Category: Teaching

Perkhemahan Akademik Fasa 3 SABK Madrasah Alattas Alarabiah Johor

PERKAMPUNGAN AKADEMIK FASA 3

Tarikh/Hari     : 31 Julai – 1 Ogos 2019 (Rabu – Khamis)

Tempat    : La Grandeur Palm Resort, Senai

Peserta: 111 pelajar (tingkatan 3, 5 dan 6); 20 orang guru dan seorang pensyarah UTM (Dr Hadijah Jaffri)

Perkampungan Akademik Fasa 3 merupakan progam pengayaan pencapaian akademik bagi pelajar yang bakal menduduki peperiksaan awam seperti PT3 – Tingkatan 3, SPM – Tingkatan 5, STAM dan MUET – Tingkatan 6. Para pelajar yang bakal menduduki peperiksaan Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 (PT3), Sijil Peperiksaan Malaysia (SPM), Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM) dan Malaysian University English Test (MUET) di Sekolah Agama Bantuan Kerajaan Madrasah Alattas Alarabiah memerlukan persiapan rapi bagi menghadapi peperiksaan awam.  Perkampungan Akademik Fasa 3 merupakan program pengayaan yang melibatkan kesemua pelajar yang menduduki peperiksaan awam Malaysia seperti PT3, SPM, STAM dan MUET.

Di dalam perkampungan akademik tersebut, pelajar akan didedahkan dengan tips yang boleh diaplikasikan bagi memastikan mereka mendapat keputusan yang cemerlang, terutama bagi pelajar Tingkatan 5 dan 6 bagi tujuan permohonan kemasukan ke pusat asasi atau matrikulasi di Malaysia (bagi pelajar Tingkatan 5) dan bagi tujuan permohonan melanjutkan pelajaran ke institusi pengajian tinggi awam tempatan mahupun luar negara bagi pelajar Tingkatan 6. Ini adalah kerana pencapaian mereka perlulah menepati syarat kemasukan ke pusat asasi atau matrikulasi atau institusi pengajian tinggi.

Pelajar tingkatan 5 sedang tekun menjawab soalan dalam lembaran latihan yang diberikan
Cik Rafedah Mohd Rais kelihatan bersemangat menerangkan tips peperiksaan bagi kertas perdagangan kepada calon SPM
Cik Aalia Abdul Rashid sedang menerangkan arahan tentang aktiviti dalam kumpulan kepada sekumpulan pelajar
Ustazah Noadha Asma’ Shafie menerangkan format peperiksaan Syariah PT3
Dr Hadijah Jaffri sedang memantau pelajar yang sedang menjawab soalan kertas Kefahaman (Reading) – MUET
Pelajar bekerja dalam kumpulan dalam menghasilkan rumusan novel Captain Nobody
Antara komen pelajar
Antara komen pelajar

UTM code of ethics

I was asked my one of my senior colleagues to fill in a questionnaire in relation to teaching, supervision, research and publication.  There are 10 questions asked.  The questions are

  1. Do you know that UTM has code of professional ethics?  (you to answer either YES or NO)
  2. Have you read the UTM code of ethics?  (you to answer either YES or NO)
  3. Do you know what are the UTM code of ethics?  (you to answer either YES or NO)
  4. Do you think that you are an ethical staff by UTM standard or by your own standard?  (you to answer either YES or NO)
  5. Are you able to define what is “being professional” in your job? (you to answer either YES or NO)
  6. Please give 3 examples to prove that you bring ethics into your work
  7. Another 3 examples that you think you are not ethical in your work
  8. State a few example of your colleagues’ behaviour which you think is ethical and professional
  9. Please describe incidents or events of your colleagues which you think are not ethical and/or not professional in their work

What are my answers?   I already gave to the committee.  I don’t know the findings of this survey though.

There are news articles about Prof Wahid Omar’s thoughts about issues relating to academic integrity in reference to Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz’s claim about Malaysian academicians’ integrity which causes uproar among concerned Malaysian citizens and alike.  You can read one of the news articles HERE.

In addition, HERE is the UTM code of ethics [Just in case, some of you are searching for it]

Break a leg

Wishing all the best to individuals who have to perform in something might improve their performance.  This has been proven in research such as “Keep your fingers crossed” which has shown “activating good-luck-related superstitions via a common saying or action such as break a leg, or a lucky charm improves subsequent performance in golfing, motor dexterity, memory and anagram games”

But this does not mean the performers should prepare less for any competition or task though.  Relying on luck with lackluster efforts won’t result in high performance.  There is nothing wrong in dreaming, hoping or wishing but we have to take reality into consideration.  We have to face life’s challenges head-on, not to put our heads on sand like ostriches thinking the challenges, harm or whatever will go away or pass by without us doing nothing about it.

