Blog Post #9

First Year

Mr. Joe McClung was an elementary school teacher in Noel, Missouri. This was his first year to teach and he wrote a blog post on what he had learned his first year as a teacher. He mentioned that he was mainly focused on himself as a teacher and he found out that the main concern should be the students. He had to learn to be flexible and realized plans are ALWAYS subject to change.

He also stated that communication is the best approach for all issues and builds a better rapport with fellow teachers and encourages practice to build better relationships with students and parents. To avoid disappointments ensure to set reasonable goals and listen to your students to get positive feedback.

Mr. McClung pointed out just as Dr. Strange continually states don’t be afraid of technology. Technology is learning process that can be continually learned through out your teaching career, because you never want to stop learning.
I was encouraged by Mr. McClung’s blog post because it provided the mindset of a first year teachers experience and gave words of wisdom through out the post. He let you know quickly that the students are our number one priority and that we need to listen, be prepared for the unexpected and to communicate with not only our students but to parents and fellow co-workers. Lastly he states don’t be afraid of technology in the classroom, which is pretty much what I have been experiencing because of learning new tools that I have never used before taking EDM.

Second Year

Mr. Joe McClung is in his second year of teaching and has moved to a different state and is now teaching three different subjects in a junior high school in Arkansas. He has to learn to adapt to not only a different audience but on classes he was unfamiliar with teaching. He is now teaching history and social studies along with science. Teenage students are more independent than the sixth grader he taught in Missouri. He was concerned that he would become a teacher he vowed he would not become teaching history, a ghost of history teachers in the past.

Mr. McClung advises to form alliances with experienced colleges to ease the pain of being in unfamiliar territory, mainly moms. He states that it is good to have someone that knows the ins and outs of the school. His teaching methods had to be altered because his audience had changed from elementary students to high school students. He had to basically be a salesman to sale his students what he was teaching that could normally be boring.

He had a difficult time this particular year but did not allow these problems to make him lose focus from the tasks at hand. Teaching his students. He is able to reflect on his strength and weaknesses and is able to work around them in order to accomplish his mission.
I agree that adapting to learning procedures are necessary in every day life including the classroom. Plans can go wrong and you simply have to move forward and continue to teach the