The importance of adults for adolescents

The school conducted a programme (Program Ziarah Cakna) last Thursday (23 May 2019).   I went to the school because I paired with Teacher Ita (one of the English teachers) to pay a visit to one of the selected students.  I had a quick chat with some of the teachers to ask about what’s new and whatsnot since I left the school last March 2019.  I asked specifically about some of the students that I taught before.  I asked about their performance in the recent mid term examination.  I was worried that I had not covered many of the topics for the first two months but the teachers told me that I covered the topics according to the weekly plan according to scheme of work (SOW) of the respective classes.  What a relief!

Teacher Ita told me that Rahim is one of the students who frequently asked about me.  It is a classic case of attachment.  In this case, I do admit that as an adult, I might be his role model.  This is an example of how important an adult can be for an adolescent because he/she is in a phase of role confusion (or laymen commonly use “identity confusion” or in Malay – kecelaruan identiti).  Many studies in psychology have shown the importance of adults in helping adolescents in this transitioning phase between childhood and adulthood.   

What should I do with Rahim or any other students who are showing this kind of attachment? 

I never had any experience of dealing with school kids before because I teach university students since I start my teaching profession in 2005.  Well, for obvious reasons they are not adolescents, they are young adults and they have undergone the adolescence phase.  They are not in need of adult role models like me.  Their needs are different in this case.

I am still racking my brain in this case because I do not want him or any of my students to have “unhealthy attachment” or “transference”.  Transference is a term commonly used in counseling or clinical psychology which could happen during therapy sessions in which a person develops “certain feelings/emotions” toward the therapist.  But in education setting, transference could also happen in which a student may have certain feelings/emotions towards a teacher.  Well, it is not all bleak and gloomy but I don’t wish Rahim or any other male students especially to have “certain” feelings towards me, an old lady.  There are cases of relationships between teacher and student who develop into romantic intimate relationships.  Perhaps, I am a bit paranoid in this case but I guess there is nothing wrong to have extra precautions.   Prevention is better than cure.  

 

Me? Baking?

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.

Prison break

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.  

What is the trend now? To experience fasting?

I was in the midst of marking the examination scripts and to take a break, I googled some articles, browsed here and there before finding this thing: some non-Muslims guys (and ladies) are vlogging about their experience fasting.  At first, I was thinking “Wait a minute?!  Are they newly reverts?  Or are they just fasting for the sake of experience of not eating for few hours?”  But as I watch their videos (more than one apparently), I realise that they are really seriously doing it like a Muslim.  They take sahur and do not eat from subuh until maghrib.   Some have been doing it for few years.  Man, I am really amazed.  One of them is even praying tarawikh (I guess he is newly reverted to Islam.  Alhamdulillah).  

I am not saying it is a bad thing to do but I truly believe that Allah’s hidayah can be in various types and forms.  Perhaps, this is one of it.   

 

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.

Program Ziarah Cakna [loosely translated as Endowment visit programme]

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)

Publish or perish_Part 2

One of my highly esteemed senior colleagues, Prof Hamdan Said shared this newspaper article with us.  I admit that what the author wrote is happening in UTM.  As an example, I find it time consuming to conduct SOTL research and “produce” papers related to teaching and learning.  To see an impact or changes of any learning activity takes time.  It is quite difficult to see any “major” change within a period of 14 weeks (for normal semester) unless you have the same batch of students and you use the same learning activity in classes that they have to take in the subsequent semesters. 

In my case, if I teach a batch of students who are in their first year second semester i.e. Educational Psychology class, it is quite difficult for me to have the same batch of students in the following semester because I only teach few undergraduate classes (other than Educational Psychology, I also teach Fundamental Pedagogy and Research Methodology class.  But since there are enough instructors to teach the other two courses, I only end up to teach only Educational Psychology class on regular basis).  Thus, how can I conduct a SOTL research when there would be limited opportunity for me to try out new teaching and learning strategies and do research on that?  The point is, it takes me longer to collect data from my own teaching practice.  It is not easy but not impossible to do.

When I was at school for my LI, I collected lots of data (from my token economy planner/table, students’ reflective notes and my own daily journal notes).  I find it challenging to have solid quiet time to analyse the data.  I admit that I should prioritise some of my works according to its importance.  As a lecturer, teaching at a university, it is important for me to publish, but at the same time I know that I need to improve my teaching.

Now, it is exam period and I am being bogged down with tonnes of marking assignments, exam scripts and whatsnot.  When will this end?  It will never end.  This is one of the common cycles that I have to face as a lecturer at university.

So, it is a little wonder if some might resort to “short-cuts” of publishing even though they might compromise the quality of the paper.  It is a challenge to be “the slow professor” who professes, rather than “an empty shell”.  It is a paradoxical phenomenon indeed.

 

Al fatihah to the late Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah (Pahang)

It was my masters degree convocation day.  He gave out our diploma/scroll.  The year was 2004.  It has been 15 years since I met him in person.  Even though I never had any chance to know him better but I know he is a good guy.  His name was commemorated in IIUM Gombak Campus mosque (Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah mosque).  I heard about the news of his passing on the radio, on my way back home from UTM.  

May Allah Bless his soul.  

 

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