Final reflection...

Salam...

I started to know the meaning of blogging when I first enter this resources class. Before this, the internet was just a source of information for me, a place for me to search for information regarding my assignments, and a place for me to search for videos and pictures for my own entertainment. Since we have to do reflection in our blog, it is like a burden for me since I have to put my thinking cap while reflecting of the issues that is being discussed in the classroom. However, the situation is changing now. Blogging is like a place for me to express my thoughts and sharing ideas and views, since there is no other way for me to write freely like this. Besides that, blogging trains me to be more critical and creative in my thinking, and improved my thought processes since the reflection requires me to be more crucial and reflective. Besides that, blogging improve my language skills, especially in the grammar and writing skills. It also improves my command and fluency in English, and this is very good for me as an English teacher as blogging is like a place for me to enhance my language skills. In addition, blogging improved my technology skills, for instance when I give comments to other blogs and decorating my own blog with certain beautiful features.

However, I don’t like blogging in the sense that it is quite difficult to get feedback from the other bloggers. It is like we are just the one who busily writes in the blog, and there is no response regarding what is written there. Besides that, it is quite hard when there is no idea of what is to be written in the blog.

What I like about this course? This course taught me a lot of things, especially regarding the technological skills like audio editing, picture editing, and video editing. All these skills are very useful since we can use it in creating and adapting teaching materials for use in the classroom. This course also exposed me to so many new knowledge, for instance the software that I find very useful for teaching in the classroom. I have improved my technological skill, for instance in editing and manipulating teaching aids available so that I will be resourceful enough in my future teaching. I thing that I didn’t like about this course is the submission of the assignment online, which sometimes I find very difficult and troublesome for some of us who have low internet access or no internet connection at all. The problem will be even more difficult when the assignment is set up during the holiday.

Actually, I didn’t expect that I am going to ‘immerse’ in such a technological world where I have to non-stop blogging, and doing all the technological tasks in order to submit our assignments and tasks. But, this is what I learnt throughout the 14 weeks lesson. In contrast, I expect that I will learn on how to use and develop the teaching aids, like what I have learnt in maktab. But, what is stressed in the teaching is more towards how to use technology in the classroom teaching.

If I can change anything in the course, I am thought of changing the performa of the course. The use of technological materials should be in accordance with the use of non-technological teaching materials. For instance, we should be thought on how to integrate the story available in the textbook into something that is technological. Besides that, the attention for searching and developing resources should not be too focusing towards technological area.

All in all, this course has its own impact towards my own learning. I learn a lot throughout the 14 weeks and there seems lots of improvement in my technological skill, a skill that I am not exposed very much before. I learnt to be more mature in my thinking, and as a teacher trainee, I wish that I will be to apply all the knowledge that I have gained in this course in my future teaching. Thank you.

Test your knowledge...

Salam...

This week is vey ‘intimidating’ for us since we have to sit for the test. Since I have been rarely taking any test since we study in University of Malaya, this paper and pencil test was quite difficult for me. I have not been writing for quite some time, and I cannot imagine how I can sit in the lab answering all the four questions in just two hours time! Alhamdulillah...now the test has passed and this is the time for me to do some reflection regarding the test. All the four questions were quite tough for me, especially the last two questions. The first question requires us to select one of the prominent characteristics of young children and discuss how this quality helps them in the language classroom. It is very crucial for us as ‘teacher to be’ to take note of the characteristics of young learners because they are the one that we going to deal with in the classroom later. This will provide opportunities for teachers to exploit these characteristics for effective teaching and learning activities. Imagine a teacher conducting a lesson in the classroom without knowing anything about his/her students. The teacher will not be able to receive the appropriate feedback from the students since he/she cannot even understand the people that they are dealing with. As we know, children are very unique in their characteristics. Each of them possessed different language background, different personality, different intellectual development, and even different temperament. All of these different qualities have its own effects towards young learners’ ways of acceptance in the classroom. By taking note of all these factors, the teacher may vary his /her method of teaching, which will be a very good step in making the learning process even more effective for students.

