Journey throughout A3

Salam and hi to all 🙂

I can’t believe that this semester is coming to an end soon and it’s already week 11! How time flies 😦

a BIG KNOCK on my head for me being ignorant of Assignment 3 which is due in 2 weeks time!!  (dush dush dush dush) =.=’

However, I thank God and the lecturers as well for making the journey of assignment 3 a lot more easier for us. Easy in a sense that we already have guidelines on how to start/ complete the assignment. Ican regard us to be lucky since we already come out with learning objectives and ICT tools to be used for the task, if not, we’re dead meat ! I guess the lecturers must have known us very well with our last-minute attitude that they somehow “push” us to do the task little by little. Alhamdulillah 🙂

In previous class, we were required to show our draft for the assignment- how the lesson will look like, types of teaching aids use, the manuals etc, so based on the discussion and the draft, I guess I have clearer picture in mind on how to proceed to next stage. Many doubts and questions were answered during the discussion and it really helped us with the whole thing. Initially, our materials for the assignment were quite sloppy, messy and unorganized but with the help from group members and lecturers, everything seems to be in its place 🙂

For this particular entry, I will reflect on my journey throughout Assignment 3, which is due so soon (yet I’m still halfway through it – yes, I’m a real procrastinator :P) and I’m going to list down 7 possible items which will ensure an effective student-centred, personalised, higher-order-thinking lesson. So, enjoy!

1.       Learning resources

Learning resources or teaching materials are vital to ensure an effective lesson since they assist teachers in delivering content to students. By having suitable and multiple learning resources, it enables us to create variations in the lesson itself. Since we need to consider mixed ability classes, hence the resources made also cater to different types of student’s learning styles, hopefully. The resources we use in this particular assignment ranging from teacher developed materials, student resources as well as real life artefacts for example songs, stories, self-made videos, puzzles and etc.

2.       ICT tools

As this course in the use of ICT in classroom, hence it would be a waste if we neglect this item. Although we are given school which do not have computer lab or projector, however we do not take things for granted and see this as chances for us to do things hastily. We still employ the use of ICT to help in creating interesting and appealing teaching aids as well as lesson plan. The ICT tools listed by Ms Ng are very helpful and it indeed adds on to the flavour of the lesson for example, the Story Bird application which is very interesting and can be used in to make our lesson livelier and attractive.

3.       Types of activities

Besides that, one of the most crucial parts in designing lesson is the types of activities given to students. We decided to come out with activities which required the students to take control of the activity to the maximum, or in other words, student-centred activities. Most of the teaching-learning activities designed are hands-on where students need to do it on their own, with teacher as a facilitator only. Activities such as role play, jazz chants as well as presentations are some of the examples of the activities created for this particular assignment.

4.       Group work

Personally, I really love making the children to work in group, thus in this particular assignment, I’m going to apply the same concept where they need to work in groups in order to complete task given.  Children learns best when they mix with their friends since they get to share their knowledge with each other. Group works also encourage students to talk as well as expressing themselves. as we all know, some children are very shy to speak up, so by assigning them groups with people they are comfortable with, somehow they’ll try to speak or do work.

5.       Student’s previous knowledge

i guess in designing any lesson plan, it is essential for teachers to take a look at student’s previous knowledge so that we will be able to create something related to earlier lesson. There should be a connection between one lesson and another especially when it involves same topic. In this assignment, we try our very best to link each topic with one another by referring to curriculum specifications and text book.  for example, one of the topic chose for year 5 is where do you live/ houses, hence I need to know their level of knowledge about different types of houses present in Malaysia etc. by doing this, I’m sure I’ll be able to maximize student’s comprehension towards lesson designed.

6.       Assessment and feedbacks

Another important thing which needs to be taken into account is the type of assessment or feedbacks given to the students after they completed the activities. By having evaluation or feedbacks, it enables us to know whether our learning objectives have been achieved or not. At the same time, students will know our expectations towards them. Peer assessment seems to be the best so far, especially among young learners as they will get the chance to identify their weaknesses and strengths. Thus, in some of our lessons, we are planning to incorporated peer assessment and give feedbacks particularly in activities which require them to work on their own.

7.       Mode of lesson delivery/ instructions

Lastly would be the mode of lesson delivery or instructions. I guess it is utmost important for teachers to have the ability of giving out clear and precise order as well as explanations. Teachers need to make sure that what they say is clear enough for students to listen. by having a comprehensible instructions, half of the work is done. that is why we plan to come out with a manual in which all explanations or instructions are given in that particular handbook. Through this way, teachers just have to read the manual and understand before they can simply carry out the lesson/ activities provided.

All in all, these are 7 possible items which I think will ensure an effective student-centred, personalised, higher-order-thinking lesson. So, what say you?

I guess that would be all for now. Till we meet again later, in my next entry.

