Week 12 Reflection: Mind boggling!

Though the Raya holidays have left us behind and the Raya mood is still intact in our hearts and minds, the struggle for supremacy over laziness rages on. Everyone still wanted to relax and take a rest but the abundant assignments we left behind during the holidays will not be completed by itself. I reset my mind back towards accomplishing what I need to do. Luckily, the class was allocated by the lecturer as our assignment-doing period and we were given the opportunity to clarify our misunderstandings or consult valuable advices which could enrich our assignments and tasks qualities.

The third assignment proves to be the lion or the king of the jungle as it was a huge challenge to ‘tame’ it. Producing four lesson plans at once was no piece of cake. I cracked my head day and night looking for creative and innovative ideas which could make my lesson plans great. The challenge doubles as we are to integrate our lesson plans with all the technologies we have learnt throughout the course like photo editing, audio, video and so forth. At first glance it might be too much for me to handle but I try to think it positively by reminding myself that this is a valuable opportunities to create quality work that will not only sharpen my creative and critical thinking skills but also use the lesson plans later when I become a teacher. Therefore, the assignment allows me to kill two birds with one stone and I am becoming more acceptable and patient in handling the task so far.

To me, crafting effective lesson plans should take in depth consideration the target audience, and in this case, they are young learners. So it is my duty to recall back the schemata I learnt about the characteristics of young learners and how to manipulate my lesson plans to serve the purpose and objectives of the lesson plans. Since young learners are very observant to the actions done by objects and what they see around them (according to Eric Erikson), the teaching aids used must be modified as to contain only the favored or intended good learning qualities that we want the child to acquire. To put it clearer; the internet is a host to countless number of pictures, videos and so forth. Each item that we believe has teaching potentials must be rid of negative qualities such as inappropriate words, improper pictures, violence, and so on. Therefore, this is where I can train myself to practice all the necessary technology skills I learnt towards transforming raw materials into wonderful teaching aids, so that they could be used later in the lesson plans. So it becomes clear to me that as future teachers, we should become aware of the needs of our young learners and filter the appropriate knowledge they should acquire while at the same time turning the lesson into an exciting and memorable learning experience. I learnt a lot from all the hard work trying to complete the assignment.

Trying to create something creative from scratch is no easy job. It requires tremendous thinking and intricate step by step evaluation before it could be carried out successfully in the classroom. One would think that after all the hard work done, each lesson plan we gave birth carries the signs of our tears and hard labor. Therefore it would be a catastrophic sadness to us all if someone were to simply use our masterpieces as their own, intended for self-gain and needs without first explicitly acquiring our permission. It should be remembered that as Muslims, every act and actions we take upon others will have its consequences. This is especially important for educators, not just teachers, because it is our responsibility to evaluate each of our students equally and fairly without the intervention of feelings or hatred towards a certain student which might cloud our professional judgments. I speak not because this is what I feel, but because we are Muslim who abide by the rules and teachings of the holy Quran. If your position is as an educator, then treat and judge all your students fairly, because if you don’t, you will have to answer that to ALLAH himself.

Week 11 Reflection: Search & Scan

This week was another fabulous week as yet another task was allocated to us. To me, the task was rather unfamiliar as we had to seek out two research materials relevant to the use of teaching aids in the primary classroom. To make things more complex, we had to analyze every bits and details of each research materials we find but that would only be possible if the materials we found are accepted by the lecturer. Thus, the search begins!

Through the countless attempt of browsing the internet, like a pirate of the sea in search of hidden treasures, I reminded myself that learning is just another part of life that makes become more mature and allows opportunities to practice patience and wisdom. And like all sailors of the sea, our mind grows with experience we encounter throughout our journey. Like a wild horse, I managed to tame and open my heart to read all the materials I could lay my hands upon in this ‘cyber sea’. Reading experience has taught me that the purpose many researchers had in mind when publishing their research were that to help future teachers like me to become well aware of the enormous and unpredictable learning benefits teaching materials could offer, especially for young learners. In addition, I learned that teaching aids are exceptional assistant which could turn around the overall mood of learning of a child, for instance, by playing a simple yet catchy song, children may eventually find themselves indulged in the learning process as such teaching aids allows them to ‘see’ that learning in the classroom is actually a fun and enjoyable thing to do. Such conversion of a child thought towards the idea of learning from boring to exciting is of most importance to me as from my observation of prior teaching experience along with reading examples found in books and researches, I have realized that children in the Malaysian context have about 5 minutes attention span before they ‘switch’ into their own activity of making noise at the back. Therefore, adding suitable teaching aids are essential for prolonging their attention span along with the right interest towards positive learning attitudes and also help reduce disciplinary problem in return.

While it is good to know that teaching aids are good tools for improving the learning effectiveness, knowing how to use them into your favor is another thing. According to current research done in schools lately, teachers have been found to still implement the ‘chalk and talk’ approach as a daily teaching mode. They admitted the idea of using teaching aids is great and beneficial but they argued that they lack the abilities to download or convert the application as they are not very techno-savvy themselves. As a result they are forced to attend seminars for acquiring the necessary knowledge to do so. But this consumes a lot of effort and time; something they cannot afford to lose. That is why I am grateful that the TESL course that I took integrates the teachings of utilizing technology towards the betterment of learning experience for future learners. Thus, the task of seeking research materials and analyzing them for further comprehension of current times’ issues regarding teaching aids and the teaching environment as a whole, are crucial for me to progress both in maturity and wisdom as future teachers to come.

Reflection Week 10 (Cont.)

