Mr. McClung Special Assignment

1. I've learned, through Mr. McClung's class blog, is that he is very organized and, if I may be so bold, he seems like a perfectionist, which is both a positive characteristic and something I admire. In addition to simply uploading posts from his students, he incorporates other links into his blog, like "Google Translate," which is very unique and helpful, he has a "song of the week" which makes his blog more personable, a facebook "like" button directly on the blog so you don't have to find it via facebook searches, as well as many other things.

2. As an educator, I say that Mr. McClung is very adept with teaching, providing, through careful analysis of his blog posts, hands-on experiences for his students. He strikes me as a generous teacher as well, particularly when I saw his T-shirt order form for a fundraiser. He seems like an educator who does not hesitate to include students' oppinions into his line of work.

3. Mr. McClung's rules, in association with his students, instill within anyone who reads them the ideas of connectivity, respect and compassion. He advocates a fun, uplifting and high-spirited school environment, a requirement which many teachers fail to regard in high esteem. They become so concerned with the coursework that they forget it can be enjoyable, which also puts stress on the students and takes the joy out of learning for them as well.

4. I actually laughed when I read the first thing under "everyone needs," and not because it's a silly idea -on the contrary, it's a necessity. The reason I find humor in this is that for years on end my mother stressed the importance of having a planner, and told me for years to use it! She couldn't be more right. Planners keep you organized and de-stressed so that you don't have to keep everything inside of your head. It maintains a sense of direction and organization.

5. In Dr. Strange's class, just as in Mr. McClung's class, he advocates the importance of GETTING THINGS IN ON TIME. Mr. McClung's penalty on late work is that for every day it is late it loses a letter grade. While some students may complain, one must think about the following questions: In the work force, will your manager or boss cut you some slack if you are late with work? NO! Termination of your job may follow. Late work is as good as no work, and Mr. McClung's as well as Dr. Strange's penalties for late-work are more than reasonable.

6. Through the use of his class blog, Mr. McClung wishes to help parents and other figures keep an eye on their students' progress, which, when condsidering adults' busy schedules, is really the best way to do this. I will be teaching secondary education so perhaps I will use this technique when teaching middle-school, but if I am to be teaching high-school students, I'll probably use this less; students at this age need to learn how to be accountable for their own work as they approach their college years.

7. The two links I focused on were Biology Corner and Gmail. Gmail is useful for the students in Mr. McClung's class because it is a direct link to see who may be posting comments on their blogs. And Biology Corner I found interesting because I have always been fascinated with biology. I went directly to the link about diessecting a fetal pig because, firstly, I've neverv dissected anything, and secondly, I find anatomy to be equally as fascinating as biology.

8. Under Internet Safety, Mr. McClung posts some rules and guidelines that really do make since, which I should take into affect. I've had a bad habit of posting my last name here and there on comments for other people's blog posts. Now, granted they are all blog posts assigned to us to read by Dr. Strange and it's all for academic purposes only, but even still, it is necessary to take precautions. Better safe than sorry.

9. For my C4K portion of this assignment, upon clicking one of the categories it was filed under, called "Ark History," I found a post entitled "Leadership," which included text and a video encompassing students speaking about the qualities a good leader should have, such as honesty, trust, intelligence, confidence and respect.

10. Something that Mr. McClung should incorporate into his blog that I would also like to do in blogger is yo add more background to his blog. It may seem silly, but just seeing the plain white in the back doesn't evoke excitement, much like the plain blackness of my own blog. Notwithstanding, it may be a bad idea anyway because the flashiness of it all may take away from the overall point of the blog itself, and that is education.

11. The way in which I think Mr. McClung made his blog useful to parents, teachers, administrators, students like myself and others is firtshand how students progress can be monitored. This single thing is for the benefit of all those aforementioned, for it gives parents the oppurtunity to view thier child's progress, teachers and administrators the oppurtunity to incorporate a style of teaching into their curriculum that they haven't encountered or utilized yet, and students like myself, training to become a teacher, to keep an eye out for useful teaching methods that we one day may utilize when in front of a classroom full of students.

12. The difference between Mr. McClung's 8th grade class and other 8th grade classes I have been monitoring is that Mr. McClung's class seems to be ahead of the game, and I don't say that to undermine other students, but to encourage them, as well as the teachers who teach these other students, to monitor Mr. McClung and the performance of his class and see how they are using technology to the best of their abilities in order to expand their already bright education.