Teacher teacher... Y U Racist?

This evening I saw a Chinese music student practicing his flute vigorously in Msquare. Suddenly he just stops and puts his flute down at the sound of the Azan prayers. It got me to realize how I haven't seen such an act of respect towards others' religion or race for a while now, or how I myself might not been paying attention. Lately, all I've been hearing are complains about how smelly the others are with their incense burning and such. And all I've been seeing are flocks of the same races together in the cafeterias and the hallway - completely oblivious to the others' existence. Kalau tegur pun x, jangan harap dok makan semeja. If Malaysian teachers themselves do not practice racial unity, how are they going to cultivate this value among their own students?

In Melaka where I came from, or from what I observed during my recent visit to Sabah, racial unity was never an issue, and everyone just gets along well. Melayu, Cina, India, Baba, Portugis and all kinds of races can be seen just hanging out at the same kopitiam talking bout the weather, football and what not. We are after all living in a multicultural country, and fostering unity among all the people will ensure peace and harmony in our society. Please open your eyes people and look around, especially cikgu cikgu sekalian. Are we really as united and respectful of one another as outsiders perceived, or is this just a facade to cover the claws left in closed doors? What's the point of the education system then if the society we have now are products of straight As in exams but straight Fs in basic social values and mentality?

christopherism 1:7

"Once a teacher, always a teacher" - Professional Development Week 3 (christopherism 1:7)

This quotation has made me think about how the teaching professional is innate and that somehow teachers are born, not made. At least that's what I believe...

Many do not know about this, but I knew I was going to be a teacher since year 6 primary, ever since I made my English teacher Mrs Hong cry in front of the class. I was her favorite student, her 'walking dictionary'. However, being on top of her class has made me a mischievous and arrogant little brat. So what happened then.... I was just playing with my ruler and it fell off my desk to the front of the class, twice. She had to stop her lesson to pick it up and scold me both times. Then, on the third time, my ruler snapped! and so did she... There she was crying in the corner of the class... and this guilt that took over me was so intense and vividly haunting. It was experiences such as this that have made me  become more attentive and observant towards all my English teachers - from the little things that they say and do in the classroom and how they are with students out of the classroom.

After secondary schooling, all my close friends were all busy applying for matrix, or scholarships in engineering, medicine, accounting and more engineering! I never bothered. I just applied for teaching after I received my SPM results and with the grace of God, I'm now where I am today. I believed this was my calling and have never looked back on the 'what-ifs', or regretted arguing with my Dad who wanted me to do business. Similarly, I will not change this path destined for me and will continue to be a teacher till the day I die. 'Once a teacher, always a teacher'...

Amen.

Riddikulus!

Riddikulus! - a Harry Potter spell that turns the boggart into something ridiculous that the caster was thinking about.

And IF I were to cast that same spell... the boggart would have turned into the assessments of 'Linking Theory to Practice'.

Yes, it would turn to this:

Assignment 1 (40%): Prepare and discuss a lesson plan as part of a scheme of work.

Task a (10%): You will be given a scheme of work. Explain how the suggested teaching/ learning actvities could contribute to the intended learning outcome. Include an evaluative comment on the scheme of work and on the link between the activities and intended outcomes (250 words).

Task b (30)%: Choose and area from the scheme of work and develop a coherent lesson plan for that area drawing on principles of learning and teaching. Include objectives, rationale, activities and resource based on the prepared unit of the work above.

Write an introduction (750) words for the lesson plan explaining your thinking in developing the plan and drawing on relevant literature. Attach the plan as an appendix.

Assignment 2 (60%): Micro teaching, peer review and critical reflection.

Task a: Teach a component of your lesson (approx 10-15 minutes) followed by a discussion and feedback sessions (5-10 minutes) (not assessed).

Task b (60%): Critical reflection

Drawing on your micro teaching experience, the feedback you received and relevant literature, write a critical reflection (2000 words) including the following:

• what you chose to teach in the session and why
• the actual experience of teaching
• a summary of feedback by other students (and staff) and your response to this feedback
• an evaluative comment on the value of the process of peer feedback
• what you have learnt in the process of planning and teaching
• ways to improve your lesson plan and teaching
• a plan for developing your teaching in relation to the issues that have arisen through this exercise

Appendices:

• Materials used in your microteaching
• A completed feedback sheet on another student's microteaching

Now, what's wrong with it?

Think about it before reading the next part.

Done?

Let's look into why I think these assessments are poorly designed.

What are they really assessing?

1. The first assessment part (a) basically requires us to look into the scheme of work to explain and evaluate the linkage between suggested teaching/learning activities with intended learning outcomes. The problem is that the scheme of work is over a semester or a year's period which comprises of many suggested activities and intended learning outcomes that varies. However, the weighting of this piece is 10% and we are only given 250 words to write about it. Which means that we are expected to make generalisation of the activities in the scheme of work and the intended learning outcomes. In my opinion, cramming these much content (and possibly a full critical piece) into 250 words doesn't promote critical thinking on our part and to a certain extent, pointless.
   
   What could have been done to improve this assessment is either to focus on a small area in the scheme of work or better yet, to further develop the whole question and make it a major assignment of a minimum 2500 words that requires us to make links and justify the activities by drawing on relevant literatures. This would then ensure that the learning outcomes of this assignment is truly achieved, and not just be another assignment done for the sake of it.
   
