Week 8: Upgrading skill and managing time

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

Week 7: On the edge of ICT

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

Week 6: Reflecting one’s own work

Having much task so far raised the attention whether the given work to us achieved their goals or otherwise. In respective, the sixth class revolved around the idea of evaluating or reflecting back on the completion of assignments and tasks that were instructed to us, particularly to address any issues, problems we have faced before, during and after the process of doing it. I felt it was not only a good idea to look back at one’s own work and also of others as it was the time for sharing experiences, reviewing the skills mastered, the ups and downs one has to go through, but also important as to provide an overview of feedback necessary for the facilitators to analyze and think upon, in hopes that there is always room for improvements. This would surely not only increase their teaching efficiency but also help them to understand our needs and difficulties better and for making appropriate adjustments when the time comes for our juniors to be their students.

The discussion were concerned about the applications the facilitators provided, or whether they were of any benefit to helping us complete the task such as the tutorials, converting, hardware manipulation and so forth. Of course, I believe that the process of completing one’s task is as important as its product. Thus, it is crucial to gain in depth insight and understanding of the situation so as to avoid us from repeating the same mistakes on other assignments in the future. We also touched about the soft skills that we have acquired along the way such as teamwork, leadership, tolerance and so forth. Each skill plays an important aspect of molding us one step closer to the ideal teacher personality.

As a result, this post mortem period made me realize that in order to become good teachers, one must learn from their past, listen to other’s opinions, address their needs and be flexible to make immediate changes to our initial plans to suit the ever changing demands. This was all in the effort of making sure that we would plan ahead and hopefully can direct the flow or learning experiences in the favor of our future learners.

Week 5: Making the board smart for you.

Today we were introduced to a board, a SMART board. It is said to be the board of the future, a board that will help ease the burden of teachers, energizes presentation and motivate learners. Sounds too great to be true… But, to what extent is the statement true? Hmm..I wonder…

What is this so called mysterious SMART board? The idea was to make learning a fun and interactive process, to allow learners to interact not only with teacher and their peers but also with the input provided by the board. In short, referring multiple interactions. But the concept remains a concept if the captain of a majestic vessel is incapable of steering it with great mastery. What I meant was that if the teachers themselves are not critical and creative enough to utilize the SMART board, then the board is no different than any other board.

The key factor that drives learning is the teacher themselves. If they are willing to move away from laziness and are enthusiastic to learn, they can even create ‘magic’ with it. That is why we failed to create a good work during our first attempt. Lacking in interest and spirit did not make us go far, which end up being critic by our facilitator. But that did not stop us to rise up from our failure and try again and again until we succeed!

Here is a video on how we as future teachers can make a difference on teaching and learning process.

Week 4: Exploring the net of resources

In general, fourth class introduced us about the various websites which are closely related with the aspects of teaching and learning in and outside the classroom. The websites are like eduwebtv.com, cikgu.net, tutor.com, and so forth. Basically, these are all websites that are meaningful as they focus on the Malaysian educational context and conditions. The discussion and information they provided were always updated and kept the same pace as the latest technology advancement in education come by. Apparently, there are countless of videos I can watch in order to gain more visual input and deeper understanding. I believe as a future teacher in Malaysia, it is of my responsibility to prioritize the need to equip myself with such knowledge for building the basic foundation for teaching later in school.

There was also a website called ETeMS that centralized the importance of mastering the English language well enough so it could be effectively used to administer the teachings of Science and Mathematics in the English medium. Since my study course will not only determine myself as an English teacher, I am also fated to become a Mathematics teacher as well. Therefore, by reviewing such websites, I can gradually develop to the confidence to enhance the English language skills of Mathematics to enable myself to reach effectively using English as the medium of instruction. This is crucial since though I believe I am quite comfortable speaking English, the case is very different in terms of applying such skill in teaching Mathematics. The reason is that the subject is heavily-laden with a diverse number of unfamiliar terms that are only present in the subject and not in the daily conversation. Therefore, I will need to strike more effort into mastering the teaching processes of Mathematics. The advent of such website is at par with the proper teachings in Malaysian context because from there, I can view the achievements of fellow teachers which in return granted me with the hopes there are many approaches that can be practiced as a teacher in Malaysia. I hope to benefit more from all the resources I come by in the future!

