Counting Days...

Assalamualaikum and Hi to all!

Third Reflection:

Well well well, what do you know…? The students’ exam has ended! Even their marks are finalized and posted. Alhamdulilah nobody failed. Mind you that “Failure” is a raspy and such repulsive word for this school so having everybody passed especially my own students is a relief!

I was assigned to mark both of my classes their Paper 2 exam except for the Summary part. I have found more than 90% of the students managed to answer the literature part (one of my biggest responsibilities was to teach Literature for both classes – don’t know why!) with excellence. I remember being given the last minute task to teach them one poem, Nature by H.D Carberry two weeks before their exam started. Without knowing the exam questions, I also managed to include general knowledge that is connected to the poem so I managed to include an activity of presentations done by the students on Natural Disasters and Environmental Issues. Coincidentally, questions on how to conserve nature were asked in the exam! The struggle to teach them within limited time was already hard, let alone the students themselves in need to add another poem to prepare for their exam. But with such outstanding marks, am I proud or what? Hehe..

Since exam has ended, all we were asked to do was just revision with the students based on their exam papers. This is not so much of a problem, not unless you have more than half of the class being absent! Hello! Its post-exam season so the students have no interest of coming to school anymore. Thus, I had to enlighten the atmosphere of the class by having really good games and activities for them. Sigh. I had to really think out of the box so I came up with games such as Role-Plays, Puzzles, Guessing games etc. I managed to get the computer lab for my lesson with both classes and I told them it was a reward for them since they rarely go there so I shared some interesting inspirational stories with them.

Observations are done by my supervisor, Dr Wong and my mentor, Pn Susan. However Dr Wong could only managed to observe me once due to her busy schedule and our exam timetable which took about one month. I have already sent all my lesson plans to her too as requested. Pn Susan has also seen my lesson plans and both of them commented the same thing on my teaching. It was something like “You are very systematic”, “Your lesson is interesting” but “You should have more challenging activities for them”.

Its been 9 weeks already and time flies so fast. I have learned a lot through this process of being a teacher in the future. It has surely given me an eye-opening experience. *teary*

Fourth Reflection:

It is indeed the final week for Teaching Practice. It is indeed a relief to complete the course. It is indeed sad to end this course. It is indeed heartbreaking to leave this school, Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan Katholik, Petaling Jaya.

During this final week, there are no students around anymore. They are given two months holiday before the school resumes next year. Therefore, the atmosphere of the school is very quiet, clean and just gloomy without them around. Just noises coming from the teachers’ staff rooms or the canteen.

The task for this week is just to help out teachers to prepare modules for the year 2013. Yes, I was assigned to do the Literature part again. Why? Maybe they see me like an expert in this area? Haha dream on! Anyways, so I had produced hundreds of slides on PowerPoint in order to create Literature modules touching on different poems with different strategies and activities along with its other important focuses. Ofcourse I didn't do this alone, I was supervised by a teacher, Miss Stephanie who sits next to me so my job is easier and faster as I can always ask for her help. The task needs me to take a lot of pictures from the textbook and other books as well and mind you, it is not just about 20-30 pictures. Its more than 100 pictures! So I came up with taking the photos using my phone rather than scanning it as I find it easier and faster. Then I was also needed to do a lot of editing of the photos and this does not take a day or two to do it. Typing is not an exception in this task too. I ended up doing 117 slides altogether on PowerPoint. Phew!!

Nonetheless, I am very pleased to be a part of this school because I was able to attend the launching of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) by the Principal during the last assembly of the school last Monday. Not forgetting the awards he mentioned that the school received throughout the year. Some of the awards are being the best Chinese High School in all over Selangor, having the best Sports Gym in Selangor and second place for the best Science lab all over Selangor. I am proud as a teacher here indeed.

Okay for selecting two posts, it was difficult because I believe everybody did their best and produced a good job. Nonetheless, I have chosen Zhao Xunyu on her third reflection. What attracted me the most was the fact how she faced the “natural disaster” situation where she managed to handle it well and control her students’ concentrations. That is just bravo! Not forgetting the way how she stated her problems and strategies in her post. Secondly, I chose Farha Alia on her third reflection as well. It was mainly due to her creativity. Her activities based on her pictures literally show how enjoyable it was for the students. Even so, it makes me a bit envious as even I could not think of such ways to teach the students. So well done both of you! And for others, I am very sure we all have our own ways. Cheers!

