First Day of Teaching: Reflection for Form 206

(10.30-11.40) July 22th, 2013

I started the lesson at 10.35 in audiovisual room. At the beginning I asked them to introduce their nick names only. As a matter of fact, this was how I engaged with them at the very first time. Apparently it took some moment which I had not calculated this activity at the beginning in my lesson plan.

Students were pretty cooperative. They followed the lesson enthusiastically. Most of them were willing to speak in English when they had their activities as well as answering my questions.

In the middle of the lesson I added more information to them upon the noun phrase explanation however I did not go deeper. I will then explore more in the next meeting.

In their last activity, I asked them to be the interviewer and interviewee. In pairs they acted as a famous artist then their friend was the journalist. It was pretty exciting activity since as teacher I could really hear that they use fully English and even some of them were really living in the character and develop the questions.

Strength:

I found the students pretty exciting in learning the topic as well as using active English. As a teacher, I actively trigger them with some questions to make them think. I also indirectly asked them to help each other by answering the difficult words and questions they had not completed yet. In the end I can conclude that today’s lesson was fun and active.

Weakness:

The weaknesses basically came from me. First, I had not calculated the time allotment for students’ introduction. I was too long at the beginning or elicitation. In the middle, I wished I had explained deeper for the noun phrase. In the end I was afraid that the time would run out quickly which in fact I still had 10 minutes left.

Plan for the next lesson:

-          Be better to use more effective time management

-          Explain better and give students more time to think and digest the explanation.

-          Remember students’ names.

Plan Well Do Well

In such a busy day, some teachers might not really like making their lesson plan. Instead they will take the previous lesson plan that already available in their surroundings. For example, they use the previous teacher’s lesson plan or just try to browse in the internet.

Is that appropriate or not?

Basically, teacher must have really planned their teaching even for the simplest thing. The fact is, some of them said that we have that in our mind. We are professional right? And yes for some reason, they may be professional, however, being a professional means that you should plan anything and makes sure that all of your action has been thought very carefully.

As a new teacher, we have to consider that having a lesson plan makes you be more organized. The chance of you being lost in the middle of your lesson will be less. As long as you follow your lesson plan, it indicates that you have followed the instruction you make. It is much wiser if you would like to add any creativity during your lesson. I’m not saying that you should be become a robot, but I even gives you more chance to be creative instead of be confused with the class, students, material and the supervisor’s comment.

In other words, you might feel less frustrated. Students will feel the same.

In short, lesson plan benefits you and your student. It needs time and energy but don’t you think it is worth it at present and future.

A Week in Malaysia

I arrived at LCCT airport when my watch hit the short hand on 1 and its long hand on 6. yeah, I arrived in Malaysia at 1.30 PM. It was not a long flight, only 2 hours however, we gotta arrived at A.Yani airport in Semarang at 7 AM. Instead, I, Sofi and Raeni had been there at 6 AM while others came after 6.30 AM. There are fifteen of us and three lectures. All of us then waited for some minutes then got into UPSI's (Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris) bus to get us to Seri Harmoni apartment. 
The next thing happened was that we were dropping our bags and luggage and ready to shower. We then relaxed fro a while on our beds. There was one incident where Tami could not open the bedroom. Finally, we gotta found Pak Bambang and finally told him that we have one spoiler. wait, what? spoiler? No,just kidding, I know I am too exaggerating. She is a Malay girl that come to meet her lecturer at UPSI. In the End Fatimah must have moved to the next room with the girls. It was not a big deal.LOL, even though she probably still felt annoyed since she gotta move. However, everything seemed okay. 
The next day we had to attend the meeting and briefing from UPSI. Oh, the library is so cool anyway. We had a full day set to learn the culture of Malays. It was an interesting event. we had photo-shot with all of the UPSI commitee in PPL AB. Before that, we had a "serious" discussion meeting our mentor and supervisor that day. 
The next day, Wednesday, we went to our full two months. Most of us were sent to nearest area but not me, Sofi and Rista. Our school to have the teaching practice is in Felda, Trolak. It is about 2 hours by car to Kuala Lumpur. it takes time but then, well, it is fine. At least yesterday I was able to visit my Mom in KL and have lots of joy wandering KLCC (the twin tower). Today, I am back for observing before I have my real teaching practice. I will follow Mr. Neil from Scotland if I am not mistaken. Ahh, happy Monday everyone