Bye bye 🙂

My e-book ‘makeover’

Hi all 🙂

This week’s topic is about e-book where we need to improvise and make some changes to our existing one. So, I need to search on my e-book which had been done when I took resources subject last 2 years. I was laughing quite hard when looking at my e-book back then since it was quite messy, clumsy and childish. Thus, I guess ‘something’ needs makeover: P

E-book or electronic version of printed book or digital book (anything you call them) is a text and image-based publication in digital form produced on, published by and readable on computers or other digital devices. In this technology era where everything is operated using computer, e-book seems to meet all those needs and benefits especially to young learners. This is because e-book is more interactive and interesting since they come with animations, colourful pictures, songs, sounds etc.

Before I proceed with the makeover thingy, let us take a look at my e-book as a whole.

BEFORE

AFTER

What’s this e-book is about? Well, my e-book is basically about a boy named Adam who found a cat and he takes it as his pet. This e-book is design to cater year 2 students and falls under the topic of animals.

You can see vast differences between my current e-book and the modified version. I decided to change some part of it according to several fundamental elements which I guess should be modify. Let us take a look at the first slide,

BEFORE

AFTER

If you can see, in the original e-book, I use black as the background colour but after modification, I decided not to use any colour for the background. This is because I feel that white is just nice besides the words can be seen clearly. I also enlarge both the title of the book and the picture in order to attract students to read the story. As advised by Mr. Ng, I also put a copyright symbol at the bottom of the slide; this is to show that I only take the pictures from the internet for academic purposes only.

BEFORE

AFTER

For my second slides, as I am using this e-book to cater for year 2 learners, hence I need to use simplewords in the text. So, I choose to separate the two sentences into two different slides instead of using both sentences in a single slide. As usual, I increase the font number so that the wordings can be clearly seen by the readers. I also design a new slide for another sentence accordingly. I search for new pictures of animals at the zoo and put Comic Sans as the font.

BEFORE

AFTER

In the original third slide, you can see that I cramped everything inside which makes it a bit confusing and messy especially for young learners. Thus, I separate them into 7 different slides according to 7 different animals in have in this e-book. By having an animal for each slide, students will be able to see and differentiate them clearly. Besides that, I can also get to pause at certain slides and emphasize on the features of each animals.

BEFOREAFTER

For this slide, I choose to change the location of the wordings and put it beside the picture. This is to create variation in the e-book itself. If I am to put the sentences at the same place, students might feel bored. I also expand the picture and the font so that it is clearer. If you can see, I opt for a white background instead of maintaining the yellow one in the original slides; this is because I feel that the picture itself is enough to enhance the slide. If I use yellow as the background colour, I’m afraid the students will get distracted by its vibrant colour 🙂

BEFORE

AFTER

Particularly the same thing goes with this slide, I prefer white background as a substitute with the colourful vibrant colour before, as I am afraid it will defeat the purpose of the slide. Since this slide is meant to make them suspense, thus using white only is more than appropriate. Moreover, I guess the use of explosion type of dialog box is enough to create those feeling.

BEFORE

AFTER

In this slide, I decided to take out the dialogue between Adam and his father. This is because I feel that the conversation is rather high for the students’ level and there are some complex words which they have not learn yet. I also enlarge the font use and make it slightly bigger than the original one and change the position of the wordings to create variation in the slides.

Last but not least, I would like to focus on the last slide which is the cover for the e-book. If you can see, in the original slides, there is not cover for the ending part, thus after went through several explanation by Ms. Ng, I choose to put one. The rationale is that by having the same cover, it creates a sense of similarity with the printed books. Often we see children books using the same principle, thus I want to make my e-book similar with the printed one, and if you can still remember the definition of e-book I give earlier, electronic version of printed book. Thus when my students are reading the-book, they won’t find the “awkwardness” of reading book from the computer (saves my time for explanation too :P)

So, what say you? 🙂

I guess that’s all for now and till we meet again in my next entry. till then, bye bye 🙂

Towards A Personalised Learning: “Build Your Wild Self”

Salam and hi to all 🙂

Well, we meet again and I just realize that it’s already week 08! Time really fly very fast, aite? By the way, this time our lesson is all about Personalised Learning.

I guess one of the advantages of having class ICT-ized was the fact that we got to learn and explore something different each time we had classes. There were many ways which can be exploited in order to make the classroom livelier, and if I as adult learner enjoyed this kind of activity, what’s more the children, aite? They’ll surely enjoy the lesson to bits.  I had great time chatting with my fellow cohort mates during class this week and mind you, it’s not that kind of chatting we used to do in YM, fb chat whatnot, but we actually chatted about the topic of personalized learning! Cool right? The interesting part we got to share what we know with each other and any queries or questions were actually answered through the session, no more chalk and talk in front! What an ICT culture we had 🙂 Without we ever realized it, it was the personalised learning which we underwent (if I’m not mistaken, correct me anyone :P)

Personalised learning is very vital especially for children’s growth since its main focus is on the students itself where they are expected to get the most out of what they had learnt. Students will be the one who are responsible for their learning most of the time but with teachers to facilitate and help.