Prisoner’s dilemma

Social scientists like psychologists, sociologists and alike study the issue of trust using a game known as Prisoner’s Dilemma.  In this game, a scenario in which you and your friend are caught by the police and are interrogated.  But the results for both of you to be punished by the law would be varied depending on the confession by both of you (you and your friend).  So, which is which?

The scenario is like the following

Let’s say you and your friend rob a bank and you are not very good at robbing a bank so you get caught.  The police arrest both of you and put you in separate rooms to interrogate you.  You have no way to communicate with your friend.  The cops offer you a deal: if you testify that your friend was the mastermind and he does not testify against you, you go free and he gets five years in prison.  If you don’t testify against your friend but he testifies against you, you get five years and he goes free.  If you both testify against each other, you both get three years.  If you both refuse to testify, you both get one year.

The answer can be straight forward.  If you knew you could trust each other, you both keep your mouths shut and get one year.  But that might not be the case, right?  That’s what prompt researcher like Robert Axelrod to further study what makes us decide on whom to trust and not.  The answer might shock you.  Tit for tat.  Yup.

Perkhemahan Akademik Fasa 3 SABK Madrasah Alattas Alarabiah: Hari Kedua

Today is my session (1 August 2019).  My session should begin at 830am.  But the students came at 9am.  I was mad.  They took their own sweet time to have breakfast.  Ita apologised because she did not forcefully urge the students to be quick.  What is wrong with this situation?  Why did the teacher has to apologise on the behalf of students?  I hate to deal with situation like this because the ones who should apologise are the students who came late.  Not the teacher who is in charge of the programme.

I met Fatin who was participating in a team building programme with the TNCPI office during lunch.  Fatin must be amused looking at how I was flocking by students who chatted non-stop about what they like about the camp.  What they liked about the camp?  Well, they got a smartphone courtesy of the hotel in each room.  So?  What do you expect?  Yes.  They stayed up late and got busied updating their Insta post.  They also said that it is quite rare for them to have opportunity to stay overnight at a hotel.   Some of them belong to B40 families.  Indeed it is such a rare opportunity for them.  Alhamdulillah the hotel gave them a good deal.  They have printed logo and signage in each seminar room.  So, students took pictures and whatsnot.  Me?  I took pictures for documentation purposes.

 

Perkhemahan Akademik Fasa 3 SABK Madrasah Alattas Alarabiah: Hari Pertama

Today (31 July 2019, Wednesday) is the first day of the academic camp.   My session will start tomorrow (1 August 2019, Thursday).  But I came today because I want to check out the venue and Ita asked me to help her taking pictures for documentation purposes.  Since they cannot use DSLR camera, we are relying on each other’s effort to take pictures throughout the sessions by taking turn using our smartphones instead.  Here are some of the pictures.

Using song to teach grammar_Part 2

“Sooner Or Later” by Alan Parsons

Oh what a price we pay
For the things we say
And the closer I get to you
The further you move away

All the lies we tell
In the games we play
And the longer I think it over
The harder it is to stay

Sooner or later I’ll be free
To leave the past behind
Sooner or later you’re gonna be
The last thing on my mind
Little by little I’m finding out
The truth behind your eyes
Maybe if I don’t show
I thought you might like to know
You’re gonna be the last thing on my mind

You didn’t want to know
I could have told you so
But the moment I think it’s over
The further there is to go
Just a little word
Such an easy way
But the longer I think about it
The harder it is to say

Sooner or later I’ll be free
To leave the past behind
Sooner or later you’re gonna be
The last thing on my mind
Little by little I’m finding out
The truth behind your eyes
Maybe if I don’t show
I thought you might like to know
You’re gonna be the last thing on my mind

This is the song by Alan Parsons.  This is a breakup song.  Indeed.  Well, my intention was not to teach the students to be romantic.  It is far from it.  But as teenagers, they need to learn how to regulate their emotions such as handling with rejection, break up and whatsnot.  To motivate them to learn English is not easy.  Song is one of the ways to teach which is widely used.  There are numerous research done this.  One of the examples is by a team of researchers from Turkey.

I have not yet conducted any research on this issue. Last year, when I was undergoing my Latihan Ikhtisas, I had contemplated this though.  Since I only taught one class for one form, i Ikhtisas, I had contemplated this issue. Since I only taught a single class for a single form, it was difficult for me to “perform” quasi-experiments. I was specifically assigned pupils with limited English skills. Therefore, it is comprehensible why the other class had higher grades than mine, despite the fact that my instructor never used songs in the classroom.  The students become more receptive to my teaching style, that much is certain.  Some of them are in under my special care until end of the year.

Can perceived parental favoritism affects personality?

Environmental influence does affect one’s personality in one way or another.  The influence can be varied from one individual to another, so different individual might display differences and uniqueness.  

Does parental favoritism affects personality?  Well, if you look at personality traits according to OCEAN, there might be different spectrum of personality traits.  So, some researchers would look at link between one variable to another in a simpler form.  One such study is about perceived parental favoritism and its relation on narcissism.  What do you think?  

UTM Open Day