Week 3: New theories, refined understanding

Week 3: New Theories, Refined Understandings.
The third class was different from the two before it. It was somewhat complex to me as it was about the introduction of a new theory or models related to the teachings of primary school pupils. Though I am not a big fan of learning about theories and all, it falls back to me the responsibility of gaining optimal understanding on how to make my future learners benefit from the classroom experience. With my mind set up straight, I knew the importance of what I must learn on that day.

The topic raised was about instructional design principles which had a significant impact on the teaching and learning processes in the classroom. The model introduced to us was named the ASSURE model where each word stands for different meanings. This model demonstrated the teacher’s ability to write a quality comprehensive cohesive lesson plan that includes ALL elements of the ASSURE Model. For more information, here is a link about an overview of the ASSURE model; http://itchybon1.tripod.com/hrd/id15.html

In addition, an extra instructional model was brought up called the ADDIE model. According to Wikioedia.com, the ADDIE model is the generic process traditionally used by instructional designers and training developers. The five phases—Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation—represent a dynamic, flexible guideline for building effective training and performance support tools.
Here is a link that tells more about both models in further detail;
http://www.oswego.edu/~burrell/addiemodel.htm

As a whole, there is much understanding I need to acquire behind the theoretical work frame. I guess there is no other way to do that other than implementing extra readings and stop being lazy from now on. I believe that knowing the models will ultimately lend me to the door of better giving suitable guidance that is adequate to all learners’ level and learning conditions.

Week 2: Making Adjustments

Since the beginning of the course of learning how to become teachers, I have always relied upon the usage of traditional teaching aids. I have become fond of them as they are I belief they are effective and useful when practiced in the classroom context. But as time flows, my reliance towards them has anything but decrease. This was due to the fact that as I merge myself from college students to undergraduates of a university, the responsibilities I carry and the workload I face made it inefficient to attempt the processes of creating these traditional aids. This was due to the fact that such teaching aids were time-consuming and expensive to begin with, and as a university student, time was what I do not possess much. I had to be resourceful and find other alternatives to create new teaching materials that is fast to construct but also effective in the classroom at the same time.

As if the ray of hope had dimmed and fade away, effort to attend the second class turned the tide the other way around. I was introduced with the idea of creating video clips. Initially I thought it was a great idea because research have shown that human, especially young learners, learn at a better rate when ‘moving’ visual materials are available, as suggested by Jean Piaget. I guess the idea was good at one part, but also I feared about other which was about having the skills to create for myself the video clips. There was also a growing concern among us about the need to create a storyboard. Of course I had no idea on what to do and where to begin with but luckily I do know how to operate and browse the internet on how to seek information related with video clip crafting. The basic one of course was to use the one that has already been provided by the Windows application, which was Windows Movie Maker. Luckily, the facilitators provided us with a basic yet user friendly work frame on how to create our own video step by step. But I see more potential in other applications such as Cyberlink Power Director and Free Video Editing where more special effects and clearer organization of video clips can be born. Here I have uploaded a video I got from YouTube.com on how to use cyberlink power director. For more information, here is the link

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+use+cyberlink+power+director&search_type=&aq=1&oq=how+to+use+cyberlink+
I also learnt that you can take the URL address and paste it to keepvid.com for downloading the videos.

The project was a group one and I guess this was also a great idea because five heads are better than one. It was great to have other people to judge the credibility of my own work so that I can practice open mindedness and making suitable adjustments to it. Of course, the process goes the other way around and at the end everyone is a winner. I hope to be making a lot of exploring through the internet about the project and enjoy completing it!