   Task (b) is actually reasonable as it challenges our theoretical skills and how we adapt it into creating a lesson plan.
   
   
2.  The micro teaching and critical reflection in Assignment 2, although it is well designed, the instructions are poorly clarified. As the assignments were explained to us, the lecturers from different classes were not in sync with the instructions of the assignment and they each have their own interpretations of how things should be done. So the instructions became made up as they go. It was evidently a lack of organization and discussion on their part. And as a result, students were quite confused about it. These are some of the 'spontaneous' modification done towards the assignments:

• peer evaluation is written on a piece of paper to be given out to the presenter by the next day. (*updated: The students have voiced out that a more organized and standardized peer evaluation form should be provided. The sample peer evaluation forms has been obtained from Macquarie Uni and would be used for this assignment. Thank God for Hafiz.)
  
  
• In the appendices, it has become compulsory to attach all the peer evaluation form that is given to you, as well as ALL the peer evaluation form that we have written to others. That means we would each have 36 pages or more in our appendices. I think this is uncalled for and too much of a modification of the instruction. Plus, we are really wasting papers! The lecturers should instead just trust us to be critical evaluators as we have already experienced the exact same assignment twice in Macquarie and once in our first year degree. (which also makes this assignment repetitive and redundant). Besides that, 'how well you evaluate your peers' is not a part of the marking criteria of the assignment and therefore we should not be forced and supervised on documenting our feedback to others which should be respected as confidential in the first place. But rather the assignment instructions should just be maintained because it already has a clear focus and that is on how critical we synthesize others' evaluation and adapt them in our reflection piece.
  
  
• They have decided to change the marking criteria. Now, our appendices are marked...
  
  
• Another instruction changed is that staff's feedback on the micro teaching would not be given till the end of the assignment.

Comparing to the micro teachings we did in Macquarie uni, this assignment has inconsistent goals and the evaluators themselves are not sure on what they want before they issued us the assignment. This has also made us question whether the assessment measures what it's supposed to measure. I have gotten some feedback from my peers on this and they have commented that the assignments have been made "more complicated as it should have been" and quite "cincai".

Do share your opinions here whether you agree or disagree with some of my stance or all of it. And do correct me if I am wrong. It's not that I want to bombard the assessments or the execution of it. But, I do believe that being critics of an issue makes us become analytical questioners. And as Mr Jamal's shared in his story, says that, "cikgu memang banyak soalan". Additionally, being able to 'mempersoalkan' evaluation is very important as it helps us to apply our own beliefs of evaluation and make us even better evaluators in the future. This skill itself would be a great blessing for all teachers to have.

christopherism 1:6

"Promote Intelligence, Nurture Talent, Advocate Responsibility (PI.NT.AR)" - christopherism 1:6

Simply love these 3 points. Thanks Mr.Jamal for introducing this simple yet meaningful concept of PINTAR and I believe it has brought us a step closer to understanding the responsibilities of being a teacher. Let's develop more from this...

J in JERI

27 lapse achieved!!! That's more than 10km of non-stop jogging today and I have never felt healthier before. In the midst of the 20th round or so, it just crossed my mind of how physical health or 'Jasmani' is one of the important aspects as emphasized in the National Philosophy of Education.

"...to produce individuals who are intelectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonic..." (National Philosophy Malaysia) 

However, the reality in the Malaysian education system is, the importance of physical health is always placed second to the other aspects mentioned in NPE. Ideally, teachers would of course find a balance to develop students in all of these aspects. But how would one do so when the intellectuality of an individual has always been paraded by the system as the deciding factor to his or her success in life? Hence, the exam oriented education that we practiced and stillllll practicing now.

Here's a few questions to ponder:

1) Why aren't physical health test considered in determining how well a student achieves in school? (bringing in the importance of multiple intelligence and considering how students can excel in many dimensions besides intellectual)
 This leads to the second question...

2) Why aren't students streamed, or ranked in classes according to their physical abilities like sports achievements, and other aspects rather than pure exam results? (not that I'm supporting streaming or ranking but that's the ugly truth)

3) How can Malaysian teachers preach the importance of physical health when they themselves do not practice healthy lifestyles? (e.g: smoking, overeating especially if there's free food LOL)

As the word A.S.I.C.S (Anima Sana In Corpore Sano) brings the meaning, 'Healthy Soul in a Healthy Body', we must come to realize how health is relatively important to one's development of the mind and soul.

With this, I hope that we as Malaysian teachers will not turn a blind eye on the importance of J in JERI, and strive to develop our students to be holistic individuals. And the way to achieve that, is to start with ourselves...

christopherism 1:5

"Anima Sana In Corpore Sano" - christopherism 1:5

The acronym ASICS, branded by a popular sports company. It's actually a Latin phrase that brings the meaning "Healthy Soul in a Healthy Body".

Will be further explained in the next post..

It's All Relative!

It just struck me. One of the powerful things that I learned in Professional Development is to bring meaning into the lesson. An example that Madam Mariah gave was to teach measurement in a Math class filled with football crazed students by incorporating the width and length a football field as a reference. Relating student's interest to the targeted lesson not only engages them, but also ensures that the lesson 'makes sense' to them.

It is easier said than done, but I hope I would be able to make connections between student's interest and my lesson content, and ultimately bring MEANING to their learning. 



English football.... in English class??

Yes, it's possible.