Special Assignment

1.) Mr. McClung is an 8th grade teacher at Woodland Junior High in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I have noticed that Mr. McClung keeps it fun for his students. He uses many different teaching strategies, which I think is awesome because all students learn in their own way. Mr.McClung has a true passion for teaching which is evident through his blog. He uses technology in his classroom which I feel is beneficial to all students.
2.) Mr.McClung is a teacher that has his act together. He knows what he wants for his students and expects them to get the best out of their education. Mr.McClung demonstrates a true passion for teaching and I think that is what it is all about. An educators must have a passion for what he or she does. Teaching is not just standing in front of a class lecturing or reading off slides. It is about turning a traditional classroom setting into something fun and exciting for your students. I believe Mr. McClung has excelled at this.
3.) I personally liked Mr.McClung class rules. He only has five rules for his classroom and I think that is great. I also like how he has expectations for his students. Stay positive is one of those expectations. I believe this is outstanding because you will have some students that look down on themselves and they think they are going to fail. I know as a future educator, I want to stress to my students they can do anything if they put their mind to it. I also liked how he expected his students to communicate with each other. I think that is great because it prepares them for being able to work with others in group work or working with a partner. It will also help them develop good communication skills with others.
4.) The day planner was the first thing that his students need. I think that is the first requirement because he wants his students to stay organized. I think staying organized is important, so that way you know exactly what assignments are due. If it was not for the checklist in this class, I would be lost. Dr. Strange broke down each assignment and that made it much easier to keep up.
5.) In Dr. McClung class, there is a letter grade loss for each day an assignment is late. I think that is great because it teaches the students responsibility. They were given enough time to complete the work. If I learned something from Dr. Strange, he does not like late work at all. I learned the first day of class lateness is his biggest pet peeve. Work must not be late and you must be on time.
6.) His blog is great because it involves everyone the students, parents, and teachers. It keeps everyone up to date with what he will be doing in the classroom, such as, assignments, projects, experiments, etc. One of my goals as a teacher is to make sure I involve my parents in everything. I never want my parents to feel that they do not know what is going on in my classroom.
7.) I looked at the "Plagiarism Checker" and I thought that was fantastic. You copy and paste your children's work into the box and it will tell you if it is plagiarized or not. I think he put this in his useful links because he can tell if he students are really doing the work or not. The other link that I viewed was Discovery Education. This was a great site for teachers because it gives you free lesson plans. It also has a puzzlemaker that you could use to make assignments for your students.
8.) His internet safety rules are excellent. Internet safety is something that I feel should not be taken lightly. I have a little sister who is 11 and likes to get on YouTube. She can view videos of Justin Beiber and some of her other favorite artist. I have to stress to her all the time not to get on YouTube without supervision because if you are not careful you can pull up inappropriate videos. I think internet safety should be taught and our  students should be reminded of the safety rules for the internet each day.
9.) I was assigned to the "March Madness" post. It was a great post and talked about how people get worked up on their brackets. I like basketball, but I did not complete a bracket. The team I wanted to win was Duke, but that did not happen. Mr. McClung completed his bracket and he said he was going to watch it fail, but I am interested to see who is going to come out on top.
10.) Some things that I liked about his blog was the tabs at the top. I personally think it was easier to navigate that way. I also liked how there was an archives tab on the side where you can access previous years work. I thought that was very interesting. I found that you could chat with Mr.McClung when he was available. One other thing that I liked was the music on the blog. You could make it personal or for a class blog like this you could put the schools song on it.
11.) I thought this class blog was awesome. It was easy for anyone to navigate through it. I liked how he involved everyone the parents, teachers, and student. He keeps his parents involved and they are aware of what they are doing. I think parent involvement is very important because you want your parents to have a part in their child's education.
12.) This class blog was by far one of my favorite that I have visited. You can tell that Mr. McClung cares a lot about his students and his class blog. He involves everyone in his blog and I think that is awesome. I think that Mr. McClung has a great teaching method and I love how he is involved with his students. He makes his classroom environment fun and exciting for his students.
13.) There is not really any more comments that I would add to this blog. I think this assignment was great and I learned some awesome ideas to incorporate in my future classroom. When I become a teacher I just hope I have as much enthusiasm as Mr. McClung has for his classroom. He is a teacher that knows exactly what he wants for his students and his classroom and makes it happen. This is a great blog to keep in mind while I am in school and even after I graduate.