7th week - Lifeline...Pheeeeeeeeew!

So, I have been working on the module, but there a still lots to do...

and to my suprise, Pn.Foziah said that we could continue working on the module.

WHAT A RELIEF!!!



and I think many of us has not completed the modules yet since we are occupied with other assignments.

So, in today's class, I fully utilized the free time given today to further more complete my module.

-Another Special Entry-

“Current Demands for Education Content – Teachers and Students’ Perspective.”
by Dr. Raja Maznah.

The content of the lecture is for us to prepare for the coming impact on the implementation of the new curriculum into the existing curriculum that is being use in the country. There will be challenges in implementing the new curriculum which is the KSSR, so a few line of strategies have been laid out to overcome those challenges. The new curriculum consist of 4M (membaca - reading, menulis - writing, mengira - counting, menaakul - reflecting). the first three elements of tht 4M is very familiar, but menaakul (reflecting) is new.

With respect to the those who came up with the existing curriculum, it still has it's flaws. the current curriculum is bringing the students up with the obsession of passing the exams with flying colors. this also shows that most students doesn't really cares knowledge is being fed to them as long as they are able to answer and pass the exams. National level exams such as UPSR, PMR, and SPM are the borders of achieving something great in life, so the pupils even went to tuition after school hours to equip themselves with the answer for the exams.

with such busy schedule, the pupils are not even reflecting on what they have learn in class thus making them an exam robots. with the implementation of the new curriculum, it is hoped that the students will be more reflective than before by critically thinking on the lessons taught. the implementation also helps to fulfill our national philosophy that requires them to excel in every aspects, which is intelectually, spritually, emotionally and physically (JERI)


the new curriculum will also leave out the UPSR examination taken by standard 6 primary schoolers. instead, the pupils will be assessed from standard 1 until 6 in which the area that they will be assessed are their aptitudes, cognitive ability and also their behaviour.

Thinking Outside the Box - A Special Entry

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX....THE WHAT??? THE BOX!!!!!!


Thinking outside the box is a helpful state of mind when trying to come up with a solution to a problem. It is a way of looking at something and turning it on it on its head in order to come up with a new answer. The technique of thinking outside the box has been used for many years by businesses and creative types in order to achieve originality. Thinking outside the box can also bring new life to old ideas.



Thinking outside the box is also taking a stand against the normal. Outside the box thinkers are open to new ways of looking at things. They are able to take risks and to look at things from a different perspective. Thinking outside the box does not mean designating the old way of doing things as wrong; it simply means not being afraid to try something that seems different.


Thinking outside the box is like solving a puzzle using an answer no one else has thought of. Using the normal route to a solution is called thinking inside the box and is usually the safest route. To think outside the box, you must be willing to face ridicule and scorn from people who cannot see things from a new perspective. In many cases, thinking outside the box is not an easy option, but some of the most inventive, brilliant and simple ideas have come from people who were willing to take a stand and implement ideas against the advice of others.


Thinking outside the box requires different attributes that include:

* Willingness to take new perspectives to day-to-day work.
* Openness to do different things and to do things differently.
* Focusing on the value of finding new ideas and acting on them.
* Striving to create value in new ways.
* Listening to others.
* Supporting and respecting others when they come up with new ideas.


So:

How Would I Guide My Future Students To Think Outside The Box?



Give freedom/explore




In order to assist the pupils to think outside the box, teacher should gives freedom to the pupils to think and do anything that they want. By letting the pupils to think freely, we are asking the pupils to think for themselves in order to solve something that they have encountered during the process of learning. Moreover, we are letting the pupils’ creativity runs loose which are a great thing for the young learner’s as they are still developing their critical thinking skill. All the teacher needs to do is observe from far and gives some guidance to the pupils should they veer of track. Let the children explore the world and all the possibilities for themselves.