Below are the pictures I have taken during the past ten weeks :

Students going home~

                                            All the trainees at SMJK Katholik. Missing : Ellina

Teachers' staffroom

  Some of the pictures as materials for Literature Module 2013

My Form 4P1 class. Yes, one of the students just literally took my phone and snapped a picture with me.

Some students practising their Lion Dance

My Form 4S9 class I had in the Computer Lab

Post-exam activity : my students playing Running Man - Fighting!!

Appreciation Dinner

                                                    Trainees with Puan Ya, Deputy Principal

Miss Stephanie - teacher of Form 4P1

                                                   Mdm Lim Bee Ain - teacher of Form 4S9


Talk to you all soon and Assalamualaikum.

Regards,
Khairiah

Fourth reflection

Personally the 2 posts I think I could learn from would be from Gabriel and Syazwan .

Firstly, the one from Gabriel: But they were really good in writing. They use words like prerequisite, punitive and a lot more that I did not expect in my teaching practice, what more from the form 2 students. They are good. But they also have some grammatical problems, just a little bit here and there. And yeah, they understood what I taught in the class. 

Though we are in different schools, I share the same feeling with gabriel. Both of my 2A1 and 2A3 class have revealed that they didn't quite like writing, but when they were assigned with some topics to write, most of them would come up with the ideas and sentences you could hardly expect from Form 2 students! I actually had some doubt when the form teacher said "the girls like to write things long and they don't know how to stop" as I asked about students' writing proficiency at the beginning, later when I gave them a writing task under the topic of Helping the less unfortunate people , I was literally stunned by their work, though they did make mistakes on spelling and some grammars, the content and the sentences were just beautiful. Meanwhile I was shocked when I found 2 pieces of work which were almost alike, one of them copied, I didn't want to embarrass them so I left a note on both of their composition books and asked them to see me.

Another post that greatly attracted me when i was scanning the other posts was the one from Syazwan: my lecturer and mentor told me that I am a soft spoken person and therefore the boys could easily lost their focus and if my voice is not loud enough I may face difficulties in controlling the class. I was worried about my method and my voice. I feared that they might not understand what I am going to teach them and the worst problem is they can’t hear me. I don’t like to scream. So, every time I walk into the classroom, I’ll ask all the boys to sit in front and let the back seats empty. Some of them even have to share tables.

I've been always told by people around me that I have to raise my voice when I speak, so this time when I first went to SMK Assunta and had my ice-breaking activities with the students, I tried to talk as normal as I can and after the first class, I asked the form teacher about her comments, she said I should raise my voice a bit higher as she was sitting at the back of the classroom, so from then on, I was actually shouting instead of speaking, I tried my best to make my voice higher without hurting my throat much. I didn't try to have them all sited in the front as the girls would tend to talk when they were put together, but I was moving around in the classroom so that the students can hear me from any direction.

Thanks.

CONFIDENCE is the key

Hi again everyone...

This is the examination week for my school, Catholic High School. It's such a boring week as we teachers does not have anything to do except to invigilate the examinations, that's all. For some other teachers, they are all too busy with the administration work, key in all the PBS stuff and so on. Even we trainees have to help with all that too. It's okay with that. So, for the forth reflection...

The first insightful post that i could learn from is from Aby's post, where one of her post entitled 'There are always room for improvements". I totally agree with that. All of us are still in the learning process, besides, no one is perfect. Even my mentor in school every time reminds me that, we are always learning. She doesn't expect much from us as she understands our situation. She also added that, even though she have been teaching for quite some time, but she still learns something new every day and is still learning on ways to improve her teaching. I am really proud to have a mentor like her, Mdm. Ow Siew Har. As for me, i can feel that i am not a good presenter. I always feel very anxious when i have to stand and present in front of a crowd. But I kept all that to myself. I tried my best to look confident and breath in and out slowly as to control my nervousness. I am not sure whether it really works or not, but i managed to control myself in class. I am still not sure how i did it. Even Muniroh, my teaching partner told me that my character completely change when i'm with my students teaching in class. So, that answers everything i guess. The keyword here is CONFIDENCE. If we have the confidence, nothing is impossible to achieve. 

