Random rambling | Hadijah binti Jaffri

Since when we become the dumping ground ….

It has been more than a year since I watched Malaysian TV channels (yup, I am not purposely avoid watching any of the channels, it is just that somehow the coverage at my area receives Singapore based channels better than the local ones). I was shocked to watch the news clip about Malaysian is being a dumping ground of non-recyclable waste of developing countries. This is a classic example of “bullying” at global level. It is kind of ironic when the same countries propagate global warming issues, sustainability and such and yet, they “dispose” their garbage at another countries like Malaysia, Philippines, and who-knows-what other countries might be the victims here.

Is it ethical? Is it morally right?

Free meal and Free Market

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.

What a true academician and scholar….

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”

What a true academic until the end!

What does it mean to be a truly educated person?

As I marked the exam papers, I could not help from wondering this thing “What does it mean to be a truly educated person?”. Looking at some of the lackluster inarticulate answers of my PG students, I was wondering what went wrong in my class. Did I emphasis the wrong thing? Did I emphasis exam results than what they should know regardless of whatever grade they might get?

I encourage my students to be reflective. I give them reflective questions. When I found a note about what kinds of questions that self-regulated learners ask themselves, I share the note with my students. In one class, I discussed with them about self-regulation model/theory and using the note, we discussed about how we can use it in different context of our lives. I did my best in this case to guide my students not to be good test takers, but true learners. But again, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink“.

But one thing that I notice is not many of my students are avid readers. Meaning, not many of them like to read. When I asked some of them if they have the textbook that I have recommended, NONE of them have the textbook (this was my UG class). Unfortunately, it happens not only in my UG class, but also in my PG class. The only difference is for my PG class, they realise the importance of having a textbook in the middle of semester, so by week 10 (there are only 14 weeks in one semester), majority have the textbook. Well, better late than never. The UG class? I rest my case. Perhaps they did borrow the textbook from the library and it is just that I don’t know about it (husn zahn in Arabic – or in English it means think positively or in Malay – bersangka baik)

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together

I was marking the personality psychology paper. I am sad. I thought that they could answer well because they were allowed to bring in notes. Well, apparently, some of them didn’t study well. It can be seen from their answers. A copy -paste answer with lack of articulation. So, I decided to take a break for a few minutes by checking my email. Sengtat has promised me to submit a part of the first chapter of his thesis. I have yet to receive any email from him yet. Sigh.

As I browse the title and sender of the emails that I received, my eyes caught something. “Thank you, Dr Hadijah”.

Jolyn gave me an email to thank me for the best wishes card that I gave them yesterday (the first student who did so). I never thought and expected any student to thank me. After all, it is just a card.

But, I want to make difference in my students’ life (in positive ways). Like what my mentors have done for me. For example, Yedullah Kazmi gave me books, pencil and whatsnot. Every time I read the books that he gave me, I always remember the time when I was his student. Even though he used to call me SII (stupid, idiot, ignoramus), but I never sulked or felt bad about it. I consider it as a form of endearment. What a heck! It is not easy to be the chosen one to be called as such.

But, I do believe that we need to invest in relationship. It is quite easy to invest in it using money, but most difficult one is time and concern (care?).

I don’t know how far my effort will leave its impact, but I do believe that “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together“

Diberi betis hendak peha (similar proverb in English: Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile)

I have taught this course more than one semester. It has been more than 5 years in fact. I am not saying that I am an expert in this subject matter but I know the difficulty of remembering many theories related to personality which belong to different schools of thoughts. It is not easy. So, to help the students in this matter, I allow them to bring few pages (A4 size) of notes that they can bring to the exam hall.

But I never thought that they would exchange their notes among themselves during the exam. I never anticipate this thing could happen. This was the first incident that happened in five years (and I hope this would be the last). This is akin to cheating because you are looking at other people’s notes, rather than on your own. I was informed by a student who saw this and I double checked it. When I walked around nearby the conspirators, I noticed that there were notes with different hand-writing on both sides of them. I knew instantly that what had been reported is true. Indeed.

I didn’t want to spoil the “mood” so, I just kept it to myself. But I would definitely not let this thing go without any punishment. This is a classic example of “Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile” or in Malay “Diberi betis hendak peha“

Assessment of learning? Assessment for learning? Assessment as learning?: Which is which?

There are several types of assessments: 1) Assessment of learning, 2) Assessment for learning and 3) Assessment as learning

Assessment of learning

This refers to summative assessment. It could be in a form of final examination or any examination that meant to see to what extent students have understood certain concepts.

Assessment for learning

This refers to formative assessment. One of the main purposes of formative assessment is to see to what extent teachers could improve their teaching and support that they provide to students based on students’ performance. For example, a quiz that is given to students based on certain topics covered. Based on the quiz results, teacher would make a decision for improvement of teaching and learning activities in class.

Assessment as learning

This refers to reflective self-evaluation. This type of assessment is not meant for grading purposes but it is meant to help students to understand themselves better in terms of what they have learned and how well they have understood the concepts/topics they have learned.

Can a quiz be formative and reflective self-evaluation at the same time?

For me, it can be when you let the students decide if they want to quiz to be graded or ungraded. Meaning, they can take any quiz that I give without feeling pressure of being graded and this would be “assessment as learning” – because they take the quiz as a means to help them reflect on their understanding and learning i.e. reflective self-evaluation. But at the same time, the same quiz can be considered as formative assessment [assessment for learning] if the students want the marks of the quiz to be graded.

