Blog Post #9

Blog Post #9
Mr. McClung’s blog post was very inspiring and helpful. I really enjoyed reading it because some of the things he talked about are things that I am worried about right now, before I have even become a teacher! Like I said in my comment on Mr. McClung’s post, many of the things he talked about are things that every teacher must experience by themselves when they get out into the field and in their own classroom, but it certainly helps getting some pointers from a teacher that has already experienced it. There are many questions and worries that I have that I am afraid will go unanswered before I have my own students, but reading things like Mr. McClung’s post and talking to teachers who understand what I am going through, definitely takes some of the anxiety away. I am going to try to use the tips that Mr. McClung has shared with us throughout my career as a teacher because I feel like they are some really great ones.

One of the things that Mr. McClung wrote about that really stuck out to me was when he said:

“Throughout my college education and teaching internship, I developed a mindset that it was all about me the teacher. Meaning that I was so worried about how I was being assessed by my superiors, that I lost touch with my audience when I delivered a lesson. A common theme that I have seen in a lot of teachers is the fact that they do not make their lessons student centered. They become so concerned with the delivery of the content that they are missing the most important aspect of teaching, and that is checking for student comprehension.”

I think A LOT of teachers fall prey to this mistake and never learn how to overcome it. I have had many teachers throughout my schooling that made me feel like they did not care about the students sitting in front of them, only about their “job” (a.k.a. making money). Even though their job IS their students, they treat the students as if they are just a means to getting their paychecks. Although I do not believe there are many teachers like this, I have had a few who fit this description (why they would even want to be a teacher in the first place is unknown to me.). I think that a teachers job is one that is focused solely on their students. Even though you are probably saying, “Well duh, that is their job,” I think some teachers do not understand the true meaning of this. I may sound a little overzealous when I say this, but I feel like a teacher should want to teach their students even if they do not get paid for it. A teacher should feel like their students are worth more than any paycheck they could ever receive, because it is their lives they hold in their hands. A teacher could make a difference between a student going to college or ending up in jail.

I hope that I can be a great teacher in the future, one that embodies what I described above. I know if I continue to think this way and if I follow and use the tips I have received, like the ones from Mr. McClung, I will be able to be the teacher that I hope to be one day.