February 14th Assignment

Throughout my school career, I have been informed NOT to use Wikipedia for a source with any of my research. There was no choice to if I would want to use the site or not. It was against the rules of research for papers and projects in my classrooms. I still do not use Wikipedia just because I was taught to find other sources to contribute to any paper I was writing or project I was researching for. Although the scanner is an amazing discovery of Mr. Griffith, I still will not use it even if it is getting better. It's just a risk that I am not willing to take when it comes to the validity of my school work. I don't think that anytime is a good time to use Wikipedia, even though the scanner is helping the site.


"What I've Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung was a really great read for beginner elementary school teachers. I wont be teaching for another couple of years and I still find it enlightening. He writes about 'How to read a crowd' and that being flexible is important. The quote, "When things go wrong, simply work with it and try to better the situation"is a positive line for beginner teachers. Communication and being reasonable are also two important factors of teaching, according to Mr. McClung. He says that the best way to resolve any work place issue is through communication. Also he says that we can forget that we are dealing with children and that we should encourage them to try again when they don't meet our expectations. I find that to be an amazing tip considering that we can get so frustrated with children. He writes that we shouldn't be afraid of technology. I know that I am not, but I still find his section on that helpful. The 'Listen to your Students' section talks about taking interest in the lives of your students because it means so much to them. And finally, Mr. McClung tells us to never stop learning. I totally agree with this piece of advice because I believe that we never do stop learning our entire lives.