Blog Post #9

At The Teacher's Desk: What I've Learned So Far (2008-2009)
This blog post was really great. I enjoyed reading it. It was about how much he has learned so far as a teacher. He names a few different things that he has learned such as; how to read the crowd, be flexible, communicate, be reasonable, don't be afraid of technology listen to your students and never stop learning. Reading the crowd was about how he was so concerned of what his superiors thought of him that he lost touch with his crowd that he was teaching, which were his students. He noted that we as teachers need to start making our lesson plans more student oriented instead of making it more about something that will make us look good to our superiors.

He stated in the Be Flexible portion that "No lesson is ever perfect, the one you teach and the one you plan are always different". I loved this quote. I am the world's worst at wanting to have something planned out. When things don't go the way that I want it to then I get aggravated really quickly. I have taken a speech class before and I always practice really hard, but my speech never turns out exactly how I want it to. I can only imagine that this is the same way in a classroom. Students have questions, situations arise, and things will happen that will delay your lesson or cause it to go off on rabbit trails. Being flexible is all part of being a teacher.

Communication was the next portion of the blog post. He put this portion in the blog because he said that  he knows drama does happen in the work place. The best way to get rid of this drama is to talk it out. Communicating with your colleagues also helps you form  relationships with them and you never know when you can seek out some advice from an older more seasoned teacher.

The next part was about being reasonable. As a teacher we set high expectations for our students. He said that sometimes we set them too high and then get upset when they can't reach the goals we set for them. It is hard being a student. We need to think back to when we were in school and remember how big of a deal it was to do homework or complete our classwork on time. When teachers set goals that aren't reasonable, then it makes it tougher on the child.

Don't be afraid of technology was a good part of this blog. I was glad that he added it in there. Technology should be our friend and we can't expect to just understand it the first time we try it. We learn by  making mistakes. He also mentioned that we should listen to our students. He quoted one of his students who said "I know my teacher cares about me when he listens to me". This is sad because so many students don't have teachers who care to listen to them or their problems. Some of them don't have anyone at home that can listen to them either so it helps to have a teacher who can listen.

The last thing he said was to never stop learning. This is self explanatory! You are never to old to learn something!

At The Teacher's Desk: What I've Learned This Year (2010-2011)
The first portion of this reflection for the school year was about how you should know who your boss is. He states how easy it is to lose track of who you are supposed to be pleasing. It is good to try to please your boss, but your students should be a top priority as well. "Our decision making process should always be student centered and not centered around pleasing adults" was a quote that he used in his post. The students should be our primary focus. The next segment was entitled, Don't expect others to be as excited about change as you are. This was mainly about how he is very optimistic about new ideas, but other people aren't. They don't seem encouraged by new ideas and often try to ruin his excitement about them. He just sends out a word of caution and states that we don't need to let negative people ruin the newness of an idea for us.

Don't be afraid to be an outsider. This was an eye opening paragraph. The main point was don't focus on seeking approval from other teachers. Be there for your students. He stated that he ate lunch with his students and goofed off with them. He isn't afraid of being immature or an outsider. I have always wondered where that line is that you have to keep from crossing, you know, the friend or teacher line. It's' very thin. If you become too much like their friend, then you have to worry about them running all over you, but he seems to have found a happy medium and has learned a lot from his students. He doesn't care about what the other teachers think of him. In his eyes, a good teacher is one who can spend time with his students without teaching.

Don't touch the keyboard!!! This is one of my BIGGEST problems. This philosophy was taught to him by one of the other teachers in the building. When she used to work at another job and was training someone this was the phrase they used. In other words, don't take the project out of their hands and begin to do it on your own. When you are teaching someone something, and take it over, then they aren't learning anything because they are just watching you do it instead of doing it themselves and learning from their mistakes. I tend to get impatient and frustrated and  have the mentality of "I can do it better". It is hard for me to take a step back and watch someone else do it.

Don't get comfortable was great to read as well. It's easy to get comfortable in day to day activities. Even in your profession. As a teacher he felt that he was getting comfortable and settling into a routine, which in his words, is not necessarily a good thing. When you settle into a routine, things can quickly becoming boring. So he started doing other activities to keep his daily routine different than the day before.

After reading these posts it has really encouraged me. I have always looked forward to being a teacher, but I always think about what will happen if I don't do a good job or if I mess up. I now know that I can learn from my mistakes. I also don't want to get caught up in trying to please people. I want to do what is right and what is expected of me as a teacher, but I want to be more concerned about teaching my students and being there for them. I don't want to be the average teacher that goes in a classroom and teaches a boring lesson, I want to be the one who makes learning fun and brings creative ideas into the classroom. I learned a lot from reading his blog posts!