As requested, we had to come out with a ‘personalized learning’ lesson plan using interactive tools listed by Ms. Ng and I found that “Build My Wild Self” captured me the most.

Initially, I’m thinking of using Shidonni but since I’m not that good in drawing, hence I opted for BMWS 🙂 It’s easy, creative, interactive and quite personal in a sense that students got to create their own “wild self”.

Take a look at my lesson plan. Enjoy! 😀

Topic: My Other Self

Target Learners: Year 4/ 5, advanced to average students

Language Focus: Adjectives

Behavioral Objectives: By the end of the lesson, pupils will be able to

–          Write simple/compound/complex sentences about the description of their created “other self”

–          Talk about their “other self” in front of the class

Procedures:

1. Teacher introduces topic of the day to the pupils which is adjectives by projecting a video (Deliver instruction through multiple forms of media).

2. Teacher explains about the concept of adjectives to the pupils by giving several examples using pictures (printed from the website of “Build Your Wild Self”) (Deliver instruction through multiple forms of media).

3. Teacher teaches the pupils on how to construct sentences using the pictures given.

4. Teacher then pastes the pictures on the whiteboard.

5. Teacher picks a pupil randomly and asks him/ her to construct sentences by using guidance given earlier on (Pre-test students’ knowledge before each unit).

6. Teacher asks the pupils to choose their own pair. Each pair will be given a computer.

7. Teacher briefs the pupils on how to carry out the activity by using the tool given (Practice independent work skills).

8. They are to create their avatar/ wild self based on instruction and guidance given by the teacher (Practice independent work skills).

9. After that, they will have to print out the picture created and write a simple description of their wild self (Let students drive).

10. Pupils present their avatar in front of the class.

11. Teacher chooses several pupils randomly to give their opinion on their friend’s work.

12. Lastly, teacher commented on the presentation by the pupil.

What’s special about this application is that it allows pupils to use their imagination creatively and unlimitedly. They are able to create the wild self on their own besides get to name it. I guess this will help to make the lesson look personal since they are free to explore and play with their imagination and creativity which I think is a very good exercise for student-centred learning. Since I also asked the other pupils to evaluate and give comments on their friend’s presentation, hence there are evidence of letting the pupils to take control of their learning in class.

I guess that’s all for this week, till we meet again later in my other entry.

Cheerio 🙂

Of reflecting and giving feedbacks

Salam and hi to all 🙂

*Let’s be critical this time*

So, last week’s entry is all about reflecting and giving feedbacks and I guessed, it might sound a bit serious at times. Hence, bear with it ya! 🙂

The experience of designing the PPT

I was quite blur and lost when first looked at the instruction given by Ms Ng. Blur for the reason of not being able to comprehend (or is it just can’t seem to see) what is the purpose of using the game, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” in class; what’s more to modify and improvise it so that it suited our targeted students well. Hmmmmm… =.=’

Firstly, how do we use this game in class? For it is a game show, a truly kind of quiz game which seemed quite difficult to be applied in an overcrowded classroom of 40 students (let just imagine it) or more or less.  And secondly, how do we assess student trough this game? Wouldn’t it be difficult? Do we need to follow the original format of assessing the winner- those who are able to answer questions will be given money? Remember, we are talking about real school here!

This added to my stress level! 😦

Given together with the instruction were the three examples of templates which needed to be improvised and changed later on. We only have to pick one best template and adapt it accordingly. It was quite hard at first because we need to be certain of what kind of questions we wanted to use, rewards and the format of the game. Frankly speaking, at this very point, I still can’t seem to understand the task. However, after discussion had been made, we came out with idea of using stories and I guessed, this was where everything started to make sense.

It became clearer on what should be done and what kind of PPT we wanted to come out with. I reckon since we are using story as our main reference, it made things a lot more easier since we got to refer on something to create questions, theme, template, the font and whatnot. I got to learn one important thing which is everything is possible, it actually depended on us whether we wants it or not or how we wants to do it. I found that using games not only gave benefits but at the same time, it also brings problems as well. Somehow it is up to teacher to control it.

Our main theme is pirate, as suggested by Najwa and I find that it was very creative of her to come out with such interesting idea! Kudos Najwa 🙂

Since we were using the theme pirate, thus we change everything, from the background, the lifelines, rewards and even stories according to that theme.  The result? It looked very different from the original template. We did know that there were still shortcomings and weaknesses in the slides prepared, thus I guess the feedback session come just right in time  😀

Receiving and giving feedbacks

We have this feedback session where we need to give comments on our friend’s presentation in front which means, no more facebooking or blogjogging 😛

Since this is done in individual basis, hence we have to really listen to every single presentation to avoid ourselves from missing out any useful points or tips. It’s different from what we usually do which is to comment by group, where the attention is divided among group members equally.

