Random rambling – Page 19 – Hadijah binti Jaffri

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]

Formative assessment: Students take charge of their learning

For this semester, I tried using the quiz on the elearning. So, I learned a bit about it by myself (googled the handouts and figured out how to do it through trial and error). I tried it on different courses.

I find that the quiz on elearning is easier to use like Quizziz or Kahoot!. But unlike Quizziz, the quiz on elearning can be set for longer duration. For Quizziz, I only can set the duration up to 2 weeks.

So, for UG SPPP 1012, I set my 2nd quiz using the elearning. I let the students to take the quiz as many times as they wish (multiple attempts). Meaning, they can take the quiz several times as they want until they get the highest marks (5 marks). I notice that many students use this opportunity to improve their grades. Well, this is an example of formative assessment in which students can regulate their own learning. Of course, I did not let them see the answer but they can get a feedback if they answer it inaccurately. So, in this case, they know if they have answered a question right or wrong.

But, I find that some students didn’t even bother to try out the quiz more than once to improve their grades. I trust their judgment in this. There was one student who did not take the second quiz. I have reminded them in class and through Whatsapp group. But, apparently something is amiss in which he did not take the quiz. I did remind them to let me know if they have anything to discuss but only some of them did so. They would either leave a message on my elearning or through Whatsapp. I could not help from thinking why this student acted this way.

Is he struggling? When I looked at his final examination, he did ok (22/40 – average marks). I haven’t finalised their marks yet because I am still marking one assignment – concept map. But, using simulation, he will get passing grade (60+/- over 100). That could be B-. Well, if that what he wants, what else can I do? After all, I have given them chances to improve their performance. Nothing else matters.

Once upon a time, a neighbour of mine….

I have known him since I was in Durham. A former neighbour. He stayed at 21 Steavenson Street and I stayed at 60 Steavenson Street, Bowburn. He is someone who has this charismatic qualities that I have seen when I was in Durham.

When there was a little incident involving one of my housemates, he called for a meeting to discuss the matter. Alhamdulillah, things were not blown out of proportion. Well, I appreciate his concerns but the things involved my household thingy so I declined their offer to help me to sort things out.

As I read the article about him on the newspaper, I know that it is not easy to hold a position like his and I can see that he is trying his very best to make sure that the education system will change for the better during his term in the office.

All the best, my former neighbour! In sha Allah you make us Dunelms proud with your achievement!

Rate my professors_Part 2

Calvin: “Here’s the latest poll on your performance as dad. Your approval rating is pretty low, I’m afraid.”

Dad: “That’s because there’s not necessarily any connection between what’s good and what’s popular. I do what’s right, not what gets approval.”

Calvin: “You’ll never keep the job with that attitude.”

Dad: “If someone else offers to do it, let me know.”

–Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson, February 13, 1994

As an instructor, I find myself always in a dilemma: to teach my students the right thing right or to teach my students what are considered as right depending on situation. Right will be right no matter the situation is. That should be the case. But the reality is not like that. We deal with lots of “grey” matter.

But when it comes to teaching, students’ rating do not related to how effective one’s teaching. So, one of my seniors once said “Dijah, jangan fikir sangat kalau dapat komen teruk dari pelajar ni. Diorang ni kalau tak suka kita, dia komen la macam-macam. Cuba Dijah belanja dia makan-makan, ajak lepak sama-sama, diorang tak kasi la komen teruk macam ni [Translated: Dijah, don’t think too much about it if you got such comments from students. If they dislike you, they would give bad comments. If you treat them, hang out together, they won’t give such comments”]”. That becomes my stance until now about UTM ePPP.

A study has shown that even though those teachers/instructors who got the highest rating are perceived as the one who contribute the most to learning, but those who got lower rating are the one who are most effective in their teaching. It is ironic, isn’t it? Which is which? Do you want those so really good in teaching or those who perceived as “influencer” in one’s learning experience?

Of course, it would be better if we can have teachers/instructors who are excellent in teaching and at the same time contribute the most to learning. It is not impossible but it takes time and lots of efforts for the teachers’ parts to consciously improve their teaching (this could be time consuming). If teachers are bogged down with so many roles and responsibilities, teaching would lose its importance. It can be seen in academia where teaching is not a core business of some instructors who focus more on research and publication, rather than teaching (unless these people focus on doing Scholarship of Teaching and Learning or SOTL).

Well, at the end of the day, it is all back to the question of why do we choose this profession i.e. teaching. One thing for sure, teaching won’t make us billionaires but many teachers have played their parts to nurture billionaires. Indeed.