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. 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. Therefore, I believe this course should integrate the awareness for us to learn how to protect our work so it would not be used by other irresponsible individuals.
The tenth class continues with the presentation of other groups which would be selected randomly, thus ensuring that all group members are well prepared as their SMART board presentation could be the one displayed in front next. From one presentation to the next, there seemed to be an air of dissatisfaction conjured by our lecturer Professor Raja Maznah due to the lack of some features she was expecting to be present in our activities. Some issues were raised in regards to the degree of efforts that put through our work; Is there a clear connection between the activity and the learning outcomes? Will pupils able to comprehend thoroughly the rubrics we provided them? Does each stage coherent with the ones before and after it? At the end of the lesson, will pupils be able to perform all the selected learning outcomes that we have presented? Though it was not an easy feeling to endure all the questions bombarded at us all in once, we have to persevere and take it as constructive comments meant for us to reflect back on our work, to seek its good and bad points, and discover new potentials that could greatly bolster our SMART board activity to her more preferable level and standards.
Creativity was another issue to ponder upon since the class regulates much over this one. Apparently, when it comes to the idea of creativity in relation to captivating young learners’ interest, some elements need to be added within our SMART board components which were the use of brightly coloured and arranged objects on each slide. Young learners are especially attracted to colourful materials displayed on board and if the background is fully utilized, it can make the ideas in a lesson more vivid and clear, thus ensuring a meaningful classroom learning experience. Though the idea sounds great, it might not regulate well on all the learning situations. For example, when there are some parts of the activity that we wish to focus, eye-catching background layout may become more distracting than it is helpful. Thus, a great deal of thoughts and reflection need to be considered before making necessary adjustments to our work.
On the whole, the comments made to other’s work are just another mixture of challenges and knowledge that we gained, all in the effort to ensuring that our masterpiece meets the right quality and able to train us to become better teachers, inside and out.
The initial part of the ninth class was reserved as another session for us to develop and improve our SMART board activity. I am thankful to Prof Maznah for giving us the liberty to spend our time wisely and constructively due to the fact that we also needed to finish other assignment from other subjects. The facilitators like Ms Chin, was also great due to the fact that they were willing to move around between two computer labs so that we would rest assured that help is just around the corner. She portrayed a soft-spoken and gentle demeanor which made us confident with what we have developed so far. I believe this is also one approach I could use when becoming a school teacher later in the future, so that each one of my pupils get fair assistance and attention they need so that they could benefit more from the teaching and learning experience.
The time came for us to come in front and present one of our SMART board activities to our friends. Each presentation was better than its predecessor which made me feel inferior in a way due to the fact that they did a good job and their work clearly display a deep thought about children’s nature when learning. Apparently, though we may want to believe that our work is the best, there will always be room for improvements from the view point of others. Though we may find it irritating or downgrade our credibility, we should always have a clear conscious that all these comments about improvements were all in the effort to impart greater chances for children to benefit from the activity. From my point of view, as future teachers, the needs of children are a priority. Some error that seemed petty to us may pose a huge difference in the eyes of a young learner. For instance, some slides consist of a combination of static and GIF-format pictures like a ratio of 1:4. Though I would close one eye on the issue, Prof Maznah mentioned that this was a fatal error made by us and that learners tend to believe that ‘moving’ pictures are always more interesting and therefore ‘MUST’ be the correct answer. Honestly, this triggered a whole new understanding to me about how sensitive a child can be and how their interpretation differs between us adult learners to a mind-boggling extent. While it sounds strange, this is just one of the important details that I must take into account in creating a better and more pupil-friendly classroom activity.
While my mind is set to add more interesting pictures and wording into the activity, this might not be such a good idea. From one presentation to another, I learned that it is true that wordings may be nice to view and attractive but it seems that this may yield a double-edge sword effect. Apparently, too much wording tends to make learners confused and at the end distort the learning process. Even the choosing of the background became a debatable issue as it must correspond perfectly with the current slide’s intended teaching points. I find that the way Prof Maznah allocates two groups as assessors to evaluate the good and improvement points that a group presenting in front possesses, as a brilliant idea. From my point of view, I should adopt such approach and apply it to my pupils so that they could practice to have confidence in drawing out their own private opinions. This is important for them not to only deliberate themselves from the clutches of inhibition, but also to give them a sense of purpose to use the English language to convey one’s thoughts and ideas lively and in a meaningful manner.