The fact that we are using game as our main presentation for this week’s activity makes it a bit interesting since I get to see many different and creative ideas flowing in. Every presentation are special in their own way and that’s make it more interesting, for we are able to see from other person’s perspective; how do the same game using the same format can become interactive and very creative! And I guess, I learn best through this kind of sharing session.

There are certain criteria which need to be followed when assessing each groups, we have to come out with two good things about the presentation and two things to improve on. Hence, this made the session more interactive and lively since we got to comment on our friend’s presentation on the spot. At the same time, we were forced to listen to our friend’s presentation and I guess, everyone are busy focusing and paying great attention to the presentations in front. By some means, indirectly it required us to be critical and do some thinking while listening to the presentations.

However, technology still has its own limit. Only one person is able to comment on the rubrics given at one time and thus, we have to wait for them to finish it before we can give their feedbacks. It’s  really time constraint and stressed if looking at the situation that time. Despite the problems, I thank God that we were given time to complete the feedbacks after that.

All in all, I think at the end of the day, everything actually falls back on the teachers, we need to use our own creativity on how to create a fun learning atmosphere in class as well as keep on learning from each other. That’s the best way we can do!

I guess that’s all for this week, till we meet again later.

Bye bye 🙂

Pet Society? That would be G-R-R-E-A-T-T!

Salam and hi to all 🙂

In this particular entry, I would like to share one of the games in which I have played it before and used to be one of my addicted game on facebook- the Pet Society!

This game might be a bit outdated if compared to other Facebook games such as Restaurant City, Farm Ville, Cafe World, Yo Ville (just to name a few), but there are lots of interesting features which I guess shouldn’t be missed by the students. The cartoons, how the game are played, points earned, how we are supposed to take care of our own pets—these features make it simply adorable and cute and even add to its great points!  🙂

Undeniably, games would be good if it is use in an appropriate way and in this entry, the Pet Society game. On one hand, it might seem a bit childish with the cartoons and all, but on the other hand, this game is applicable to be used in classroom in a sense that it teaches the students various things; taking care of pets, be creative by decorating house accordingly, simple Mathematics will be applied when it comes to purchasing things and etc.

To be honest, it was quite some time since I last logged into this game, and I’m sure by now, there are many new elements featured in this game. And i guess that’s why you can see there’re flies surrounding my pet and did you notice the junks of mails? i really need to be active playing this again! Pity Raccooo😦

We are able to give names to our pet and even choose how we want our pet to look like, it’s interesting aite? However, we need to remember that to play this game, it is important for us to be responsible. We have to take a good care of the pet-  don’t forget to give it foods to eat, bath it and give love to the pet! Points will be given for that. And this adds to the PLUS point!

We can also decorate our own house preferably! We will earn some points which enable us buying anything we want from any shops available in this game. To get the points, we just have to frequently visit our friends (they’ll give us options whether we want to hug, kiss, laugh, fight or even dance) or just go to the stadiums and compete! I was really suck at this after that, use the coins earned and go shopping~~~ weeeeeeee  😛

Based on the features I just stated above, I guess it would be a good idea to teach my students about directions / buildings. This is how the lesson looks like.

Year: 3

Proficiency level: Average

Topic: My Neighbourhood

Previous knowledge: Students already familiar with names and features of buildings (e.g.: bank, mall, market, library etc.)

Language focus: Prepositions of directions and locations

Focused Skill: Speaking

Integrated skill: Reading and writing

Learning objectives: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

–          Talk about buildings with correct description

–          Give directions to 3 out 5 places correctly

Set induction

–          Teacher asks the pupils to recall several names of buildings that they learnt in the previous lesson.

–          Teacher shows several pictures of different buildings to the pupils.

–          Teacher randomly chooses a few students to name the buildings shown before.

–          Teacher directs pupils into the topic.

Presentation

–          Teacher teaches the pupils on directions by pasting flash cards.

–          Teacher then projects the games to the pupils and briefs about the game a bit.

–          Teacher asks the students to pretend that if they are the character, how would they wants to get to different building appear in the game.

–          Teacher demonstrates to students on the directions to certain buildings

–          Teacher gets several students to try using the game.

Practice

–          Teacher gets the students to form groups. There will be 5 people per group.

–          Teacher briefs the students on how the activity will be carried out.

–          Each group will have to play the games and get used to it.

–          Teacher then distributes a situation strip to each group.

–          Within their group, they will have to create a simple direction to somewhere for example, to the market, stadium etc.

–          They will be given 5 minutes to complete the task.

–          Teacher then discusses the task with the class.

–          After that, each group needs to present their answers in front.

Production

–          Teacher gets the students to create an account for the games.

–          Teacher tells the students that they are responsible in taking care of their pet and teacher will frequently asks them the progression of their pets.

–          Teacher then distributes a little book to each student. They need to report any progress they made in the game for example, coins earned, what they did today- have the pet ate, bathe etc.