How can we (as teachers) implement all three assessments?

In my case, what I normally do is, I have a mixture of assessments that I give to my students such as quiz, presentation, report and final exam. Final exam is an example of summative assessment i.e. assessment of learning. For quiz, I make it in such a way that there will be graded quizzes (formative assessment or assessment for learning) and there are also ungraded quizzes (assessment as learning). For the ungraded quizzes , I normally give after we have finished discussing about a topic, for instance. But for graded quizzes, it comprises of several topics. So, in this case prior to take any graded quiz, students have self-assessed themselves on any given topic. Of course, since it is ungraded, I notice that some students don’t take it seriously and thus, will not make any attempt to take the ungraded quiz. I have seen it in the recent courses that I taught this semester (Semester 2, 2018/2019).

What should I do then?

Well, I give soft reminder several times but in the end of the day, I have to respect the students’ decision. If they think it is the best for them to skip any ungraded quizzes, it is their right. I have no right to force them in their learning. After all, as adult learners, they should be responsible towards their learning. They are not secondary school students. The major difference between secondary school students and university students is for secondary school students, they need extra guidance when it comes to helping them in decision making. University students? What a heck! They are adults, and they should be responsible and accountable with whatever decision that they make. Welcome to adulthood!

Thank your for being there for me_Part 2

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.

First examination….. after LI

I have 55 students in this section. TEASLIANs. They are fun, quick-witted and some of them are serious and studious. Some are playful but of course, they are among the selected ones to be in this programme. Since it was conducted in a big examination hall at Rahman Putra College (KRP), I was thinking that perhaps it would be better if I put the best wishes card on their table and thus, it will differentiate my students from other students in different sections. Attaboy!

When I announced it to the students before they entered the exam hall that my students would get a card on their table, I noticed that some other students were sighing because it is as if I am treating my students favorably as compared to their lecturers. This is one of the things that I learn when I was at school: Always make your students feel special even though you are assertive (tegas). Jim Henson (the famous puppeteer and creator of Sesame Street) once said “Kids don’t remember what you try to teach them but they remember what you are”. On top of that, taking examination could be stressful to some students and one of the things that can decrease stress is to change the emotion into positive one. When you get something from your lecturer i.e. a card whereas the other students from different sections get nothing, you feel special. It is important to make others feel good about themselves.

[Note: Of course this makes the other students who belong to different sections feel envious because they don’t get any best wishes card. I apologise for that. I don’t know them though because they are not my students even though they are the School of Education, UTM students 😀]

Feeling special makes them feel happy and this indirectly will decrease their stress. When they got to their seat and looked at the card, I saw that majority of them smile. They started to loosen up a bit. Some of them looked at the back of the card, checking if I wrote something else. Well, to tell the truth, I didn’t have time to write for each and every 55 cards that I would give them. I just got the cards last Monday (two days before their exam).

How to make your student feel special at the same time being assertive? This is not an easy task. But I believe in the small things that you do which matter. You have to show your concern in various ways. You can make students feel special in many ways. Of course, if you give them a card, it means that you need to invest. But, it is not that costly. For 300 cards, I just spent less than RM100. The card is color printed and to make it extra special in which they cannot find it elsewhere or at store, I designed it myself using Canva.

I admit that there are times when I lost control of my emotion in class (when I was doing my LI), but at the end of the day, I want to let the students know that I care about them. I got mad not because I hate them, but I hate their attitude such as being lazy, or not taking serious thing seriously.

Alhamdulillah I never blew off my steam with my UG students this semester. Attaboy! Because I see unlimited potentials in them regardless what they do in class (even though some of them fell asleep, went out for a while to have a break by eating lunch while I was teaching in class, colored their hair yellow, brunette, purplish shade etc.) . Of course, I just observed them from afar because I know that as adult learners, they are responsible for their own learning. I guess I am using the examples that were portrayed by my former mentors when I was in IIUM. They were relax and cool. I enjoyed being in and taking their classes even though I knew that they couldn’t teach all the courses that I have to take in order to complete my degree.

As a teacher/lecturer (you name it, it is just a term but basically what I do is still the same – teaching), you always want the best for your students. I know that it is not easy to create an ever lasting bond with my students. But, I hope that they would remember me for who I am and they would remember the warm fuzzy feeling they feel on the day they took my examination due to the card I gave them. Perhaps I am the only teacher/lecturer that ever would give them a best wishes card before exam (tongue in cheek remark!).

P.S: If I teach the same students in another course, I guess I have to give them different things, not card. A best wishes bookmark, perhaps 😀

Teaching to the test…. NOPE!

A student’s representative messaged me asking me if I have the answers to the last year exam questions. My reply: “I was not around last year so I don’t know and don’t have the questions and answers. I was at school. One whole year“

I vividly remember the class which I took with Joe Denver (nickname that Dr Joharry Othman uses). One of his class assignments was to research about the examples of teaching to the test practice. Since knowing the impact of teaching to the test on students i.e. it makes students “good test takers but lousy learners“, I determine to minimise any learning activity that would lead to that. Of course, sometimes in a good faith you give students learning activities to enhance their understanding but giving too much questions like quizzes, past year exam questions etc. might lead to “teaching to the test” phenomenon.

I don’t want to be an advocate for this practice in honour of what Dr Joe has taught me. I would disrespect him if I go against what he has taught me before. I don’t want to do that to my teachers. So, I will not give too much questions that students can practice through drill-and-grill method. NEVER! In sha Allah