11 posts tagged “back”
After two weeks of observing we finally managed to get what we wanted -information and experience. At first the task only asked us to find a pressing problem in that school and find out the materials available there, but we ended up being involved as teachers ourselves in the school, and tried to make as many contributions as we could.
I was happy that we were accepted as part of the school's family members. We shared our laughs and disappointment together, and tried to understand each other's commitments in the profession. Like my cooperating teacher said : just do your job. And do it at your best. Because in the end, you will somehow feel satisfied with what you are doing even though at first you may feel like dropping out. Meanwhile, there will always people who tries to bring the family down -and that's the life at workplace. You can never obtain this experience in college.
I believe that what my lecturer said a long time ago is proven. Teachers are anointed by God to teach. But if they abuse their power, they are actually bringing shame to themselves while trying to pull the institution down. One thing that we all Malaysians must understand: not all teachers are bad. Try being in their shoes before you start suing them. They are all humans and we must understand that humans are not entirely perfect.
But whatever happens, the school that I went was a very nice school. I wished that the observation days would be extended, but they said two weeks would be enough. The good thing is that we are not going to face transportation problems anymore. But the bad thing is that we not be able to go to that school again as a team. I hoped that someday I could visit that place again.
Goodbye teachers.
THE END
August 17, 2007
The last day of school. We were in a rush since that the class started early in the morning.
A Merdeka celebration was held today. All teachers were wearing blue, while the students were given each one a flag.
The celebration started with Negaraku, Selangor anthem and the school song. Then, the doa and speech from the big people. The best part of the event was releasing the balloons. Though the balloons were not really released in the air, it still looked cool.
Then there was a photo session with teachers. We were managed to get our faces into the picture. Hopefully it would come out in their school magazine. The English Dept also requested us to take a picture with them. It was rewarding since that they accepted us as part of their family even though we were only there for 2 weeks. Then, everyone went to watch the poetry recital at the hall.
Meanwhile, my friends were working on the certificates for the students who participated in our previous activity. It took us hours to print the whole thing. We took our time walking around in the teacher's lounge and talk to a few teachers. Then we met the Penolong Kanan and our cooperating teacher to say a few words before saying goodbye. We exchanged gifts with our teacher later.
The boys went back to the hostel by bike. We reached home at 1.10, just in time to prepare ourselves for Friday prayers.
August 16, 2007
Today was quite a busy day. I went to school and quickly work on the sound effects for the pantomime in the teacher's lounge. It was kind of weird since that I plugged my computer at the rear side of the lounge, where teachers frequently passed by. Then we cleaned up the paintings on the floor.
We met our cooperating teacher and expressed about how we find this place. She said we were lucky to have observation this two weeks since that the school was going to prepare for the merdeka celebration. So, a lot of thing was going on and we were able to participate in some of them. She also gave advice and motivated us to become good teachers. The rules of being in workplace was simple: Just do your job. We had also completed our quest for school documents, not to mention the school rule. My friend also bought a badge for souvenir.
We observed Year 1's best class on 3.30 p.m. We also managed to go to the most 'mischievous' class in Year 1 30 minutes before going back to the school.
Tomorrow is our last day and the opening ceremony for the Merdeka Week will be held in this school. As for me, I'm going to miss this school.
August 15, 2007
Today we had an observation the first thing in the afternoon. But this time we were observing Year 1 students. The concept of the Year 1 teaching is simple: You have to keep repeating until the students are able to grab what's being taught.
We had a lunch afterwards in the canteen. This would be my first time having a lunch in this school. And the food was quite nice, too. Not to mention that it was cheap!
Later, we went to the Music room to work on the pantomime. We helped them to record students' voices into the computer, so that they wouldn't have to say it aloud during practice. It was funny to see how the students reacted when they saw the mics. But they really worked hard on the voices. Some managed to do a good voice acting by making the sound of an old man. It was fun working with them.
We didn't see much of our cooperating teacher today. Reached home at 8.40.