–          Teacher tells the pupils that at the end of every month, the little book need to be hand in to the teacher.

Closure

–          Teacher asks the pupils recall what they had learnt that day.

–          Teacher then integrates moral values.

This is just a plan which I think if everything is in a good condition (errr…I mean the internet and the computer), it can be achieved and applied in class.

* I guess I need to play it again!* So that it will be easier for me to keep track with the games, if I  want to adopt it in class later 😛 It would be so much fun! (ceh! alasan)

I think that’s all for now. Till then, see you in my next entry

Have a nice day everyone 🙂

All in one KERPOOF!

Salam and hi to all,

Before I begin, hope that it’s not too late for me to wish all my Chinese friends, a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year! I guess I really enjoyed myself to the max this holidays that I almost forget I haven’t finish writing up my 4^th entry yet! 🙂

So here we go.

After went through and tested several tools listed by Ms. Ng, I finally made up my mind to choose Kerpoof for the advantages it serve.  I found out that this application provides many functions and it’s actually a very complete package teachers could use to help in teaching and learning in class. In fact, all the tools listed was very useful and interesting in their own way but, since we need to choose only one, hence the choice.

So what’s special about it? As stated in the website, Kerpoof is all about having fun, discovering things and being creative.  a COMPLETE one! 🙂

The functions of the tool

What I like most about Kerpoof is the numbers of functions it provides. Many things are possible by using this app and for a teacher-to-be like me; I really hope this can become handy when I’m out for real teaching later. I’m able to create movies, make cards, make pictures, make drawings, spell pictures and even creating my own stories! In fact, each one of the functions is equipped with numbers of vibrant and attractive images and animations 🙂

I guess this app is created in particular to cater for all teacher’s need to help them in classrooms and that make Kerpoof special from other ICT tools listed. This website even provides lesson plans for teachers and they are all very interesting indeed. Teachers will be able to downloaded them since they came in PDF format (in fact, i have downloaded some of it!)

They even have special accounts for teachers and by being one of the members; teachers will be able to register and arrange students into classes as well as chit chatting with each other on class message boards.  Classroom ideas pages allow all teachers to brainstorm with one another about creating their own original lesson plans. What’s more, educational standards allocate the activities given to be cross-referenced with the state and national standard. I believe that this tool could be a one-stop English corner for all teachers 🙂

The limitations of the tool

However, though this tool is superb on its own but there’re still flaws which I think might affect the whole thing. It’s internet-dependent where we need to have connection to the internet in order to operate this tool and we can’t use it if we don’t have any line. It might be difficult for teachers in rural areas to use this app due to the poor internet reception in most rustic part. Another shortcoming would be the size of the fonts and images which are quite small. It would be much better if the fonts and images are bigger so as to attract teachers and students’ attentions towards the app. By having bigger size images and fonts, it enables all to have a clearer view of the tools presented.

When can this tool be used?

Its adaptable purposes makes it suitable to be used anywhere, anytime to anyone. Teachers might want to use the “spell a picture” to test student’s vocabularies as well as spellings and “tell a story” to assess student’s writing skills. Besides that, teachers can also use all tasks listed in a whole lesson plan for example; using “spell a picture” in set induction to introduce the topic, “make a picture” in presentation stage to present the subject matter, “tell a story” to ask students to present what they have learnt in the lesson and last but not least, ask the students to “make a drawing” as a conclusion to the lesson learnt.

With all the interesting and attractive functions this tool offer, I think it is suitable to be used in any stages of learning, regardless of learners or topics.It is all depend on the teacher’s creativity on how to apply it to maximize student’s learning.

The user friendliness from my point of view

I guess that this app is quite user friendly since it just take few minutes for me to learn on how to use it. But, if I encounter any problems, there’re this tutorials which teaches us on how to use certain application given. Everything was quite easy and straightforward and it would be a plus point to be used by teachers and students.

The tool is suitable for which standard

This tool is suitable especially to all levels of students depended on how the teacher wants to use it. teachers might want to use something simpler like “spell a picture”, “make a card” or “make a drawing” with lower primary students ranging from year 1 to year 3 . For level 4- 6 students, teachers could use something which is quite complicated such as “make a movie” or “tell a story” with them. As i said before, it is all depend on the teacher’s creativeness to create such a meaningful activities in class.

All in all, i hope this will become handy when i’m out for real teaching later. I guess that’s all for now.

Till we meet again later, in my next entry 🙂

TPACK in action!

Hi all 🙂

TPACK was our “main course” for the 3rd week and I’m sure many of you already knew what TPACK is, aite?  However, I’ll describe in short what TPACK is so that you would see the relation of what I’m going to write here with the meaning of TPACK.

TPACK or TPCK stands for Technological (T), Pedagogical (P), Content (C) and Knowledge (K). According to Mishra and Koehler (2006), TPACK can also be regarded as a framework for teachers to understand and describe the kinds of knowledge for effective technology integration in class.

