1. From what I have read about Mr. McClung on his blog he is a man with many varied interests. I think that this shows through the way his blog is constructed. He uses many different types of media throughout his blog. Some posts are written, some are audio, some are video. Because he knows that one thing does not appeal to or work for everyone he uses these multiple forms of communication so that all students and the audience of their blog can learn from it.
2. I think that Mr. McClung is a great educator. He realizes that "notes, lectures and homework everynight" does not work for everyone. I think that this realization is very important for every educator to realize. You have to be able to teach to all students with all learning styles. I think that the ability, and willingness, to do this is what makes a great educator.
3. The first rule Mr. McClung lists is "Follow Directions Quickly." I don't know why Mr. McClung made this his first rule, but I do know that if I had made this my first rule it would be because I have worked hard to make assignments and to plan out what we will be doing in class but if directions are not followed we will not get the results needed to learn what we need to learn. I think that this is also important because when the students follow directions this shows respect for the teacher.
4. The first requirement under "Everyone Needs" is a daily planner. I think that this is very important because students have to be responsible for their assignments. A daily planner allows the students keep track of what is do and be organized which will lead to repsonsibility.
5. I think that Mr. McClung's penalties for being late are very similar to Dr. Strange's penalties for being late. If you are late you only have the ability to get a B. For everyday you are late the highest grade you can recieve lowes by a letter grade. In Dr. Strange's class you are also penalized for late work. The way I understand it is is not the exact same way as Mr. McClung penalizes his students but your grade will suffer and you will not pass the class if this becomes habitual.
6. Mr. McClung hope that through his blog he will be able to power technological education in his classroom. This is very important. It is also the best way for him to communicate with students, parents and others when they are not in the classroom. If I choose to use a classroom blog I will use in in the same way. I will use this as my main form of communication with my students and parents. I will use it in this way because I think that it is often hard for parents to contact teachers because their schedules do not go together.
7. I really like that Mr. McClung has a link to The Daily Show with Jon Daily. I think that this gives students a fun link. Many of the students are possibly watching this show. It is a very holarious interpretation of the news. I think that it is great that Mr. McClung uses this fun link in his classroom. I think this could be used to incorporate current events in the classroom in a fun way. I think it made his list because it is a different kind of look at the news-the traditional approach is not appealing to students.
The second link I visited was From The Basement. This is a site with many different muical artists who are not very widely known. I think that this is a very interesting choice. From Mr. McClung's post about himself we know that he is very interested in music. I think the reason this post is here is to allow his students to better know himself. I think it could be used as a link between students and teachers.
8. I think that Mr. McClung's rules for Internet Safety are very in depth and cover everything needed. I think it was a great idea for him to create a class e-mail the students could use on public posts sot hat they were not giving out their own e-mail address. It is obvious that Mr. McClung really cares about the safety of his students.
9. I was assigned to look at the Trail of Tears Class Discussion. This was filed under Arkansas History. Under this category I found many very interesting things. I found that there are mostly videos under the Arkansas History category. Mr. McClung has videos not only of class discussions, but also of individual students explaining certain topics. I think that this is a great way to show that a student has mastered a topic. If the student can explain something to you IN THEIR OWN WORDS I think it shows that they know the necessary infomation on that topic.
10. What I like most about Mr. McClung's post, that I feel would be useful, is the multiple pages. I like how he has links to his different pages such as rules and useful links. I feel like this is something that is necessary for a classroom blog because you are always going to want students to be able to refer back to other important things without searching around for it. I am sure this is something that could be done with Blogger but I am not sure how to do it myself.
11. I think that Mr. McClung's blog is very useful for multiple types of people. I think that it is useful to his students because it allows them to look back as a review. It is also a good source for students who have missed class. If you have missed a day you are able to check the blog and keep up with what was covered in class. I think it is a good resource for parents as well. Parents are able to keep up with what their students are learning and how they are learning it on a daily basis. I think this is a great way to keep parents involved in their children's lives. It allows them to have a conversation starter. I also think the blog is great for education students. In field experience when we are required to teach those first few times I think this would be a great place to get ideas of fun, exciting, educational ways to introduce topics.
12. Although Mr. McClung's blog is a Class blog he does most of the posting. Students are involved in the making of the posts but I feel as if this blog is more of a this is what we are doing than a place for the students to blog. I did see that he had a page where students could do this but it has not been posted to by the students recently and is not the main part of this blog. Other blogs I have visited the students are the ones posting. This is the main difference I saw.
13. Mr. McClung's World is a blog that has so much depth to it is very time consuming to view it in depth. I think that it is something that should be bookmarked to come back to as a reference.
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