It was not until 4.40 that all the students came into the room. They were too shy to come in. And the funny thing was, people who were not in the lis
The activity starts with mask designing competition, followed by charades, snake and ladder (or something that looked like it) and jazz chants. Some students had a hard time figuring out their friend's movement in charade. But they can sing well!
All in all, the whole activity was done successfully. Even though it was quite hard to control the students, it was fun. The only problem that we had today was when we were going back home. We couldn't get a bus, but instead, we took a taxi and reach home at about 7.40.
August 13, 2007
Well, nothing much could be done today. I got a cold and just couldn't get things right. But the first 3 periods were filled with labour work. We painted the windows brown. Just couldn't get the stain off my shirt. But at least we did something rather than nothing.
During recess our cooperating teacher treated us with food and drinks. We rushed to the music room to assist the music teacher with pantomime . We had assembly today and a few students were called out to read out poems and stuff. We had a good laughter. It was cute.
We rushed back and reach home early today at 7.30.
August 11, 2007
Hari Kokurikulum
Today was a bit different than the other days as we were required to come early in the morning. The school started at 8, but the games did not begin until 8.15. The PK held us up with all the stuff he wanted to say. We were given the opportunity to assist the teacher with badminton. It's been a while since I last played badminton, but luckily I manage to hold the racket right. Taught them how to smash, but we did give a few try outs ourselves before the 'real' smash was demonstrated. Then, the kids played by themselves. The teachers had fun themselves, too.
Later, we went to the teacher's lounge to do some paintings. I worked a little bit on the railings, and rushed to the ELS meeting shortly afterwards. They were writing haikus there. I learned quite a lot about haiku today thanks to the teachers.
After ELS I stayed in the teacher's lounge with my teammates an reflected on how we did so far in this School-Based Experience. We were thankful that so far we have accomplished a lot and are satisfied with what we're doing. It's just that we haven't handle our own class with our own activities. And that would be part of next week's plan.
Our cooperating teacher gave us a ride to the LRT station before we could reach home. It was the greatest reward I've ever earned since we were posted in the school.
^_^
August 9 2007
We couldn't see the discipline teacher today to discuss about the problems in school. Instead, we interviewed our cooperating teacher and got a few ideas on what's going on here. Then, we headed back to our HQ and worked on our working paper. Once finished, we printed the stuff and handed it to the teacher.
Then, we were asked to take care of another Year 1 class. Took us some time to gain authority in the class.
August 8 2007
As usual, the first few hours we did not really know what to do. After making a few requests for materials from the teachers, we were brought to the Self Access room and it became our new HQ. Our cooperating teacher asked us to discuss what we are going to do for the next week. Well, we hadn't come out with a plan yet, but we tried to do brainstorming and got a few ideas that might intrigue the kids.
Later in the evening we were treated cakes by the kids. My gosh they knew my name. I couldn't recall when was the time I introduced myself to them = P There were problems with the pipe during and my friend helped to repair it. Now he's the spotlight in the teacher's lounge ; )
The last period we were introduced to a quite a noisy class and taught them Art. We lined them up for the assembly later on.
We reached school about 11.00 a.m. in the morning. We had to take the taxi early as not too miss the one of the most important event in school -the meeting. The meeting was held in the afternoon and was stretched until 2.00 p.m. We were lucky that the school is actually having a Merdeka celebration, so a lot of activities are actually going on here. Since that we had nothing to do afterwards, we head back to our HQ - the library, and stayed there for quite some time. I took this opportunity to look after the students going in and out of the library -and it felt kind of odd. But there was one class who happened to have no teacher stayed in the library and making noises. I felt uneasy and try to mingle with them, so that they won't be making so much of noise.
To fill up my boredom, I went out after recess and observe the students who was caught by the discipline teacher. I tried to act stern -though it was tough, but I tried to. Some of the students recognised me and happened to greet me.
Later in the evening, we were asked to help the teachers to teach the students choir. We were separated into two groups, one went for the choir and the other one went for a colouring contest. It was fun teaching the students how to sing but at the same time, it was tiring.
We waited at the bus stop after school at about 6.30. Fed up waiting for the bus, we looked for a taxi. We reached home about 7.30.