What is interesting about TPACK is that this model emphasizes on the combination of different kind of knowledge rather than treating them separately. This can be further explained by looking at the diagram below

this diagram makes life easier I understand better by looking at this diagram

From what I understand, based on the definition above, I am actually using TPACK during my 3 months teaching practice and I didn’t realize that!

If you can see, from the acronym T-P-A-C-K, they actually refers to :

– Technological knowledge (T) : the ICT tools that i had integrate in class

– Pedagogical knowledge (P) : the approaches i used to impart the knowledge to students

– Content knowledge (C-K) : the teaching items that i want them to learn that day

As Harris & Hofer(2009) said, “After teachers are familiar with a complete set of technology-enriched learning activity types in a particular curriculum area, they can effectively choose among, combine, and use them in standards-based learning situations, building their TPACK in practical ways while doing so”.

So, how does it work? Now, let us see TPACK in action!

This is the details for the lesson which I have integrated the concept of TPACK.

Subject                        : English

Class                             : 3 Cempaka  (mixed ability class)

Enrolment                 : 37 pupils

Topic                           : Flora and Fauna –Animals

Focused Skill            : Speaking, Reading

Language Focus      : Verbs- “soars”, “wallows”, “gallops”, “swings”, “dives”, “howls”, “trumpets”

Technological knowledge (ICT tools used to help teaching-learning session in class)

– I showed PPT slides using projector and LCD, played sounds of different animals to the students through speaker

 

 

Pedagogical knowledge (approaches used to teach in class)

– Total Physical Response (TPR): students responded to what I asked them to do, imagine that they are in a jungle, show the actions of different animals etc.

– Cooperative learning and interaction: activities are done in group where pupils will have to role play a situation given to them in group. They were also given time to discuss on the actions they want to perform.

– Drilling and scaffolding: while completing task sheet individually, I will monitor the whole students and helps if possible. The drilling part comes in when i discuss the answers with them in which i get them to correct the wrong answer until they are able to get the right one.

Content knowledge (language items  which i taught them)

– I focused on verbs of different animals such as “soars”, “wallows”, “gallops”, “swings”, “dives”, “howls”, “trumpets”

– I also get them to read simple sentences correctly

First, let me explain how C-k is being taught via P-k

Since my target for this lesson was to get them talked about the actions of different animals based on situations / pictures given, hence I got the idea of using TPR. To start off with the lesson, I asked them to close their eyes and pretended that they were in a jungle. By this time, I played sounds of different animals to add in the excitement as well as creating a real jungle situation.  Then, I gOt the whole class to demonstrate the actions of animals they heard/saw in their imaginative jungle. This was where they need to walk around and started to act. While they are telling me the different actions of animals,I then projected the PPT slides to show them the real actions of several animals.

I also integrates the cooperative learning and interaction approach where there were activities which needed to be done in groups. The pupils had to role play a situation given to them and after that, presented in front of the class.  They were given ample time to discuss on the actions they wanted to perform.

Last but not least, drilling and scaffolding. As I also gave them individual task sheet, I monitored the students and helped if possible. The drilling part was seen during the discussion of answers where I made them corrected their wrong answers until they were able to get the right one.

And this is how T-k helps the P to make the students get C

T-k plays important roles in this particular lesson since it helped to illustrate and explained them the correct actions of animals, which was definitely quite hard for me to show it for them. Thus, half of the work was considered done with the help of the slides 🙂

I showed them the PPT slides that I’ve done so that they were able to see the real meanings of verbs taught to them. This also work as so-called explanations to them on the verbs, since there were certain words which were difficult for me to tell them, hence by showing real pictures of the animals, they’ll be able to see it clearly.

As teachers, it is good if we can create the element of surprise in class, in fact students would be very excited to learn! So when I asked them to close their eyes and imagined that they were in a jungle, with the sound of animals as the background music, they got very excited and eager to know what will happened next. It really showed from their expression especially the naughty one. Undoubtedly, songs/ audios were great tools to be used in class to enhance teaching!

This was how TPACK played it roles in my lesson that day.

I’m quite happy for the fact that my learning objectives were achieved and everything went quite well. I can see that TPACK has actually helped me in organizing the class as well as acted as the method of instruction. I don’t have to raise up my voice to get them ready for the class, in fact they were ready upon knowing that I wanted to do something with them. Since I got a mixed-ability class, thus it was very difficult to cater to all student’s needs; however I was really grateful that TPACK helped to get the work done easily.

I think that’s all for now. Till we meet again later, in my next entry

bye bye 🙂

10 things i wish to do

ok, let’s be real this time.

with all the drawbacks and shortcomings present in recent usage of technology in schools, we need something new to revamp the old policies  to bring back the “grandeur” of ICT especially in this 21st century era. if i am one of future education policymaker, there’s a lot of things that i will do to improve and enhance the usage of ICT in school. hence, i shall present you my

T-A-D-A-A-A

by the way, this wishlist is not something which sound impossible and perfect, in fact they may seems a bit ordinary, but i guess this is what i want, to make it happen one day if i am really given the opportunity to accomplish it.

