Random rambling | Hadijah binti Jaffri

Changes that I would like to see in Johor Bahru

Teaching reflective composition is challenging in itself because it requires the writers to be reflective in which they have to state their views either based on facts or hypothetical assumption. I taught this type of the composition after I had taught all of the other types of composition. Why? It is because for reflective composition, students also can use the structure and language features of a narrative, an argumentative or a factual composition. Of course, some students still cannot differentiate between different compositions but sooner or later, they will know the different In sha Allah.

REFLECTIVE COMPOSITION

Tips and techniques

You are required to give your thoughts and opinions in this type of composition.
You must use a contemplative tone in your writing.
Plan the composition using the skeletal outline approach. Write down the main points of the composition.
Read the question carefully.
Underline the key words of the questions.

What changes would you like to see in your town or city in the next ten years?

Declared a city in 1994, Johor Bahru is a rapidly growing city. My wish list for Johor Bahru in ten years’ time is simple – a city that is improved and developed based on the existing one. I think Johoreans do not need a megapolis but changes that benefits the ordinary man and woman in the street.

Firstly, priority must be given to better planned roads and drainage. Floods occur every time there is a heavy downpour. It has been flooding in Jalan Air Molek and Jalan Yahya Awal ever since I can remember. Recently, housing estates like Taman Melody and Taman Sentosa were also flooded. In fact, before the city grows more organically, there should be an improvement of the present infrastructure.

Secondly, we need a garden city. We should make the city has more trees with flowers such as trumpet flower trees which are beautiful when they are in bloom. This is a fine example that should be replicated elsewhere. Local species such as the tembusu should be widely planted. In fact, many flowering plants thrive in our climate. For example, the bougainvillea. Otherwise we will really become an urban jungle with more pavements and concretes.

The present parks should also be improved upon. Set up public sports and fitness grounds and facilities for the young and elderly. Outdoor exercise equipment should be put in all these parks for the senior citizens to exercise and enjoy the fresh air.

In addition, there should be better public transport. I think there are enough cars on the roads. In fact, cars should be banned from the city centre itself. Of course, there should be more public buses that provide regular and efficient service. There should also be underground train services that link the people from one part of the city to the other. This will cut the massive traffic jams that plague Johor Bahru. Furthermore, there should be pedestrian walkways and bicycle lanes all over the city. This is one way to save the environment.

To ensure that Johor Bahru moves with the other major cities in Malaysia, we should build more facilities for the people. An example is libraries. The latest census figures indicate that Johor Bahru is fast becoming Malaysia’s second largest city, with a population of over one million. How many good libraries are there in Johor Bahru? There should be a library in every large residential area. Let the adults, even the children, even the toddlers, make the library their second home. There is also an urgent need to have public health centres. Public health area supported by state-of-the-art equipment should be one of the first priorities of the city. What is available now is sufficient.

Let’s begin the work of remaking Johor Bahru into a city where gracious living is a reality now. [464 words]

Corporal punishment should be implemented at school

One of the continuous writing compositions that I have to teach is Argumentative composition [an essay where you defend your stand or view either agree or disagree].

ARGUMENTATIVE COMPOSITION

Tips and techniques

You have to write a composition not less than 350 words. You have to write it within 45-50 minutes.
You have to discuss an issue and give your opinion or take a stand.
The main purpose is to persuade your reader into agreeing with your point of view.
Points are based on hard facts. To take a stand on this argument, you will have to know the facts of the subject/ issue.
Note the specific structure and language features of an argumentative composition.

With the current rising social issues at our society, corporal punishment should be implemented at school as deterrent to the uprising social issues among teenagers. Write a composition to state your view about this issue in not less than 350 words.

Corporal punishment is the act of using physical force to punish a student for wrongdoing. It might involve a ruler across the back of the hand or a cane to the rear. Corporal punishment has since been outlawed as a cruel and unusual punishment. However, we often heard of the adage ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’. Thus, I believe that corporal punishment should be incorporated back as part of punishment to deter unruly behaviors and wrongdoings at schools.

Some experts claim that corporal punishment is a good way to prevent students from breaking rules and committing offences, especially repeat offenders. Seeing their schoolmates getting the cane will deter others from smoking or any wrongdoing. This is what behavioral psychologists called as vicarious learning in which people learn through observing the behaviors or consequences of behaviors of others.

In addition, corporal punishment is also a form of preparation for real life. Wrongdoing has to be punished. Students have to be taught to be responsible and accountable for their actions. Using corporal punishment in school would serve as a clear message to all students that any wrongdoing will not be rewarded and dealt accordingly.