The second post is Eza'z post where she posted that she was assigned to teach the weakest class. She posted that the class was really troublesome as it was the weakest class. I'm sorry to hear that. As for me, i got the opposite of that. I got the best class for form 1. Can you imagine that? They are form 1. Even though it is the best class, but you have to see their true colors. They maybe excel in their studies but attitude wise, is really down. They will use all the dirty words in class even the words that you don't understand. Sometimes they will just ask question not because they don't understand, but only because they are trying to test your knowledge. So, once again the keyword here is CONFIDENCE. You must have the confidence to do anything, including controlling your class and facing any challenge that come across your path. I have gained my confidence from no where and i manage to get along with them. Once they feel that they can't challenge you, they will surely come down back to earth and that's it. You have conquered them. :)

Don't be afraid, let's be friends

Hi everyone, how are you? :)

Sorry for the late post as i have some difficulties to log in to this blog earlier. Before i proceed, i would like to thank Fahrul for his guidance. If not because of him, i don't think i will manage to post anything here anymore. Thank you so much, my friend.

Well, this post is to cover up for the third reflection. As for the third reflection, actually i can say that i don't have much trouble or problem in my school, Catholic High School. Their discipline are very good except for some students. Actually, i heard that all the students in that school have to attend an interview before they are accepted in the school. And one more important thing is that they must at least achieve 7 As in their UPSR or must have one outstanding talent in order to be accepted in that school. Great right?? My problems are almost solve with all the naughty students as we are getting closer now a days. They didn't change completely but i can feel as if something is bringing closer. I'm not sure what is it? I can feel that we are more like friends to each other but there are still some boundaries between us. One problem that still remain the same is the problem with the boy named Tan. I've tried many ways to overcome this problem. I even try to talk to his former teacher which is also my mentor, his classmates and even to himself. Perhaps i am new there, but still i didn't see anything wrong with him. Maybe he looks a little weird but that's it. We can't judge a book by its cover. I still remember the day when i confront with my mentor to ask about his matter, i can still remember the look at her face. The only thing she told me is "You don't have to know lar". That's all and cut of conversation. Same goes with his classmates. They doesn't want to tell me anything about him. So, i made a decision not to ask anything about him anymore. But i tried to pay more attention to him in class. But still all the other students are envy with him and they make fun of him by calling him a dog. I really don't understand anything about this and i am really confused with this situation.

My first observation by my supervisor is over and i got a good comment as she told me that my class control is good and my voice is loud enough to control the class. It's a relieved for me. However, she told me to pay more attention to the groups of boys that are quite noisy in class which is also the same 7 boys that i've talked about earlier in the last reflection. I am still trying to conquer them.

The group of naughty boys a.k.a Jurassic Park

Girls group a.k.a The Chillax Group

This girl group is the best as they are so supportive and keep on helping me to deal with all the Jurassic Park gang. 

As for my moral class, everything is going on just fine for me. They are giving their concentration  and co-operation whenever i ask them to do group work or present in front of the class. In fact, they really enjoy it. They are so cool. I admit that at first they too does not like group works and so on. They think that i am too fierce to them but now, everything change. They are no longer afraid of me. This is good as i want them to respect me not to be afraid of me. I think i succeed in this area. Yeah!!

2B1 Moral class - Project of harmony country

2B1 Moral class - Minister of the harmony country

2B1 Moral class - War country

I can't manage to snap more pictures as the school actually have strict rules regarding these. So, this is the last class that i taught before the exam. The students are sitting for their year end exam this week. This means that, there are no any teaching and learning process will take place for quite some time. They are nervous and anxious, so do i. I am not sure why am i feeling like this but perhaps because they are my students, so i feel their stress as well. Just hope that they will do well in their finals.

That's all for now. Adios :)

Fahmi's Fourth

Hello peeps! We are reaching the end~ hehehe

so let's get to it alright

1st post that caught my mind is Shahrul's anxiety, to this exact point:-

The principal also mentioned that we, the trainee teachers, would not be formally introduced to the students during assembly on Monday so that we would be perceived as REAL, PERMANENT TEACHERS

it is very thoughtful of the school's administration to help out trainee teachers who have no prior experience and help to maintain the 'illusion' or 'image' that we build to manage our classroom. This however, will not happen in every school and we must be prepared, in every aspect to be teachers!
Even though I admit that this might help us, but still, nothing beats the hands-on learning given by the experience that most of us, or Syazwan and I have discovered through out our teaching practice at BBBSS.

'Experience is the best teacher' - Julius Caesar

2nd post that struck my eyes is Eza's 'troubling' classrooms. I feel very sorry for Eza as she was instructed to teach those classes. I gone through the same process here at BBBSS as I was assigned to the weakest class with only one of them is really good while others, only God knows their level. I know how you feel about this Eza.