10. Computer, LCD, screen projector, speaker and  printer  in all classes and they work!

🙂 Every class will be equipped with a computer, LCD, screen projector, speaker and printer. A technician is assigned to make sure that each tools in every class works well and monthly inspection will be done in order to prevent any problems. If there’s any problem with one of the tools, it needs to be reported ASAP to the person in-charge to avoid any disruption during teaching and learning session.

9. All schools have wireless hotspot and one-stop ICT centre

🙂 Computers and internet connection will be provided at every suitable corner in the school, just like reading corners. Make it conducive for the students to use the facilities besides setting up rules and regulations in order to take care of the services given. Students are to use the facilities provided to the max especially when it comes to academic stuff.

8. Frequent ICT skills training for every teacher

🙂 Teachers will be sent to in-house training and courses related to ICT frequently in order to improve their knowledge and skills in integrating ICT in class. There should be organized schedule for each teacher and all teachers are COMPULSORY to attend the course. Teachers are expected to have everything on the fingertips.

7. ICT rooms in every school

🙂 There will be a room build especially for the subject ICT in every school. This room will be equipped with all ICT gadgets needed to aid in teaching in class, for example LCDs, computers, laptops, printers, speakers, internet connection etc. A teacher will be assigned to take care of the room and be in-charge of everything concerned especially the condition of the tools. All tools are to be upgraded frequently.

6. Compulsory for each teacher to integrate ICT once a month, at least

🙂 Teachers are advisable to integrate the usage of ICT in class while teaching and a record will be provided to keep track of the usage of ICT tools. Merit will be given to teacher whom fully utilize the opportunity given to them. Teachers will need to report any progress in the classes they teach.

5. E-learning platform for every school

🙂 This e-learning platform is done virtually where teachers and students from different schools will be able to share what they have/ know with each other, regardless of time and place.

🙂 A forum will be set up in order for virtual discussion to take place. Teachers and students are expected to be active user anywhere anytime suitable.

🙂 Teachers and students practices the “sharing is caring” environment, teachers not only impart knowledge but they too should also learn from students. Students too, at the same time, make use of information they get.

4. ICT as a culture in every school

🙂 Presentation using ICT by different teachers and students in-charge during weekly assembly. This is to train both teachers and students on how to operate ICT tools since not all teachers know how to manage it. Teachers and students should be well versed in ICT and use it in daily activities especially when they are in school.

🙂 Anything related with ICT should be treated as important, and students should regard any problems arise while managing technology as one of the challenges they will face in the future.

3. Laptops for each teachers-regardless of subjects they teach

🙂 Every teacher, regardless of subjects they teach will be given a laptop, installed with the latest software and course wares. Teachers are the most important person where they make anything impossible, possible, hence by giving a laptop, it will help them in completing their work without any problems. They won’t have to share the computer with others which really takes time and create minor problems.

2. Endless supports from the parents, PTA, government, publics

🙂 Continuous supports from those who involved in the matter ARE VERY IMPORTANT to ensure no problems will arise later. Without their encouragement, some matters might be delay and fail. Their children takes up most place in the school, thus it is essential for us to get their “approval” before carry out any plan. As for the government, every plans needs to go through them first, thus by getting endless support, half of the work is consider done!

and last but not least,

my

th wish would be

1. Sufficient amount of fund to implement the plan

While the growth of money seems somewhat intangible, money is the way we get the things we need and want. As the saying goes, money is not everything, but EVERYTHING NEEDS MONEY, thus by getting adequate amount of money from the authority to carry out the plan, everything will come to a breeze. With the fund given, schools also will be able to maintain and take care of the facilities provided.

One day,  if i were appointed as one of the authority members, i  WOULD DEFINITELY carry out all these 10 wishes as promised.

I think that’s all for now, till we meet again

bye 🙂

practicum BLAST!

A-W-E-S-O-M-E

I think this is the only best word to describe my practicum. It has been a great chance to be part of SK Sri Petaling though it was only for 3 months! I had numbers of priceless experiences being in this school and the people there was very dear to my heart, now 🙂

I had to admit that I am not really happy with the idea of TP at first, for the fact that I got evening-session school, and the worst of all was the observation thingy. It triggered an uneasy feeling within me since i got to learn that most of the pupils at this particular school came from well-breed family background and they even use English as their main language! Imagine students as young as standard 1  even speak better English than me and there comes ‘creepy’ images of spoiled rich brat children as well as snobbish teachers. Those pictures started to haunt me for quite sometimes till the very first day i stepped into the school compound, it crashed and shattered to pieces when i found out the real deal of the school environment.

