Mr.McClung's World: Special Assignment

Mr. McClung is an Eight grade teacher at Woodlawn Jr. High, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He coaches cross-country track and teaches social studies and computer applications. Mr.McClung takes a personal interest in all of his students, and wants them all to learn. Not just get by, but actually get it. He thinks out of the box and is an advocate of technology in the classroom. Based on the fact that there is a large hog, on the bottom of his blog, I would venture to say he is a huge Razorback fan.
If you expect to be apart of Mr.McClung's class you need to report to class full of energy, expect to participate, in class discussions, and be ready to listen. Mr.McClung is real big on listening as, he says anyone can talk. He also has five class rules you need to be aware of. Raise your hand before you speak, raise your hand before you leave your seat, make smart choices, follow directions quickly, and lastly, keep him happy. Mr.McClung says these thing not only work in the classroom, but in life as well.
Mr.McClung explains how his blog is the vehicle that drives the technology in the classroom. He uses his blog to make class assignments. He feels that this will keep down the confusion as to what is expected from his class, and when. He says, his blog also keep the student's parents informed as well.  Keeping those teacher/parent meetings to a minimum. The parents can simply go to the blog, for anything, they need to know about the class. Mr.McClung also explains, how the blog not only cut down on time, it cuts down on trees as well. Not a lot of paper being used on the internet. I think he has a wonderful system, and when I become a teacher, I will definitely, have something similar in place. Great way, to keep everything in one place, without a lot of trouble organizing a lesson-plan.
While I was on Mr.McClung's blog, I visited a few other sites. One was called "Convince Me". This was a really cool link. When you click it, you can see all kinds of debates going on. Great place to go if you feel strongly about something. However, you can expect to run into someone there, who feels just as strongly about their opinions as well. "Plagiarism Checker" was another link that was interesting. If you have any questions, about a students paper being original, you can go to the plagiarism checker, to confirm your suspicions.
Mr.McClung is also big on safety, for his class, while they use the internet. He explains, how they should never use their first, and last name when commenting on a blog. He Also instructed his students, to never meet anyone in-person, that they meet over the internet. Also to never,respond to threatening emails.
My C4K assignment was about "The Perfect T-Shirt". Students at school were holding a contest to raise money, for a needy cause. The winner of the contest, would have their t-shirt displayed at the school. I looked at several other sites while there, and ended up watching many links, about students projects for raising money.
In closing, I would like to make a few observations about Mr.McClung's Blog. I think he did an excellent job with the layout of his blog. There is a little bit of everything for everyone to see. From the student, to the parents, and even an occasional visitor, that might have dropped by, because of the tags, I'm sure he has attached, to bring in traffic. Mr.McClung's blog is so well designed, I'm sure people chime in, to just admire the attention to detail, on this bog. I'm gonna go out on a limb, and say this is probably the best blog site I've ever visited, since I've been enrolled in EDM 310. But then again, thats why Dr. Strange used this blog for his special assignment. To show us how useful a blog can be, and what you can do with technology, in the classroom.