The countless number of assignments and tasks we received along the progression period of this course were pretty heavy and took a hefty toll on us all in the sense that we suffered internal and external pressure cracking our heads to come up with creative and innovative ideas. We hoped that our hard work of manufacturing all these tedious and neck-breaking assignments will not be used by other people for their self gain, particularly manipulating our masterpiece as their own for furthering their studies for the title of professor or doctor for example. Plagiarism or a deliberate act of misusing other’s work is a sinful and unethical conduct to perform by anyone regardless of their status as students or educators and I may have to resolve to file a police report if I sniffed out any trace of such malevolent and blasphemous idea. As students, we should know our rights and search for ways to protect our original products.

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Week 10 Reflection

This week was the submission of our second assignment which was done in pairs. The second assignment gave us an insight on how to better learners as we managed to incorporate cooperative learning, dividing task for seeking new information on the internet and engage in several virtual discussions. Since we are limited by the distance barrier between us, the use of technology for making real-time discussions were imperative to keep track of our findings and to configure a smooth progression of our assignment. Application like the simple yet reliable and user-friendly Yahoo Messenger really made a difference in making sure that our ideas are properly delivered and understood. This was better than using the common handphone for communicating in a distance because we could not only send compressed files, but also gain better comprehension of each other through facial expressions and gestures via the use of the webcamera. As we learnt in before, the effectiveness of communication between two individuals can greatly be reinforced with the presence of visual assistance, particularly in providing facial expression and gestures to convey their meanings more clearly and accurately. The awareness to use such a technology was deemed essential for us students due to the fact that the service comes with no need for us to spend a penny; it’s absolutely FREE! The process and procedure that we went through really taught us to become resourceful in making the right choices to suit our current needs of seeking information related to teachings and so forth.

Assignment two taught me a lot about crafting the right activity and lesson for the target audience. Apparently, young learners learning abilities differs greatly from that of an adult due to the fact that young learners tendency to comprehend an idea better with the assistance of visual and auditory components. We cannot simply give a child a book and expect them to understand it thoroughly from the beginning until the end. It falls back to us to bolster their still-developed cognitive system by including fascinating and colourful pictures, interactive GIFs, and also catchy sound effects and music, all in the effort to guide their comprehension to our intended learning points or ideas; according to Jean Piaget.

The tenth class was another moment of ‘enjoyment’ because the advent of yet task. Wow, I’m so ‘thrilled’. Another sleepless night for me, just great…hooray... The task required the use of the MSPublisher application in order to construct newsletter, business card, pamphlets, and brochures. It sounds like a lot of work but it actually really is. Another pressure or predicament we face is apparently not everyone has the application installed within their Windows system, unlike the Windows Movie Maker which is integrated along with it. Hence, some of us need to rely on other friends who have the application already installed, download from the internet or buy a new Windows CD. So, a lot of my friends find themselves stuck with the problem. Luckily, I already have mine installed when the first time I formatted my desktop. This is the moment where I learn to share the means of complete our tasks and be thankful to God to be able to work together and help each other during this dire moments.

It seemed that assignment three which should be the final one, has made its maiden appearance. Each of us is required to prepare four full activities and lesson plans, each focusing on different skills depending on the topic we received. I guess this one is really testing our competence skill as a teacher-to-be as we are actually crafting lesson plans for the whole week. But I believe that this is crucial for making us immersed with the experience of a real teacher which will definitely benefit us later on in the future. Feels like practicum already…hmm…I wonder…

Week 9 Reflection

“..Strike your enemy from within..” (The Art Of War)

Life is a battlefield filled with relentless trials and challenges that sometime struck us on the outside and internally as well. Often, we find ourselves engulfed by problems that seemed endless and haut us day and night. But when we lean back and take some time to reflect, the pieces for finding the right solution gradually comes together. As the saying goes, the enemy which hinders us from progressing and completing our responsibility is actually our own self. When the body is crumbled with countless outside pressure, the presence of patience and calmness provide assistance to the soul, helping it to meditate and visualize the core of each problem with ease. Thus, having patience and maintain a cool conscious are a necessity when it comes to deliberate the body and soul from trials of life. I find myself in need of patience as a weapon to deflect and resolve the tasks and assignments bombarded to me virtually every day, 24-7! Moreover, with the advent of fasting season, it also provides me the greatest moment to practice building a good foundation in terms of patience and calmness.

The ninth class had undergone a clarification period regarding our tasks, assignments and so forth. Basically, I find the idea of having a portfolio as a must, regardless of our status as a university student or a primary school learner. This is due to the fact that it carries many positive effects and benefit to the learner later on. Aside from being a formal medium for assessment, the portfolio functions as a black and white evidence that records all the work and tasks done by the learner in a systematic and chorological order, which also indicates the whether a learner has made progress or the other way around. In addition, when learners are presented a clear record of their work, it provides a sense of acknowledgement which in return helps them become more responsible for their own learning. Parents also benefit from this type of evaluation as it opens a channel for them to determine the growth of their children, and also identify a problem and fix it at the heart of its core before too late.

There was another opportunity for me to refine my schemata for today as I was introduced with a new video-related website called the http://www.onetruemedia.com. It is basically similar to the common YouTube.com website that we had been using for some time, in the sense that it was possible to upload or download videos we made or of other’s. The interface looked wonderful with bright brilliant colours filling in the site’s background. I have yet to master using it but one thing for sure is that I have added another source for raw materials to help me pack a punch for my next creative activity for the primary classroom.

It was also the time for us to present last week’s work to our friend in class. Each group took their turn presenting and each one presented with an air of enthusiasm signaling that they have made appropriate preparation before coming to the front. I was amazed with their spirit and calmness when presenting, especially during the challenging fasting month. Their cool personality and ethics are just some of the essential traits that I hope to adopt later on as a teacher of the future.