The eight class was rather unexpected for me as due to the kind consideration of Prof. Maznah, the whole three hour period was allocated as our assignment-doing time. I believe this is so due to the fact that Prof. Maznah wanted us to progress at least 90% by next week for our SMART board assignment. Due to the hectic situation and time restriction, we had no choice but to limit leisurely moments and divided the task among the five of us as soon as possible, and also strive to imbue more effort into it. From our observation, some of us have yet struggled to even start the assignment, while others are at the edge of finishing it. I guess it is nobody’s fault since not all of us have completely synchronized ourselves with the ‘chaotic’ university life, but one thing for sure is that it is up to us to change and not the other way around.
Unlike the common MS Powerpoint, the SMART board is a completely different working station. Though some of the interface has familiar features available in most applications like the ‘Open file’ and ‘Insert’, the rest of it remains a mystery not only to me but to my friends as well. Luckily, the assignment was set as a group work which is a necessity because it opens a channel for effective discussion and critical brainstorming for ideas and sort. My group came to a conclusion that the activity we have to produce should contain ‘mobile’ objects, or in other words, visual aids that possess moving actions when played. This was due to the understanding of cognitive theories we learnt from IPIK and also our personal experience in teaching young learners. GIF animations and colourful pictures seem to be effective in attracting interest to learning and also reduce disciplinary problem because children tend to pay more attention to the classroom experience.
Beside that, I believe the integration of catchy songs and music is essential material to further boost the attention span of children as according to current research, the attention span of Malaysian young learners are about 5 minutes only. Thus, it is important to seek out other materials that possess the potential to diminish their feeling of boringness and to direct learners to spend their time in the classroom efficiently and beneficially. Working together towards that aim has made us one step closer to acquiring the characteristics of a good teacher; learning to understand the needs of one’s pupils. It has also taught us to tolerate other’s difficulties like not being able to attend a group discussion due to clashing of elective subject classes. This provided a good way for us to mature and become better human beings as well, and in the future, I hope we can cope with the more challenging task of being a teacher. :D
The class began with the introduction of ICT and learning principles in the primary ESL classroom context, which to me seems as a necessity as future teachers to take into consideration due to the ever changing and often challenging teaching profession. Previously, we have been exposed to the many division of technologies integrated for producing quality and interactive teaching aids like adding sound effects, photo editing and finally manufacturing our very own unique and genuine video art, though we have struggled much to get a foothold of what we are capable of creating for ourselves today. I believe a good mixture of these ICT skills plays a primary role towards the betterment of generating the perfect and ideal learning experience as well as meaningful learning conditions which are the basis of good learning principles. Hence, I am hoping the implementation of these skills will help children participate more the teaching and learning processes and transforms them into active learners; while at the same time enhance their creative and critical thinking in finding solutions.
Before the ideals of integrating ICT and learning principles can be carried out effectively, I believe it is imperative to take into considerations a few factors, for examples the learners’ criteria. This refers to whether the learners possess great level of interest, their various family backgrounds, their age-learning limit (as suggested by Jean Piaget) and their different proficiency level and background knowledge. Once all criteria have been carefully analyzed and the ideal actions to take have been identified, only then should I initiate the attempt of integrating ICT and the learning principles into the classroom context. The lecturer gave some reference for extra reading. The IWBs Tolley. There were ideas that needs consideration when we doiour Smartboard task using ICT. The ideas were divided into 3 part which are part 1 (The Technical Bits), Part 2 (The Sofware), Part 3( Five Level of Interactivity), and Part 4( Twelve Teaching Technique). All the parts gave me an understanding that the activity in the SMART board requires a step by step careful analysis and that each step is coherently the progression of the one after it. There must be harmony in what we create. :)
As future teachers, I know it is a must to learn about the learners preference, their abilities and the limitation to a certain degree. That is why learning principles such as behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism for instance are just some of the foundational models that need to be comprehended beforehand. It is important to note that learning is all about conjuring healthy and beneficial multiple interactions between different mediums like teachers and pupils so that learning is seen as purposeful to all the learners present in class. Sadly, teachers nowadays are more preoccupied in finishing the syllabus first without giving much attention to the learners’ participation or level of motivation. But this is also not entirely their fault as according to Penny Mckay, teachers are bombarded with unnecessary burden from high-stake holders parties like parents and the administration who are more likely pressuring teachers to keep the school standards from dropping out. That is why some teachers may find it difficult to cope with all learners and focus more on the elite ones while paying no or less attention to the weaker learners. Even so, whatever the future may hold for me, I will try my best to apply the knowledge I gained here into good use and cater all my pupils’ needs as much as I can. That is my promise to the future leaders of tomorrow. :D