Guidance



When the pupils are thinking creatively and critically outside the box to solve a problem, we as educators should be by their side, giving any guidance should we feel that the pupils are heading towards the wrong direction. Teacher could implement this by asking simple question regarding the topic taught. Remember, do not prompt question that will inevitably gives the answer to the pupils. Next step is to have faith in your pupils that they will be able to solve the problems by themselves. Furthermore if the pupils find it too easy to come out with a solution, challenge them with an even tougher question or problems to be solved. This surely will keep the pupils on their toes to keep thinking for a solution.



Mistake



If you notice that your pupils are making mistake, first of all, let them notice it for themselves. Don’t ever straight away tell the pupils that they are making a mistake. This will dent the pupils’ awareness of the mistakes that they are making and it is not helping the pupils to make mistake. Teacher could tell the pupils prior to giving the task out not to be afraid of making mistake because we learn best from our own mistakes.



Above all, God has given to us human a gift that no other living creatures got…and it is our mind. So we should we thankful and make full use of it because it is a priceless gift that is only given once.

6th Week - Module 1 (Computer and Internet Skills)

In today’s class, as stated on the scheduled, we were handed with our 1st module of the semester.

This module consists of tutorial for sprucing up our internet skill. Not to brag, but, I think that many of us has already attained these sort of skill since we have already been exposed to the internet for over a few years now. But maybe there are some things still to be learn.

So here are the skills taught in the tutorials from the modules:

1) Compressing Files



2) Uploading Files



3) Downloading Files



4) Encoding Files



5) Storing Files




6) Burning Files



7) Scanning Files



8) Sending E-mails




9) Web Search



Like I’ve said, there are some skills that I think is not necessary like storing files, but maybe it has some other alternatives of storing files. This module is rather thick, so I better get going! I don’t want to be held up as there are loads of assignments to be completed!

Until then…

Chill peeps!

5th week - Technological Teaching Aids

New week, new topic.

In today’s class, we were given the opportunity to expand the use of our teaching aids, of which we have only been using only traditional aids such as picture or word cards and so on. So, we were taught by Puan Foziah on how to use technological based teaching aids as this would help to spruce up our teaching and as especially we are going to teach young learners, the exposition of these technology based teaching aids, it would help to attracts their interest towards the lesson.

For this task, we were told to pair up with a partner from different gender as Pn. Foziah do not us to be working with the same people and to mix around with the other.

That won’t be such a problem to me since the class is only limited to my course mates and for this task, I paired up with Liyana. We’ve worked together before in the past, at the teacher’s training college, so, working with her is a bonus as I know how she works.

Both of us got on with our work after receiving it, and I tell you, finding and integrating all these technological teaching aids into our teaching has widened my perspective on teaching aids. I and Liyana had chosen these three topics for this particular task:

1- Healthy Living



2- Family First



3- Wonderfully Made



Who would have thought, e-books, musics, videos and games would have be a great teaching aids to be use as a teaching aids, but with the right implementation.

Working on this task made me realize that we need to spruce up my teaching and as I’m teaching in a new era with a new group of young learners who is brought up in this world, already exposed to all the technological wonders, I need to fully equipped myself with all the appropriate technological knowledge since I do not want to be left behind and laughed at by my own pupils.

Furthermore, the skill of implementing technological teaching aids into my teaching and also making it to work with the traditional teaching aids. These helps making my teaching to be more effective and with all the teaching aids, it lets the pupils to understand better on the topic taught.

Moreover, as a future teacher myself, I should use more modern teaching aids. Modern teaching aids are used to make learning sessions interactive and motivating. Nowadays, classes are equipped with modern teaching aids such as Interactive Whiteboards, visualizer, response system, projectors and educational software etc. Teaching with modern teaching aids is essential in the technological age. Many subject topics can be taught better and in more depth with modern teaching aids. Teachers must use various types of modern teaching aids to connect with students. Modern teaching aids incorporate audio-visual techniques that influence the interest and memory of students.

Until then,

Chill peeps!

4th Week - Class CANCELLED!

I got up this morning and were bout to get ready for class..

Then, Hazwan -


thats him, burning some "lemang" during recent raya haji...

my group leader for this subject, who is also my housemate got a call from Puan Foziah, telling us that today's class is CANCELLED!