Also, corporal punishment can also serve as a viable alternative to suspension. In general, students often do not enjoy school. A suspension from school can send out the message that it is rewarding rather than a punishment when students break school rules and regulations.

Even though public caning can cause injuries or trauma unnecessarily yet if it is done properly, caning can deter or decrease the probability of any wrongdoing to be carried out in the future by students. In this regards, a caning schedule is part of the school regulation in which what warrants one stroke of cane, what offence gets two and so on are clearly spelt out and be understood by all teachers and students.

In conclusion, corporal punishment should be brought back as part of school punishment to give power back to teachers again. Currently, teachers struggle to chastise students because current punishments have no intimidation power. A lack of corporal punishment leaves teachers powerless to prevent bad behavior. I do agree that corporal punishment should be implemented again at school to keep managed students’ behavior. [375 words]

Durham will always have a special place in my heart

When I taught essay writing, I always thought about how to engage my students to write essays. One of the things that I can think of is to give them good and “interesting” examples of essays. As I browsed various books and magazines to get some ideas before writing the essays, I found myself feeling elevated and yet disappointed at the same time. I felt enlightened reading some good essays or articles but at the same time I felt there are something missing from the “story”. So, I ended up to compose some of the essays on my own, based on my own experience and story. It works! The students love it! And at the same time, they get to know me better (a little bit) from reading those essays. 2 in 1. Teaching content and instill values at the same time. Attaboy!

DESCRIPTIVE COMPOSITION

Tips and techniques

You are usually asked to describe a person, a place or an event.
There will be no points given to guide your writing unlike Directed Writing composition.
You should be able to write clear and vivid descriptions to help the reader create a mental picture of what is being written.
Describing is an important skill. You will need to describe people, places, scenes in many types of composition.

Write a composition of about 350 words about your favorite place.

Durham is a small university town which situated at the northeast of England. As a historical city, it became a centre of pilgrimage in medieval England in the 11^th century. The cathedral and adjacent castle which were built around 11^th century was designated as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. Durham is a hilly city with steep riverbanks surrounded by densely wooded vegetations.

Other than its religious landmark, Durham is also home to Durham University. It was founded as the University of Durham in 18^th century. It is claimed to be England’s third oldest university after the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Regardless of its splendid reputation, it was not the reason why I chose Durham to further my study for my PhD.

I never knew the existence of Durham University when I was searching for a place to further my study. One of my friends advised me that when selecting a university for a postgraduate study such as PhD, I should not look at the university’s reputation per se, but also the location where the university is situated. In this case, reputation alone does not guarantee the best learning environment needed by a postgraduate student. As a postgraduate student, what I needed most was a learning environment and culture that would help me get through the ups and downs of my PhD journey.

My friend suggested that I should consider Durham University as a place to further my study because Durham is also one of the most picturesque cities in England. I fell in love with Durham on the very first moment I set my eyes on the university campus, especially the School of Education. I could never thank enough my friend who gave me that advice.

Durham has witnessed various manic episodes of my life especially after my father passed away when I was in my second year of study. Had the gentleman who rode the bicycle did not stop me when I was contemplating to jump into the River Wear near the St Hilde and Bede college, I might not be alive now and be able to tell my story to my students about the hardship that I had endured as a postgraduate student.

If people ask me why I love Durham and could not help from talking about it countless times, I would just say that Durham is my favorite place and it will always have a special place in my heart as long as I live. [412 words]

What did I do while undergoing my Latihan Ikhtisas (LI)?_Part 3

When I did my Latihan Ikhtias, I taught form 4 students Directed and Continuous Writing [English class]. For Directed Writing, there are three types of essays: Letter, Article (Report) and Speech. For letter, there will be divided into formal and informal letters and for article, there will be divided into formal and informal articles. Formal articles are articles that one writes to give feedback or complain which will be addressed to certain individual. For informal articles, the articles are for wide range of audiences which one find in magazines or newspaper. A good example is an article that you can find in school magazine.

For Continuous writing, there are five types of essays: Narrative, Argumentative, Factual, Descriptive and Reflective compositions.

Narrative composition is a story-telling kind of composition. It has 5 plots: Exposition, Rising action, Climax, Falling action and Resolution.

Argumentative composition is a composition where you state your stance either agree or disagree about something. A good writer can include the agreement and disagreement in one composition and able to balance both arguments well. But for novice writers, it is better if one sticks to one side of an argument i.e. either agree or disagree.

Factual composition is based on facts and hard-core reality. In this case, students must know facts and reality and cannot state hypothetical information or evidences.