The second question is more towards the comparison between traditional and technological teaching aids, which I find very useful for us as teacher to think about. This is because a teacher is not complete without teaching aids, and not all teaching aids are suitable to be used in the classroom. In my opinion, both technological and conventional teaching aids have their own positive and negative sides. Technological teaching aids, for instance PowerPoint may be very good in term of display and layout compare to ordinary slides or display sheet. However, when there is no electric current, we cannot even use the PowerPoint as our teaching materials in the classroom. This is when all the conventional teaching aids are more useful to be used in the lesson. However, I do admit that the use of technological teaching aids are more efficient in today’s’ world of education. Besides saving a lot of time, the effectiveness of the lesson can be increased, for instance by using Smartboard which can increase the level of interactivity of the lesson. Therefore, it is important for teachers to use materials that can support learning and create a productive environment for students.

The third question is more challenging in the sense that we are asked to write a summary of a story suitable to be used in the primary classroom, and then prepare a storyboard for the story’s use in the animation video. As we know, children love stories. Using stories as teaching aids in the classroom may create a fun, enjoyable learning environment. Besides that, there are many activities which can be developed by the teacher when using stories, for instance role play and dramatisation. This integration of authentic materials in the classroom will create a safe learning environment, as this is a good way to use real life application in the teaching. The storyboard actually train me to be more creative, as I have to plot the story according to its sequence, drawing some pictures of the characters and scene, besides inserting dialogue in it.

The last question requires us to evaluate the activity given and state the mental and emotional engagement that will be used by students in the activity. This kind of evaluation trains me to be more critical and creative in my thinking, because I need to know what are the mental and emotional engagement that involved throughout the activity. Evaluation is a very important point in teaching as it enables teacher to choose which activity is more appropriate for students. Without evaluating skill, the teacher may wrongly choose an activity, and this will affect the performance of the students.

All in all, this test really urge me to put my thinking cap as a teacher trainee and I hope that we are able to apply all the knowledge that we obtain throughout the lesson in our future teaching.

Children software

Salam...

There is no lecture at all for today, but all of us have been introduced to another useful resource for classroom teaching, which is children software. The software is in the form of children games and I find that it is very practical for teachers because of some reasons.

First of all, the use of this software varies the teaching aids available for students, which will show some difference during teaching and learning. Apart of using typical chalk and talk method, children software will be one of the best alternative that give both teachers and students its own benefits. As we know, children are always associated with games. It may sound very weird to hear a child who does not like to play games. Besides, today’s technological world which exposed students to variety of online, challenging games has maybe become the initiative for educators to insert it into the field of education. Since games are very common among children, this children software will be a good choice for teachers to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning in the classroom because it is familiar to them. As we know, one of the basic principles in choosing teaching aids in the classroom is the familiarity of students with the teaching aids, as this will make it easy for teacher to instruct students during the classroom activities.

In addition, the use of children software will somehow create a safe, non-threatening learning environment. Why? This is because children software contains games that suits with students’ interest. A positive learning environment will ultimately enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning process. Imagine the effects of a dull, boring, or threatening class towards children. They are not prepared to receive the input from the teacher. As the result, the objective of the lesson will not be achieved, and the lesson may just become such a waste. This situation is in accordance with one of the hypotheses proposed by Krashen in his Monitor Model, which is the affective filter hypothesis. It has been said that a positive learning environment will low the affective filter, which will then motivate students to learn and accept the input given by their teacher. In contrast, a negative learning environment will increase the affective filter, which may block students’ acceptance towards the input given by the teacher.

Last but not least, this children software has the ability to increase students’ critical and creative thinking skills. We can see these through the way the students have to finish the game. Since this children software is for educational purposes, many elements of thinking and problem solving has been integrated in it. For example, the software Freddie Fish requires students to find the person who disguise as a ghost who try to scare students from coming to school. Using the clues given, students really need to be observant and critical in solving the case, so that they can finish the game. Hence, we can see that a game can also be a good tool for teacher to enhance students’ thinking skills, and this is really meaningful as it was done in a positive learning environment.

