I am a bit slow when it comes to using technology thingy. I admit that. But, I am willing to learn and incorporate whatever the latest technology thingy in my teaching practice. It has been more than few semesters that I used elearning quite extensively. I learn how to get Band 5 (Blended learning). It is all about strategising certain things. It is a matter of getting used to use elearning. I do admit that.
Why the sudden change?
After I ended my LI (Latihan Ikhtisas), I set a new goal for my teaching/class. I want to use new thing per semester. This semester, I have started to use Prezi. I even subscribe it for a year. But, it is not enough, I know.
One of my colleagues encourages me to “be more active” in webometric. Yup. I “left” this webometric thingy more than 3 years and it takes a while to catch up. But, my colleague said “Try to write one post per day, Dijah. You can do it!” She also taught me how to link webpage etc. in my post. But, I am taking a baby step here. Not a major leap. I know my own ability and capability.
She also said that there are other things that I need to catch up now. There are ORCID, ResearchGate, and so many other things. I was dumbfounded for a minute when she showed me how ORCID works. Looking at my reaction, she gave a small laugh and said “Don’t worry. You will get used to it. I know that you can do it. Don’t rush. One thing at a time“.
I felt like crying at that time but I mustered whatever courage that I have as I left her room with new determination. I will try my best to learn and keep myself updated with whatever new thingy. In sha Allah.
Norah, thanks for the encouragement and support. I learn a lot from you. Let’s do this together.
A recent message about burn out that was shared by a colleague makes me think about my friend. What makes her to be depressed? Is it triggered by burn out that she experience but go unnoticed? Now, she has to take medication twice a day to regulate her state of well-being. She has become medically dependent person. I asked her, “How do you feel if you forget taking the medication once?” She would say the effect would be immediate. She won’t be able to fall asleep (stay awake more than 24 hours) and has difficulty to focus (due to sleep deprivation). She said “I cannot ‘function’ and I will start to imagine things“. That’s serious. Since she was professionally diagnosed as having a depression, she was on medical leave for undisclosed period of time.
But to tell the truth, it is not easy to distinguish between burn out and depression or to differentiate between burn out and stress unless we get someone who are clinically trained to do the diagnosis. No one is immune of depression. There are many cases of people who seem to have everything succumb to the bout of depression. Some even inflict harm towards others or themselves.
So, in this matter, one has to be vigilant and aware about one’s well-being. Also, administrators too play important role to support and be emphatic to those who have started to show some “symptoms”. Sometime, we overlook the physical symptoms that indicate underlying psychological problems that we might have.
Of course, one can easily use depression, burn out and stress as an excuse of being less productive. But, if we look at the person from different angle, does he/she display any symptom that indicate psychological problems that we should be aware of? Is it fair to “punish” this person as being less productive and thus he/she is given low evaluation for the yearly appraisal even though he/she could not perform well due to undiagnosed psychological problems?
It is an paradoxical phenomenon. But perhaps in this rat race world, we need to be more emphatic towards each other, especially towards our own self. Sometimes, we are more concerned about others and thus, we tend to overlook in taking care of ourselves.
I came a bit early today because I was planning to finish my marking. Finally, the students have submitted their assignments and all so that I can start marking their papers etc.
Around 805am, the land line phone in my office rang. I was a bit suspicious. Who on earth will call me this early when I know that half of my colleagues are not even in the office yet. I just let the phone rang unanswered. Then, it stopped. Well, at least it stopped ringing on my phone but there was a phone ringing nearby my office. Yup. My next door neighbour’s phone was ringing. It rang for several minutes before it stopped (well, this neighbour of mine will not come to his office during exam period this early. That’s his routine since the last few years).
But then I faintly heard another sound of phone ringing. It must be one of the few doors neighbour’s phone. What a heck! I thought it has stopped (few weeks ago, there was another colleague got this kind of call. He answered but he was informed that he got some loan etc. and needs to settle certain amount of money to certain bank). This is clearly a scam. Beware guys! This is an example of digital fraud. There are many cases which might leave traumatic experience to some. My stance: Stay calm. Don’t panic. Know your financial state.