If they want to state hypothetical assumption or views, it is when they write reflective composition. So, the differences between factual and reflective compositions are not much. One is based on facts and another is based on hypothetical assumptions (as long as it is logical).

Lastly, for descriptive composition, students write either to describe an event, a place or a person. It is kind of straight forward yet many students struggle in this task.

But I gave them some tips and techniques to differentiate the different compositions and examples of compositions for each type. Some of the compositions are based on my own experience so, they cannot find it from elsewhere. It makes my class a bit special because I wrote the examples myself. No duplication even though I learn the characteristics of each composition by referring to the various books. Just to make sure my essays are in compliance with the characteristics 😀

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop

I wrote this essay when I was teaching form 4 student Narrative Composition [Continuous Writing] back in 2018 [this was the time when I did my Latihan Ikhtisas]. This is based on my own story. The students were amazed that I use my own life experience to write a short narrative like this as an example that I gave them. I still remember one of them said this “Teacher, ini cerita pasal Teacher ke? Wah, Teacher pun tak suka sekolah ni ke dulu?”[Translated: Teacher, is this your story? Wow, did you also dislike this school?”]. I replied by rolling eyes while saying “Yes, like some of you, I also dislike this school but my mother requested me to stay until I finished form 5. Now, go back to read this essay again and highlight any word that you don’t understand. Later on, find the meaning of the words that you don’t understand from the dictionary”

NARRATIVE COMPOSITION

Tips and techniques

A narrative tells a story. The main purpose of a narrative is to explain in a story telling manner.
Know the difference between

Question

What it means

i) Write a story based on

ii) Write a story beginning with ….

iii) Write a story ending with ……

Your story is about …..

You must start your composition with the line(s) given

Your story ends with the line(s) given

Sometimes the title of the composition is an idiom or a proverb. Be sure you know its meaning before you start on the composition.
Note the specific structure and language feature of a narrative composition.

Write a story ending with a proverb by Confucius “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop”

My fists were clenched. Hurt and angry, I glared at my mother. She whispered softly, ‘This is the best chance for education, Dear. Behave yourself’. I did. Not because of my mother or any need for studying that I might have stayed at this school. It was the feeling that I needed to prove that I would never be the black sheep in the family that made me stayed at this school.

With three older siblings who were graduates from local and overseas universities and another one was studying at a local university doing Accountancy, I felt pressured to excel in my study too. I felt hopeless when I could not change to a different school that I wanted that has science stream classes. I hated myself for being a weakling.

As the youngest in the family, many might assume that I was the baby in the family and pampered by my family. It was a far cry from the truth. I was never being pampered. In fact, I was consistently compared with my older siblings who were high achievers. Being a late bloomer, I was never academically high achiever during primary school. As I started to bloom during my adolescence, I was still struggling to get the kind of excellent grades that my parents could be proud of. Yet, deep inside my heart I knew that I could become someone that I envision myself to be, rather than someone that anyone would expect me to become.

The question was how could I prove to all that I was a good student, a high achiever like my older siblings? What should I do? These questions gave me nightmares. I started to think to find ways to be a better student. But, I still did not know how to become one.

One day, feeling especially sorry for myself, I huddled in a corner and refused to talk to anyone. After a while, my friends started to avoid me and treat me invisibly. A senior who saw me sulking muttered ‘Stop wallowing in self-pity’. With that, I realized that even if I did nothing to change my current situation, I was actually made a decision. I thought to myself that ‘Decision is not only being made if I do something, it is also being made if I do nothing’.

Rather than doing nothing, I decided from then on to study hard and be persistent even though I might make mistakes or fail along the way to be academically high achiever. Finally, what Confucius once said made sense to me ‘It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop’. [442 words]

Picking up yourself from failures

Life is full of challenges. Sometimes, we fail to achieve what we have hoped for. If that happens, we feel miserable because our hopes are crushed. We think our lives are meaningless and there is nothing worth to live for. However, failing in something does not mean that we are a failure.

When we face failure or setback, we have two choices. First, we can lie down and stay there in misery. Second, we can choose to learn from our failures or setbacks and get on with life. The choice is really ours. But if we choose the latter, what should we do next?

We must change our attitude towards failure. Everyone at some point faces failure in their personal life or career. Thus, we must learn to be resilient and strong. We must stop having self-pity, even though life is hard at that time. But we must always remember that we are not alone in facing failures, setbacks or challenges (whatever you want to call it) in life. Other too have face problems and sometimes they also have it really bad. So, if we continue to feel miserable, cry or sulk over a long period of time, others will not care about us after a while. We will lose their sympathy and concern. So, do not wallow in our misery for a long time. Set a time to allow ourselves to feel sad or miserable but after we reach the dateline, move forward and live on.