In short, children software offers many positive points for both teacher and students. Teacher need to choose the appropriate stage to implement this software, by considering its relevance and suitability with the lesson.

Being a good planner...

Salam...

The class for today was quite ‘gloomy’, since all the Muslims are still in Hari Raya mood. The most important thing that keeps tapping my head is the assignment. I am still planning what to teach for the lesson plan and it seemed quite unreasonable to say so because it should be handed in next week. But, we cannot put the blame to anyone since we really got abundance of task to be completed lately, in addition with the Hari Raya celebration. Since most of us are still in the process of planning and searching for teaching resources, Puan Foziah has given this class time for us to prepare, continue, and do whatever that we can in order to complete this last, tough assignment. In addition, we has been given a golden opportunity to ask any questions to Puan Foziah regarding our assignment, and there has been quite numbers of us approaching her in order to clarify or get more explanation regarding the assignment.

Since this assignment is the toughest among the all, I really has to put more effort and the brain of a teacher inside my head so that I will manage to complete the task successfully. Besides that, this assignment is challenging in the sense that it test our wisdom in applying all the technological skills that we have learnt throughout the eleventh week in the process of producing the teaching aids for the lesson plan. Skills like picture editing, video editing, and audio editing are some of the fundamental needs that we need to acquire in order to produce a better, practical teaching aids that will help us as the teacher to achieve the objective of our lesson. All this skills cannot be acquired at the same time, (especially for me), hence I need to practice using this skill consistently so that I will manage to explore and improve my skills in it. I am now realize to important of acquiring all this editing skills since most of the teaching resources available in the internet sometimes not suit with the lesson that we want to teach. Why? The most basic reason is because of the target group itself. The uniqueness of young learners especially in their cognitive ability, learning style and attention span required a teacher to be more sensitive in selecting teaching materials in the classroom. We don’t want the real purpose of using teaching aids which is to support the learning in the classroom being distracted by the ignorance of a teacher in suiting the teaching materials with the learners’ needs. Therefore, a good teacher must be the one who are sensitive enough with the learners’ characteristics and are equipped with essential knowledge on how to modify the available teaching aids around them in order to pitch at the right level with the learners’ needs and abilities. There is no need to use such an outstanding, marvelous teaching aids which will add more confusion to students. Be simple and practical in our teaching.

In addition, I really feel that this resources class was a training centre for us as a ‘teacher to be’ to equipped ourselves with all the skills that I have mentioned above so that it will not be a big problem to us when we start our teaching practice next two semester. This assignment is really tough for me, but when it requires me to think a lot, reflect on what I have learnt in the classroom and apply the knowledge into real action, there is a sense of worthiness since it is like a practical work for me as a teacher-trainee who sometimes forget that being a teacher is not just a matter of teaching in the class, but there are many factors to be considered in order to produce a quality teaching.

research analysis

Salam...

The lecture was started by the explanation of the new task for the week by Puan Foziah. For this week, we were asked to search for two research materials regarding the use of teaching aids in the classroom. After that, we were required to do the analysis for each research and fill in the main points required in a table provided. Many researches and analysis has been conducted due to the significant of using teaching aids in the classroom. This replicate the importance or the impact of using this kind of teaching materials in the classroom, as it offers numerous benefits for both teacher and student in the classroom teaching. Imagine a teacher standing in front of the classroom, using a conventional ‘talk and chalk’ kind of teaching for more than one hour, without any assistant of teaching aids. Primary school children will be the victim of this inconsiderable, unethical work of the teacher since they have short attention span. The problem of misunderstanding, confusion and others will always arise since the teacher was not trying to vary his/ her method of teaching and cater for different learner preferences so as to maintain the students’ interest in the classroom

As we know, language teaching is indispensable for the all-round development of a child. The language teacher therefore plays a major role in the language development of a child. To achieve efficiency in language teaching, a teacher should have mastery level of all the language skills and also the ‘art’ of how to use this knowledge in teaching. One of the fundamental items is knowing how to integrate teaching aids in the classroom.Teaching aids are one of the basic components in the teaching- learning process. An efficient teacher is always one who makes maximum utilisation of these teaching aids while executing his work inside and outside the classroom. But it is found out that most of the time teachers use only the text book and no additional or supplementary teaching aids are made use of. It is a glaring fact that even trained teachers seem to give least attention to this need. This has therefore resulted in the low achievement of students, especially those coming from rural and interior areas of the state. There might be a number of reasons that have led to the non-utilisation of aids while teaching. It could be due to non -availability of the materials or lack of creativeness on the part of the teacher.