I repeat... CANCELLED!!!



What?

You didn't hear me?

ok, for the last time "TODAY'S CLASS IS CANCELLED!!!!!!!!!"

So, what I did was, I went for a short walk at Tasik Permaisuri..

a bit of fresh air would do the trick since I have not been getting enough sleep, but getting back to bed was not my option since I won't be able to get back up then.

ahahahaha...

well, there are other assignments to be done, and this could only be the only time for me to have a little bit of relaxation from my hectic life as a student..

until then...

chill peeps!

3rd Week - Presentation on "Teaching English in the Primary Classroom

This lesson was different with the previous classes because Pn.Foziah told us to sit in a group and prepare for a presentation after receiving our text book entitled ‘Teaching English in the Primary Classroom’ by Susan Halliwell.




Then Pn.Foziah told us to open chapter 1 which is ‘Working with Young Language Learners’. Since chapter 1 consists of six subtopics, all of us were divided into 6 groups and each group took one subtopic. My group was assigned to take the second subtopic entitled ‘Children’s creative use of limited language resources’. So, six of us divided ourselves into 2 small groups after reading that part. Three of us prepared for the power point presentation while the other three browsed for additional information as Pn.Foziah asked us to insert the URL as our referent if we quoting others information from the internet.


Based on this subtopic, I understand that children are very creative in using grammatical forms and concepts for example a four years old British child said ‘don’t unring’ the phone and ‘switch off the dark’ when he wanted the light put on.



These are the 6 components:

Children's ability to grasp meaning:



For young learner, they usually make sense of their learning if teacher teach concrete vocab items that include well-illustrated teaching aids. These meaningful learning experiences make children enable to grasp meaning easily.


Children's creative use of limited language resources:



Children's vocabulary is very limited. Therefore, young learner initially learn chunk of language@baby talk in an unanalyzed way. They are trying to use as creative as possible their limited language resources in order to make others get the meaning and as a way of communication with others.


Children's capacity for indirect learning:



Learning occurs in 2 ways-direct & indirect learning. Children often appear to learn in indirect experiences. They acquire certain knowledge and skills subconsciously. The best part of children learning is when they have some fun during TnL process. Creating a non-threatening atmosphere is very essential for them.


Children's instinct for play and fun:



Children like to play. Having fun is the best thing that happened in their life. Thus, learning in a fun environment helps them acquire knowledge better.


The role of imagination: Children who actively use their imagination gain lots of benefits such as playing collaboratively and become a creative-thinking person.


The instinct for interaction and play. Children always want to interact and play. Hence, their instinct can be used in educated way to engage learning in them.



The discussion was completed by creating a slideshow for the given topic. we were asked to create a slideshow in order to explain the given topic. we need to present our finding and discussion. but, due to limited time and some 'interesting event' happened,we were unable to present our topic.

Despite the facts that we were not able to present our part, there are still lots of input into my knowledge on childrens' learning. This is very helpful in assisting me in my future teaching.



until next time....

chill peeps!

new week, new topics..

Damn I'm lame with blogging!

Can’t even think of a creative title for each post!

Ok, serious mode now.....

It's the second week, and Pn.Foziah gave us an introduction of how to type properly..And FASTER! i never knew that there's a particular way to place your finger on the keyboard. For instance, the pointing finger of each hand is supposedly place on the "F" key (left hand) and the other one on the "G" (right hand). This is new! ahahahaha.. Like they say, you'll never ever stop learning regarding all your qualifications!

She also gave us the software that we can use to practice our typing skill and I'm working on it! (its really hard to change your typing style tell u!)

So, that was it. Don't look much eh? It's still in the early days, hell is yet to come!

Owh, before I forget, we elected a class rep for our group, and here is a picture of him:

Apparently he's shy! So u can't see his face, (he's the one in white) sorry!

And here's the group's treasurer:

He won't give much cooperation either! He's a Sarawakian by the way

I guess that's all peeps! Keep chilling!