There was one time where I'm already in the class but one of the student went to other class. I went to that class and called my student but when I go in front, he went to the back,when I go to the back,he goes to the front until I told him that if he keeps on doing that, he can just stand for the whole 80 minutes. Honestly, each of them have their own attitude which is very hard for me to tackle each of them.

But still, this post gives me hope and make me reflect that 'There are others who has suffered more severely than me'. As most of us give thoughts on our FB to Eza about our thoughts, I also gathered up all my wits and wisdom to cater my students' needs. Whilst giving them low level activities, I also enrich them with 'Word of the Day' for every classes with definitions and examples that caught their attention like cartoons and athletes. Similar to you, the teachers here also suggested to translate every word and I did that, plus ask all of them to repeat after me. It takes time but still, something, is better than nothing.

1st day and it was raining heavily, not so good...

one of my set inductions, asking students' opinion on pictures

1 Unggul in their exams...

As I read all the posts, I really feel that we have learnt a lot through out the teaching practice compared to what we taught to our students. I got a lot of my ideas from you guys and it did help me to be a better teacher.

Mediocre teacher tells,
Good teacher explains,
Superior teacher demonstrates,
Excellent teacher inspires

-   William Arthur Ward


and to end my post~

Mr Syazwan with a fellow teacher's cute son. teehee!

Something from Wendy Wu

Sometimes, what students need more is not just a professional teacher who knows his/her stuff well, but also one that helps them emotionally; thus, open the knots in their hearts, especially those teenagers who are sensitive, moody and obstinate.

(Wendy Wu, 2012)

“Just one last dance, before we say goodbye”

Happy to see all of you here again J . We only have less than two weeks to go, wish everything still goes well in your schools. Sorry for my late posting, this is my third reflection.    

Two observations by Madam Shanina (Week 3 & Week 5)

The first observation was conducted in my Form 2 class and it is 80 minutes class. This English proficiency level of this class is not very good, but generally I feel they did good job in the class. However, after listening to Madam Shanina’s comments, I just realized that I made a big mistake and this is really stupid.

Madam Shanina said “I like the first half of the class about the poem “I WONDER”, but you suddenly jump to the English language class is wrong”. In the first half class, I helped students better understand the poem “I WONDER” by playing the song “LEMMON TREE”, showing pictures and asking students to draw the picture in their mind. The wrong thing here is I asked students stop drawing when there are 25 minutes left and I asked them to focus on the grammar rules on the board and do the grammar game. Actually, in this process, I’ve already killed the joy of the students in the poem class. I record this experience here, I wish I can remember this big mistake and never do it again. I believe you guys won’t make the same mistake like me, poor me!  L   Anyway, one good thing for me, I found the students are interested in drawing, as I showed the pictures before, every student has potential.

Because of the time crash with Madam Shanina, the second observation was again conducted in 2 AMANAH class. Considering the lesson from first observation, this time I planned everything only for the first method. I planned a game about “MAMMALS” for students, which requires their full participation and Madam Shanina gave high evaluation on it.

During the observation, there is an accident; one of the lights in classroom fell down on the floor because of the strong wind. In order to continue with the class, I was trying to attract students’ attention. I told them “hey, dears, we are high class “mammals” right? We are strong and let’s ignore the natural disaster. Turn off the lights and sit in front, make sure everybody is safe.” All the students are laughing and the rest of the class goes well. I feel proud of my students because at least they still try to concentrate under this situation.

Form 4: 4 IKHALS  (Week 4 - Week 9)

The first time I meet 4 IKHLAS students, I can feel that they are quite creative and cooperative. At that time, I believe we can have best time with each other. However, it is a little pity because form 4 students start the exam much earlier than form 2. I remember at the end of the week 3, I made a competition board for them, but they start the exam on week 5, therefore the board is almost empty until week 8. I feel sad and I think this teaching practice period is not the best time for us to go to the school. Anyway, everything cannot always go the way you like. What I need to do is to make the best of the rest of the days.    