In my opinion, this kind of task exposed us to the real world of how researches view the use of teaching aids in the classroom. The findings within the research offer lots of input and new knowledge to me as a ‘teacher to be’ as it provides information of the real cases that was happening around the world. The analysis trained me to be more critical in reviewing academic journal, hence increasing my critical and creative thinking skill. The main points gathered from the research were undeniably useful for my future learning in this education field as it contains useful information that intended to increase the effectiveness of using teaching aids in the classroom.

The last assignment

Salam...

Yesterday class was such a relief for me since I have submitted my second assignment. This assessing and manipulating assignment has taught me many things. I learnt that by just using a simple, suitable video, we can manipulate it for use in classroom teaching. The exploitation of these two video clips has been able to develop my creativity and ability to think critically, as I need to consider numbers of things during the production stage. The need of young learners, the suitability of new developing materials, the time allocation and many more are some factors need to be considered by me while I am completing this assignment with my partner. Although more focus is given to the production of new developing materials, we cannot deny that some attention needs to be given to the suitability of our activity with the primary ESL classroom. Since young learners are very unique, we as ‘teacher to be’ need to immerse into their thoughts and come out with activities that match with their interest ad preferences.

In addition, there are also some new tasks given by Puan Foziah, for instance making a collage, wallpapers and using Microsoft Publishers to create business cards, newsletter, pamphlets and brochure. Although these were not a compulsory task for us, we are advised to try out and create something new so that we can put it in our portfolio. There will be extra mark for all this and I cannot just let it go since it affecting the marks for the portfolio and our whole presentation. Even though this task was quite a lot for me, I will try to spend my time wisely to explore this software since I find it very useful in producing new materials or teaching aids for teaching in the classroom, especially to attract students to experiment with the language.

Furthermore, we also receive our next assignment, which is the toughest among the all. Each of us is assigned to create four lesson plans, including all the four basic skills for a-week- teaching in the classroom based on the topic that we get. The due date is after the Raya and now is the time for me to carefully plan the lesson for a week. I feel like this is like my ‘teaching practice’, since the duration is quite long (one week) and there need to be continuation from one lesson to another. However, I will try to try my best and put more effort and thoughts for this assignment.

Portfolio...

Salam...

The lecture begins with a clear-cut explanation of the performa of this course, besides some explanation regarding our last, challenging assignment which is the portfolio. In my opinion, there are many advantages of doing portfolio, and I realised this after we have been exposed to it in our assessment class. As one type of formal assesment, portfolio has many positive sides as it records the piece of work done by the students in a systematic, chronological order. Besides providing information for teachers regarding students’ progress, portfolio trains students to be more systematic and responsible for their own learning. All the work done must be kept systematically following the dates and students has to be professional in arranging the content of the portfolio. There will be certain guidelines provided by the teachers regarding the arrangement of the content, and students need to follow the instruction in order to obtain high marks for the portfolio. In addition, portfolio also offers benefits to parents, as they will be informed about their children’s classroom activity and progression for a period of time. Looking at my context as university students, the portfolio is like a training for me to be more organised and systematic in doing all my work.

Besides that, there is also presentation of the task that has been set for us last week. Every group were asked to send their representative to present their product of discussion. The presentation trains us to select the most important points to be presented in front, and this is very helpful when we want to prepare for our exam, in which we have to select the main points for each subject learnt. The input gained for this presentation was very useful for our future teaching, since it is closely related with course book and teaching.