We have known each other more than 10 years. We share ups and downs, sad and happy moments. We create memory together for more years to come In Sha Allah
It is the brain idea of one of my colleagues, and thus, this project was started since Semester 1 2016/17 (on 20 November 2016 to be exact). At first, the project only offered free meal (100 pax) but later on, the project also includes offering stationery that students might need (this is known as Free Market).
Alhamdulillah, even though there is ups and downs of this project since it started but the people who support the cause try their very best to make sure it runs on regular basis. It is not easy to run this project on regular basis especially it needs financial supports and also volunteers to assist us in making sure that it will be run on weekly basis.
For semester 2 2018/19, the last Free Meal and Free Market was conducted on 2 May 2019 (a week before Ramadan). In sha Allah it will be continued on the next semester. I have got some of my colleagues who passed me some stuff (stationery) that they bought. Based on my observation, black pen, foolscap paper, rulers and yellow highlighter are among the most highly-sought after stationery.
I always admire this guy since I was young (I think when I started to read about an article that he wrote in the 1990s). To envision myself as an academic like him, it is something that I have in mind. It is not easy to choose this path but I will try my best to stay true to myself In sha Allah. He was one of the co-authors of Rukun Negara (I googled about this). I guess, every time I recite Rukun Negara, it will remind me of him.
When I heard about his passing, I am sad. As I browsed the news to read more about him, I came across his saying “The child is the father of the man. Educate and groom the young person, and he will grow up to be the right kind of adult. If you wait until he becomes an adult, it is too late”
It has been a while since the last time I baked something for Eid. I think it was two years ago, when I made chocolate chips and almond london biscuit for Eid. Last year, even though I bought some ingredients to bake chocolate chips, but I didn’t feel like I wanted to celebrate Eid at all. The passing of my mom in September 2017 still has its effect on me. But, I still remember when I lost my dad in 2009, my mom insisted us to keep the tradition alive i.e. the tradition of preparing cookies and whatsnot for Eid. It was some of the things that she normally used to do without fail before Eid. Being me, I would rather buy than bake unless I have to.
I know that I baked a lot when I was doing my PhD as compared to now (post PhD period). I guess at that time, I enjoyed baking and cooking because whatever I baked and cooked would be enjoyed by many people i.e. my housemates and #60 Steavenson Stresst PRs.
But, today I baked brownie cookies (I get the recipe from Youtube). Since I didn’t have the exact ingredients that they use, I improvised. I didn’t know how it will turn out because I am fasting (at the moment of writing this post).
Here are the pictures that I took: Before and after.
P.S: I know that the shapes and sizes are not standardised but I don’t care. I just let it be that way. After all, I am pretty sure that I will be the ONLY one who eat this and there is no way that I serve this to any guest who come to my house during Eid.
The columns have existed more than 15 years. There were many small kids growing up here or came for a visit. But, none of them had ever done this before. All of them would take the normal route, to get into the house. Not in between the columns like this girl. This girl is one year and two months old. She has started to walk less than a month before.
What happened here? She went out for a while and while trying to get back inside, she used this method. Don’t get me wrong. This picture was taken by her dad. So, she was under close supervision by her dad.
Worst case scenario? If she was stuck between the columns, we need to call the firefighter to get help and there goes the newly painted columns that I painstakingly painted during the CNY school break. Alhamdulillah, she could get through the columns in one piece.
She took my Research Methodology class. Then she took my personality psychology and human development classes as well. She was a “darling” of any supervisor. She is tenacious, diligent and hardworking. Never give up easily.