Remember to stay positive (even though it might be difficult at times). Do not blame others for our failure. Look at other ways of achieving our dreams. Change our strategies if we have to. Be sure to surround ourselves with cheerful, supportive and caring people. Negative people will get us down and feeling hopeless towards ourselves.

In addition, do not work alone. Get help and advice from others if we face with difficulty or if we need to brainstorm some ideas. There are many people who are expert in certain fields or those who have undergone similar setbacks before. We will lose nothing by talking with them about our difficulty. Talking to others and getting help makes life easier or bearable.

Lastly, when life tosses us some hard knocks, do not act as it we are the only one with problems. Do not make a big deal about it. Get up from our failures or setbacks and move on. Take the first step forward. We will be alright.

P.S: I found this article from one of the files that I used when I did my Latihan Ikhtisas. I don’t remember when I wrote this or if I took it from somewhere. But I think I used this for my form 4 class (Directed Writing).

What did I do while undergoing my Latihan Ikhtisas (LI)?_Part 1

Some colleagues have been asking me this question “What did I do at school other than teaching?” Well, to think back about it, there were so many things that I did. Most of the things were fun, new and challenging. I never thought that I would create a mural (I still need to touch up some of the drawings though :D)

Other than that, I would also never thought that I would harvest pineapple which they planted within the school compound. At first, we had to pay but if we harvested it ourselves, we could get FOC. So, armed with a small machete and gloves, I harvested the pineapples while wearing my baju kurung. I also experienced cooking using wood (so traditional and basic!). But of course, I was not the one who made the fire. The fire was already made by the students. As teachers, we don’t do the dirty works, for obvious reason. That’s what the students are for! But as the evaluator [uhuk uhuk judge], we were entrusted with the task to evaluate the students’ survival skills that they have to show during a 2D2N camping such as making fire. So, we have to let the students “show” their skills to make fire etc.

What else? To be continued….

A teacher? Or a hero?

I have been thinking about this long time ago since I was doing my masters at IIUM. I had a chance to be supervised by a great mentor who teaches me about value and ethics. I learn that from him. Taking several classes under his tutelage was a privilege that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I would email him quite regularly when I have qualms about my teaching practice. I would always get a straight-to-the-face kind of answer. No filter. Nothing. It always serves as a reminder why I am in this profession. He had retired now. No email. Just occasional Whatsapp message. But, it helps me to feel better when I am feeling blue.

Now, I am no longer have the privilege to email him like I used to do. He rarely checks his email. With a younger wife, he is pretty much preoccupied with his retirement life. So, I normally will find motivational videos about teaching. One of my favorites is a TED talk by Rita Pierson. She passed away not long after giving the TED talk. To know more about her, this is one of the articles written about why it is important for teachers to know their students better in order to make impact on their lives.

Overall view about UG students performance [Semester 2, 2018/19]

Alhamdulillah. I have finished marking all of the assignments and exam scripts. Now, it is time for me to prepare the report via OBE system. But before that, let’s jot down some of the points that I want to include as parts of my CQI in my OBE report.

Assignments: I had given my UG students two types of assignments: Individual and group assignment. For the individual assignment, they have to create a concept map for each topic discussed. To assist them, I suggest they submit it on weekly basis, not compulsory though. Majority submitted their concept maps religiously every week. Only a few of them NEVER did that, not even once.

As I graded their concept map assignment, I notice that one student did not submit his assignment. I also remember quite well that he never submitted any concept map before. When I look closely at his overall performance, he could not do well for individual tasks like final exam, quiz and such. This shows that he is struggling but he never told me anything when I asked them in class or never even once let me know through other means. He is the quiet type in class. When I did a jig saw activity in class, I notice that he is the “listener” type. When he was urged by his friends to give his opinion, he did not elaborate in detailed, rather give short explanation. But, it does not explain why he failed to submit the concept maps. After all, I told them that to be self-regulated learners, they need to have certain routines. To create a concept map means that they need to understand the overall concepts (and its interconnectivity). It is not an easy process. After getting my feedback, they could improve their concept maps which many did so and it can be exemplified by the marks they got. Doing all these would involve them to engage in all of the process of three different phases based on self-regulated model as proposed by Zimmerman.

