Blog Assignment #9

At The Teacher's Desk: Joe McClung
In his 2008-2009 reflection, Mr. Joe McClung talks about his growth and development as a teacher and as a person from his first year of teaching. He conveys what he believes are important concepts for all teachers to remember, but are especially applicable to new teachers. These particular points of interest include: reading the crowd, being flexible, communicating efficiently, being flexible, embracing technology, listening to your students, and staying personally invested in the process of learning in your own life.

Mr. McClung's first reflection pertains to the mindset of the teacher. He talks about how easy it can be to fall into the trap of being too concerned about being assessed by superiors and losing focus on making sure your students comprehend what you're trying to teach them. His next three points go hand in hand as he talks about flexibility, communication, and being reasonable. He argues that in order to be effective, one must let their audience drive their instruction. He then goes on to talk about flexibility as it pertains to lesson planning. He describes how it would drive him crazy at first when his lessons weren't perfect, but he learns from this and conveys to us the thought that no lesson is ever perfect, so when things go wrong just go with it and try to make it better with a smile on your face as you do. He goes on to say that communication is the best medicine and way to resolve any issues as well as build rapport. In the same token, it is important to have reasonable expectations as he describes in his next point. He details how it is good to have high expectations for students, but reminds us that they are children who aren't perfect just as we aren't perfect as their instructors. In this regard, he says it is important to just keep encouraging them and be positive while working them to achieve the educational goals.

Mr. McClung's next point pertains to technology in education. Much like Dr. Strange and many of the sources for these blog posts have advocated, Mr. McClung urges the importance of integrating technology in the classroom as he encourages teachers to just "jump in head first" and embrace technology as our friend. He then goes on to talk about listening to students as he believes teachers don't know enough about their students. He believes that this aspect of teaching is vital in regards to cultivating good student-teacher relationships. He then closes his post by encouraging us to never stop learning. He argues that as teachers practically beg students to learn every day, its only right to continue to grow and develop as an educator yourself.

In his 2010-2011 reflection, Mr. McClung opens talking about the changes that have taken place in his career. These include being a head coach, coaching the cross country team, teaching a computer applications class, and teaching at the same school for more than one year.

After these opening statements, He gets right to the heart of the matter and expresses his first point of knowing who your boss is. He talks about being a people pleaser and how if one isn't careful it can become a distraction from the main objective, which is focusing on their students. While serving the administration is important, he argues that it is imperative for the decision making process to be student centered and not around pleasing adults. He then reminds us to not expect others to be as excited about a change as we may be as well as encourages us not to be fear being "Outsiders." He talks about his personality, being an optimist, and how pessimistic peers may try to rain on your parade or influence you negatively in any way. He also talks about being true to yourself and comfortable with your teaching methods and core values regardless of how others perceive you so as to be the most effective teacher you can be.

From there, Mr. McClung talks about "Not touching the keyboard." This, as he explains, means allowing the students to do the work themselves and not trying to take over their work for them. While they may struggle at first, he argues that this method will help them learn better and tackle concepts for the end game. He closes the post by telling us not to get comfortable as routines, while they can be effective, may foster apathy. Instead he encourages us to continually strive for new goals and add new activities to foster growth and motivation.

I really enjoyed reading these reflection posts by Mr. McClung. They were quite insightful and interesting as well as motivating and inspirational. The posts were also well written and I could tell how invested he is in his kids and career which is always refreshing. As an optimist, my favorite part about reading these is that they were written by another optimist. It made it really easy to connect with him and get a feel for where he was coming from and his mindset in the writing. It also made his points stick with me a little better as it seems we have a similar type of mindset when it comes to many of the topics he reflected upon. I was very pleased to see that he isn't complacent and always looks to challenge himself with new goals and experiences. I myself am the same way and always look to for new things to do, goals to add, and accomplishments to achieve. I believe these are especially important qualities to have as a teacher, especially in terms of personal development as Mr. McClung also discusses in these reflections. Overall the advice that Mr. McClung offers is excellent and applies not only to teachers, but to everyone in general. In summary, flexibility, communication, staying positive, and staying true to yourself and core values are crucial to being happy and successful in any profession. It is also important to continually look to improve, avoid complacency, and focus on the things of true importance over political agenda to have a truly fulfilling, satisfying, and rewarding life and career.