Blog Post Assignment # 9

At the Teacher’s Desk

An experiment in professional learning, collaboration, and sharing of ideas.

At the Teacher’s Desk is a blog created by Mr. Joe McClung, he is not a veteran teacher, and actually, 2011-2012 will be his fourth year teaching. Mr. McClung decided to start a series of post after his first year of teaching to reflect back over his experiences during the year. His reflections are great and should inspire new teachers. I think it is important to reflect on your performance and experiences in order to grow. I think in life we are faced with obstacles, trials, and circumstances that may or may not be enjoyable or of our liking. I think all of these things are truly blessings in disguise. (reminds me of the song Blessings, by Laura Story) They help us grow and become stronger emotionally, physically, and mentally. I think it is important, as teachers, we look back and reflect on our year in order to learn. We should allow these "blessings" to mold us into exceptional teachers and individuals. It is important that teachers continue to learn in order to help students. 

I read each one of Mr. McClung’s post and as each year went by, in all of his reflections he never lost sight of his main goal, his students. He discusses how teachers should have flexibility and should be willing and able to adapt to lessons, situations, co-workers and students.  I like how he says “NO LESSON IS EVER PERFECT. THE LESSON YOU TEACH AND THE ONE YOU PLAN ARE ALWAYS DIFFERENT.” How true is this! I think as teachers, we should use lesson plans as guidelines and not as a scripts. It is important for teachers to be able to say, “This is not working. I need to change something”.  I think the most important thing is staying positive, listening to the students, and changing the lesson in a way that is going to be effective in helping the students to learn. I think he refers to this in “Check Your Ego at The Door”. Do what works for your students!

As I was reading Mr. McClung’s  2011 blog, “Don’t Touch The Keyboard”, it reminded me of a great bunch of co-workers I used to work with.  I can relate to what Mrs. Barron (Mr. McClung’s classroom mom) says about never touch the keyboard when training a new employee. I too, use to work in tech support and know what is like to have to train new employees. (I think it is like getting a new set of kids in your classroom.) I had an awesome team, who was always supportive and never stop amazing me with their enthusiasm for learning. I definitely believe to learn, YOU have to be the one doing it, learning is doing, doing is learning. I think it is important to focus on an individual’s strength rather than putting all the focus on their weaknesses. On our team, I tried to make sure everyone felt appreciated and I tried to make sure that everyone knew they were a valuable member of the team. (Anyone can learn, it's the teacher that helps make it happen.) I always tried to make sure everyone contributed in some way. I wanted to make sure they felt confident in the job they were doing no matter what it was. There were many times when I could have taken over the keyboard and fixed the problem myself, but I knew they would not learn from me doing that. The only time I did "take over" is when I did not know the answer myself or needed to teach myself how to do something, before guiding them along the way. There were many times where we learned together. On many occasions, I allowed them to go in the complete wrong direction without correcting them. I would wait unit they noticed and then ask them questions instead of giving them the answers. Most of the time, they figured out what to do, and how they needed to correct the problem. This gave them a sense of accomplishment and the self-confidence they needed when the next call came in. There were also times when they would just sit and look at the computer screen and silently wonder what to do. This is when I would ask them to tell me what they were thinking, so I could hear their train of thought. Most of the time they were thinking in the right direction but they just did not have the confidence to follow through with the task. Having them “think” aloud gave me the opportunity to guide them along or ask them more questions so they could in return, “teach” themselves.  I can remember this one time, I was out and when I came to work the next day, a lady I worked with and had helped many times, came up to me and said, “I missed you yesterday, but when I got stuck, I asked myself… now what would Cassie ask me? So, I asked myself questions that you would ask and I figured it out.” She was so proud of herself and it made me proud too. My goal was to teach them to be independent and confident. I am sure there were times when they frustrated me or I frustrated them, but we never let it show. If you ask me today if I missed my job, I would tell you, no. I miss my team, “my kids”.  I feel like I passed them on to the next grade and I just hope their next teacher cares about their learning as much as I did. I was a teacher then and I am a teacher now, only now, I am going to be teaching in a school with younger kids. Teaching is what I was meant to do. I am a teacher at heart and I care whether my students, no matter what their age, learn from their experiences. 

I think the whole reason Mr. McClung’s reflects about his teaching experience, is so he can become a better teacher. It is a reminder to him and his readers that teachers should always remember students are the primary focus, and we should not get lost or wrapped up in trying to put on a show or please other individuals. 

“Our decision making process should always be student centered 

and not centered around pleasing adults.”

Just like Mr. McClung, we should strive to think outside the box, communicate, listen, have reasonable expectations, let loose occasionally, and never stop learning. I think if we do this, like Mr. McClung we will be happy with the teacher we become someday soon.