The first 4 weeks classes for form 4 are good, they enjoyed the game I prepared for them. However, in the following weeks, the time I spent with them is only in the exam time, and I’m the examiner. In normal class, I always smile but in the exam, I’m quite serious and much stricter than normal time. After 4 weeks exam, I went into the class room, I feel it’s been long time we haven’t talk to each other and one of the boys came to me and said “Teacher, you are a little fierce”    

Ø  Problem 1: “Teacher, you are a little fierce to me”

This is the student who is a little bit naughty in the exam, I guess this is the reason he says this to me. But I’m a little bit sensitive about this sentence. I’m thinking about “Am I too serious in the classroom?” After the class, three of the students came to me and want to interview me, after the interview, I asked them whether I am too serious in the classroom?” two of the girls say “ No” and they think that I’m cute, but one of the boy said “A little bit when you are angry”

   Strategy:

   I go back and rethink about myself, I guess maybe I’m too strict with that boy, therefore, after class, I was trying to talk to him. I asked him “Why do you think I’m fierce? Never mind, just give me some comments because teacher also wants to improve on myself.” Then, he replied “No, teacher, I was just playing around, you are a good teacher” I’m not so sure whether he is talking the truth, but I think I should talk to them more if I have chance later. Knowing them is best way to know about the truth.

Ø  Problem 2: They are cooperative but just few of them are passionate.

After exam, I can easily feel that they are much more relaxed then before and even sometimes I asked them to do something, they still do, but you can see from their face that they are not passionate as before. I try to make the best of rest of the days, so I planned to prepare some games for them.

   Strategy:

   Be positive, open and try to talk to them more. I searched the internet and try to find games for their rest of days and it works.

One day I bring the Poker card to the classroom. Students are quite good, they told me “Teacher, we are not allowed to play that in the class room” Actually, I know this and I told them “you are not allowed to gambling, but you are allowed to discover brain by using that”. Besides, I also tell them that this is an exercise taken from leadership management programme.

 I divided the students to the group and give each group 7 cards. I asked students to figure out a way to carry all 7 cards using only 1 card. The final result is like this:

At the beginning, students are interested but they cannot really figure out, so I was trying to show some tips one by one. Finally, one of the groups figures it out and they scream a lot. After all of them know, they are all very excited.

After they finish I just ask them to conclude what leadership management skill is involved in this game. Finally, they know that it is related to problem solving and decision making skill.

Form 2: 2 AMANAH (Week 4- Week 9)

Different from 4, I spent most of the time with my form 2 students. At the beginning, few of them don’t have manners and it brings me a lot of headache. As madam Shanina advised me, “They are not disciplined, never mind, be patient with them, talk with them”.

Ø  Problem: Students lack of discipline and avoid talking to me in English.

I took the advice from Madam Shanina, I tried a lot to talk to them as long as I feel they don’t behave well in the classroom. At first, I talked to some boys, they even cannot stand properly in front of me, so I try to ask them to stand well and I start to talk until they stand in the right way. When I start talking, they also don’t look at me and act like they don’t care. Alright, I keep calm and look at them until they look at me. They told me they cannot speak English well and that’s why they don’t speak. I try my best to encourage them, i said " i dont care whether you are good now or not, i care whether you you try or not, so next time, no matter you are speaking right or not, as long as you try, i will think you  are a good boy. and in the following days, it do work out, they speak a little bit more than before. :)

Ø  Relaxing time

After form 2 exam, I also give some games to them. For example, the poker game is also reachable in form 2 class. At the beginning, they are quite concentrated, as I did in form 4, after their trial, I show the steps one by one. Finally, they are all successful and you can see their happiness on their face.

Ø  Sweetness in Farewell Party

For me, I think the most unforgettable moment in teaching practice should be in this week, the farewell party. On this Tuesday, it should be my mentor’s last observation and I’ve already informed my form 2 students on Monday. However, on the way to the classroom, one of my students stopped me and tricked me not to go to the classroom and saying “teacher, there is something wrong in the office, go there and have a look”.

I was confused and just kept asking her go back to the classroom because I was thinking about my mentor should be waiting for me. Then, a teacher pass by tells me that they want to give me a surprise and I was shocked.  After that, I went back to classroom, the mentor is not there, and instead, the students put two big cakes, a big box of fried rice, some snacks and some cups on the table. I asked them why today, they told me “teacher, today is the only day that most of us are here, next week, maybe we won’t come”.

Besides, they also told me that the cake and rice were all made by themselves. I think I will keep these most beautiful sentences in my mind forever and thanks to university because it provides us chance to have time with these children. Although it’s hard at the beginning, now, I feel warm in my deep heart. Worth it! And luckily, my mentor was busy that time; she didn’t come to observe me and she will choose other day. 

the cake made by students

Alright, this is my third reflection before our teaching practice finish, again,i wanna say we still have one more week to go, wish all my friends here can enjoy the rest of the days, hope to see you soon ! :)