On the exam day itself, I told them (via Whatsapp) to double check whether they have done their second quiz on the elearning and those who did not submit their concept map after the exam can do so by going to my office on the next day to submit their concept maps. I did remind them about the course work even during exam period. Now, the exam period has ended, so it is kind of pointless for me to bug them during their holiday about the course work.

For the group work, there are no glitches that I was not aware of. Alhamdulillah, the students were proactive to meet me and discuss about their group assignment. So, all of the groups did well. They are also reflective about the things that they observe at schools. Some groups did interview. During the presentation day, one of the guys (Yusri) wore full attire with a coat. I gave a special mark for this because he makes the attempt to be presentable. The only person who did so.

Final examinations: There are two types of exam questions given (MCQ and short answer questions) for 40 marks. Even though it is stated the marks would be 60%, but we convert it into 40% later on. I find that some students could answer the short answer questions really well. Some of them got full marks. However, some of them did not able to answer one or two questions. Few even just “skipped” and didn’t answer one or two questions at all. So, they lost 10% right there and then. What a lost! But, it is their choice. I have no right to question their decision of leaving few questions unanswered. I should be emphatic in this case.

Overall: Some of the students did very well. They got more than 80% marks. Good job! Well done!

CQI: Based on student performance, I plan to revise my instruction for the both assignments. I think the current instruction is not being perceived as emphasising self-directed learning by some students. Based on the feedback that students gave on concept map assignment, some perceive it does help them to study or revise. In this case, they perceive it as a burden despite the evidences i.e. journal of concept map research that I show them [I suspect that they do not read the journal articles that I shared in elearning]. But, majority perceive that concept map is useful, so I will retain this activity in future.

I am a cat lover

This cat was not mine. I came back from school one day and there she was sitting in front of the door of my house (60 Steavenson Street, Durham). I asked my housemate to take my picture with this cat. I didn’t own any cat when I was in Durham. I couldn’t afford to take care of a cat because the food and whatsnot are not cheap in UK. A small packet of wet food could cost a pound (I could buy a packet of biscuit with the same amount).

These two cats stay in my school’s compound. Mother and daughter. I just parked my car and haven’t get out yet from my car and both were already waiting for me. When this thing happens, it always makes my day!

I met this tyke few years ago at Pagoh’s RnR. I was on my way back from Putrajaya. It was one long exhaustive week for me and I had no appetite to have dinner. While waiting for the rest of my busmates, I stood nearby the parking area and suddenly, this little tyke started to rub on my leg. What a big boy! I just patted the head. Not giving him the whole body massage (I was afraid of him to bite me, actually. So, better takes extra precaution on this). I still remember my feeling after patting him. What a good (and cheap) stress reliever!

I had this cat for about five years. He was called as “Merah” (Red). He did not like any sort of physical affection unless he initiated it. But normally, he would only allow me to pat on his head ONLY. When the picture was taken, he and Hadif (my three years old nephew) were eating durian together. As you can see from the picture, they had a little argument. Who should get the last piece of durian! How time flies! Merah was no longer with us. He died in late 2009 (not long after this picture was taken). That boy? He is 13 years old this year (2019) but he no longer likes durian. He could not even stand the smell. Welcome to non-eating durian club, Hadif! (I also don’t eat and cannot stand the smell of durian even though there are around 10 durian trees around my house that my late dad grew more than 30 years ago).

This is Bubu (Kelabu or Grey). He died in 2008 when I was in UK. He liked to sit on top of my car. He liked to be held like that. My two nieces, Halimah and Adibah were holding him in that position. It is a bit uncensored though. Please pardon me of that. I would not photoshop this picture. I leave it au naturale.

This is my current princess, Robyn. I had a little scary moment when something went wrong when I spayed her in 2015. I spent more than RM1k for her medical treatment. I even brought her to the office because I needed to bring her to the doctor’s appointment at Global Pet (Taman Universiti branch). How time flies! She is such a darling and my little princess even though she could not stand to be held by me (I guess it is due to the traumatic experience of being held when she was sick when I needed to feed her with medication etc.). She is one of the most polite cats that I ever have because she would give me a little meow whenever she needs something from me (not the loud ear-piercing meow).

I call him, Batman. He is Robyn’s brother. He likes to sleep inside a box-shaped place like this. He has this piercing loud voice. He doesn’t like to be held like Robyn but I can still cuddle him for a few second. I make it as a routine before I give him his meal. As he grows older, he does not like strangers. Normally, he would stay away from strangers. [Latest update: he went missing on 4th day of Eid. The last time I saw him was on Saturday afternoon. I gave him his last meal around 6pm. He was not around on Sunday morning. He is still missing until now]