With Who You Brought to the Dance
I think Mr. McClung should have read his previous years' post, because he would
have realized he said he learned this in last years post. Here he is saying be
yourself, stick to what got you here, which is what he basically said in last
years post Don't be afraid to be an outsider.
Challenge Yourself
I think here he lost his way a bit. In my opinion the challenge is in keeping
things fresh and not moving on to something else. Keeping things fresh is where
you get your experience from. Moving on to different things makes one a jack of
all trades, yet a master at none! The teaching profession would be better served
with masters!