A senior already “assigned” her to be her supervisee but she came to meet the programme coordinator to request of changing supervisor. Yup. She wanted me as her supervisor. This was after the semester of “Minah t test tak tahu” incident. Apparently, due to that incident, some students were persistent to have me as their supervisor (a reason only known to them until now and Allah. I don’t ask them “why” they wanted me as their supervisor so, let’s have a good assumption about their intention).
She was well-prepared since the first day we met for supervision. She remembered what I told her in my research methodology class that as a teacher, it is better if they do an action research to improve their teaching practice. By conducting research on their teaching practice, they would improve their teaching practice and know how to improve their students’ learning experience as well.
She was advanced in doing her RS1 and thus, I suggested her to start collecting data for RS2 while completing her RS1. She did that. But, on her final semester (the semester she had to complete her RS2 too), she received news about her mom. Her mom got cancer (I didn’t know the type of cancer) stage 4. She was crying when she called me to break the news. I told her to calm down and meet me to discuss how to finish her RS2. She has to go back to Kuching every weekend to accompany her mom (she is teaching in JB).
We discussed about new deadlines and tasks to be completed. She requested me to monitor her progress. I didn’t want her to push herself too much in this case. She told me that she needed to finish her masters because it was a promise to her mom. It was not an easy task to honour her request. I told her to give our best shots.
She kept me updated with her writing progress and her mom’s condition regularly. Often than not, she could not be as articulated as before because there were so many things on her mind. I told her to keep on writing and don’t worry too much about grammar or sentence structure. I would help her with that.
The period of supervising her was not easy. It was one of the most challenging times because I was badly affected by the previous incident with “Minah t test tak tahu”. I was “healing” and time was not on my side. So, even though it was quite difficult for me to trust my students and to let them to trust me, I just pray that things would turn out well for both of us.
Alhamdulillah, she completed her masters degress with flying colors. There were times when she wanted to give up but she persisted. I told her that I would never let her to give up easily. We were in this together.
Since graduating, we still keep in touch with each other through Whatsapp. But, every time I see this picture and the watch (that I still keep in my office), it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling that remind me that whatever things that I do matter as a lecturer, teacher, supervisor or mentor.
P.S: Felicia Sim, thank you for being there for me even though you always think that I help you a lot. Nope. I think it is the other way around.
Note: Felicia’s mom passed away couples of days before Teacher’s Day 2018. When I wished her Happy Teacher’s Day, she broke the news and told me that she was still in Kuching. She is not married yet but I do hope that she will find her life partner ASAP.
This is the initiative of the Ministry of Education for schools to conduct Program Ziarah Cakna [school will identify students who belong to B40 family (asnaf) and those who lost their father (yatim). This has been an annual programme for my school which I witnessed it myself last year. It is just that teachers did not go to the student’s house to give the goodie pack (basic essential like cooking oil, flour, sugar, bee hoon, soy sauce etc. and duit raya). This year, it is different. The teachers have to go to the students’ homes to give the goodie pack and some of the teachers sent the students back as well because coincidentally, they have to go back for eid celebration (school holiday)].
All of the teachers are assigned to one student except those with administration post. They are assigned with two students. Unlike any other programme, this programme will include monitoring of the students’ academic performance as well. So, the assigned teacher would be the student’s mentor as well.
I know that it could be perceived as another additional task and responsibility to teachers but I think this would be a good move to create special bond between teacher and student. After all, education is all about human relation and highly depended on human interaction regardless of whatever tools available to enhance students learning experience. Nothing can replace a human being as a teacher no matter what! You cannot learn empathy through AI or a robot. It requires “human touch” to learn about being emphatic and how to be “human”.
(Note: The first picture was taken by me and thus for obvious reason, I wasn’t in the picture. I went to Felda Ulu Tebrau with Teacher Ita. The second picture shows Nadzirun’s house in Yong Peng. Ustaz Hazim (the one wearing batik shirt) was on the way to Malacca (his parents’ home) and he dropped by to send Nadzirun back as well as pay his family a visit. Kudos to all teachers of SABK Madrasah Alattas Johor)
