Lesson One – Fat Cat Teachers
This entire week I’ve been glued to the debate that is going on right now in Wisconsin. Currently the state is about to go through budget cuts, and the area in which they have decided to cut back is in the department of state employees and state education. Right now the proposed cut backs include cutting public employees benefits as well as 8 million dollars from the public school system in Wisconsin over the next two years.
The issue at hand is hard enough to stomach on it’s own, but to make matters worst I’m reminded everyday by Fox News that teachers are pretty much worthless and a $50,000 salary is basically highway robbery for teachers in the state of Wisconsin. According to them, because teachers have a summer vacation and do not work in the private sector, teachers should lower their expectations about what they deserve as employees…because we all know that if there is one group of individuals out there that deserve to be brought down a few pegs, it’s teachers.
Lesson Two – Club Day
Yesterday marked the return of our monthly club day here at Woodland…for club day students pick a club basked on their interest. This takes place at the beginning of the year and students attend that club once a month for the whole year. My club that I’m in charge of is Wii Sports. So for our club day we spent about 30 minutes of time just hanging out and playing Wii on the project screen in my classroom. Not only does having club day each month provide a nice break from our normal routine, but it is also gives us as teachers an opportunity to further build relationships with our students outside of instructional time.
Lesson Three – Saturday School
That’s right, I said Saturday school. In order to make up lost time from our snow days earlier this semester, we will be in school on Saturday this week. While the idea of a six day week completely mortifies my students, in the end it will be worth attending a six day week in order to get an extra day knocked off at the end of our school year…so live it up kiddos, you only go to school on Saturday once a year.
Mr. McClung
Hey Mr. McClung,
I’m a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. My major is secondary/mathematics education. I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog and hearing about your experiences so far as a teacher.
I was only assigned to read the Club Day section of your post, but of course I was intrigued by “The Daily Show” so I read it all.
I think it’s great that your school implements a club day and hope that all of the other teachers are using it as a time to build stronger relationships with their students. I hope that when I get my own classroom I am able to build a sense of community.
I’m looking forward to future posts!
Another future teacher who “deserves to be knocked down a few pegs”,
Hillary
You can visit my blog here.
Hello, my name is Shaska Crabtree and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I read the post titled “Lessons Learned: Lesson Two: Club day”. I thought this was a great idea to have in place at any school. Not only does this give the student a chance to get out of there everyday routine, but like you said it gives the teacher an opportunity to build further relationships with there students outside of the instructional time. I thought the idea of a Wii Sports club was a great and interesting idea. This gives the students an opportunity to get up and move around, which I think is very important. At the same time they are using and learning things about technology.
Hello Mr. McClung! My name is Abby Jordan and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I am responding to your Lesson Three-Saturday School. I know that the students think it stinks to have to go to school on Saturdays, but I am sure it will be well worth it come summer. I like to enjoy as much of summer as I possibly can. Look at the bright side, at least y’all get some snow to play around in. We are already in the 80s here and some people are already swimming. Summertime will be here before you all know, so go to school Saturday without complaining and look at it as one more day to soak up that summer sun! 🙂
Joe,
Whitney here again, After introducing myself on your home page for all the neat aspects you have your class following on the computer which is a great approach to incorporating the use of technology in to your classroom. I read the post titled Lesson Three-9:23 and found that your track team seems to have some stars among it. I hope that this success is continuing throughout the season and that your students dedicate themselves to their talents and achieve achieve achieve! Great post and give congrats to your team!!
Hello Mr. McClung. My name is Dana Johnson and I am an EDM 310 student at the University of South Alabama. I am responding to Lesson One- Fat Cat Teachers. I am going to school to be an educator and I disagree with what Fox has to say about teachers and I think it is not fair that they are going to cut teachers. That just make things harder on the kids and teachers with the over crowed classrooms.
My names is Samera Johnson, I am an EDM 310 student at the University of South Alabama. As a class requirement I am assigned to your blog. I’d like to first statr off by saying your blog looks great. I am comment to the Lessons Learned: Club Day post. I think that this is a great idea for students and teachers. It allows the student to be involved in school activites and make school a much more enjoyable place for the student. I like the idea that it helps the teacher, in the way that they may not burn out so quickly. I think this something that should be implented in high schools as well.
Hi Mr. McClung. My name is Kelsey Robinson and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I am commenting on Lessons Learned- Fat Cat Teachers as part of an assignment for Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. I cannot help but be annoyed everytime I hear about cuts in public school systems. The people in the the linked video you shared should really think about what they are saying. They act like teachers are no big deal and that they do not deserve to be paid as “much” as they do. However, at the same time, they want to complain about our economy. Well, without teachers and educators, our nation has no future. We, educators/teachers, and the students that come in our classrooms, are the future of our nation and I think that makes us pretty important.
Hi,
I am an EDM 310 student at the University of South Alabama and I was assigned your Lesson Learned Three- Saturday School. I must say, of Course the kids may think this is a terrible idea, but they don’t realize it will definitely pay off in the end. They want have to come back to school early from summer break and they will not get behind on their class work. I really enjoy your posts.