The teachers were very kind and nice till I didn’t really feel like I’m actually doing my TP, it’s like they are my cohort-mates 🙂 and what excites me the most was the students! 🙂

the “cikgu-cikgu” – they are VERY nice and kind 🙂

They are not the spoiled rich brat kids who like to look down and judge new people, being themselves, innocent young kids; they accept us just the way we are with warm welcome and genuine smiles.  I was assigned two classes throughout my 3 months there namely 3 Cempaka for English and 2 Melati for science.

the 3 Cempaka girls – all the sweet ones 🙂

 

 

 

 

the 3 Cempaka boys – the naughty but adorable ones 🙂   

 

 

 

 

Experience #1

Year                       : 3 Cempaka (38 students) mixed-ability class

Topic                     : Opposites

ICT tools use      : Video, PowerPoint presentation(PPT)

This is one of my lesson in which I integrates the ICT . I use a video taken from YouTube to introduce the topic “Opposites”. This video was like a warming up session before I delve deep into the activity. I also prepared PPT to tag along with the video. It was mainly about games on opposites where they need to choose the correct opposites for each word showed. I was very glad since these two “tools” helped to get half of the work done since I managed to capture the pupil’s attention towards the topic. The activity done after that was very much related with the video and slides showed to them.  Hence, I guess my aim of using ICT tools was achievable since the job was done within the time given. My students too were very attracted to the videos and they even asked me to play it again after the lesson finished.

and this is the snapshot of PPT that i use in this lesson

Experience #2

Year                       : 3 Cempaka (38 students) mixed-ability class

Topic                     : Actions of the animals

ICT tools use      : Sound of animals, PowerPoint presentation(PPT)

Another lesson would be the one on actions of animals where i asked them to close their eyes and pretend that they are in the jungle. I played different sounds of animals and have them to guess what animals is that.  It actually gets them excited and active since I have them to act the actions of the animals. I can see that they were very engaged with the sounds and PPT showed since they get to see the real pictures of animals doing different actions. By attaching  real pictures in the slides, it actually helped to save my time for explanation. However, when it came to the “poison box” games, situations started to be upside down and uncontrollable with their voices and songs. It’s all mixed up together making the computer lab a chaos! Yet, it was very great indeed having to see them all interested in what I prepared and they even waited for my next lesson 🙂

Experience #3

Year                       : 3 Cempaka (38 students) mixed-ability class

Topic                     : Verbs

ICT tools use      : PowerPoint presentation(PPT), songs – Love Story, Apologize, You Raise Me Up, Baby

I use this lesson to drill them with verbs where I played several songs to the class and get them to underline the correct answers. This is to test their listening skills where the answers given were quite confused, hence it added to the challenge in the task sheet. After they finished, I then projected the PPT to the pupils so that they will be able to see the correct answers and know the correct spelling. I can see that most of the students in the class were very focused towards the slides even the quiet one! As I inserted some animations and colourful pictures in it, thus it managed to draw their attention towards the lyrics and the slides itself.

I did not use any videos in this lesson, I was just played the songs through the computer for them to listen to.

Particularly, for Science, I did not use any ICT tools to aid me in teaching because of the time factor. Since I only got three periods per week for science, and the slot was not suitable enough to use ICT, hence I resorted to conventional teaching. Nevertheless, I still have to think of other interesting way of producing teaching aids so that I can still attract them towards the lesson. So, what I did was bring concrete things or realia to class to enhance my teaching.

I had to admit that I DIDN’T really use ICT to the fullest during my practicum due to several factors.

• Firstly, time constrain. If I wanted to use ICT, I need to take them to the computer lab, which was quite far from the class. It will surely take sometimes for them to go there, with their childish conducts.
• Secondly, the students can get very active and energetic when they stepped into the computer lab and they will start running here and there.
• Thirdly, the room was not very conducive enough for them to learn, although it was equipped with air-condition. The seating arrangement was quite difficult for me to handle the whole class.
• Fourthly, students will start prompting me to let them surf the net which distract them from focusing on what I prepared for them.

However, it is not that i didn’t use ICT at all throughout my 3 months practicum; it is just that the number was quite less if compared to my other friends.

Alhamdulillah, all praises are only due to Him, I improved a lot, from the beginning till the end! There are lots of things that I got through this teaching practice. It really taught me on how to handle different pupils as well as give me insight on how a teacher’s life would be. Many useful tips have been collected from the schools and teachers as well as the pupils itself. What is important is that I am willing to learn and admit my mistakes. The rest, I just go with the flow.

On the whole, I was quite satisfied with what I got from the school, the experience, helps, guidance and everything. The end of teaching practice has marked the start of my journey of becoming a teacher and yet, there were still lots of room for improvement and I still need to learn from the best. This 3 months practicum gave me priceless experiences which i can never get anywhere else and i guess there’s nothing more precious than seeing something like this 🙂

I guess that’s all for now. Till we meet again in another entry.

Bye bye 🙂

Say hi to the ICT world, mate!

Salam and hi to all,

This would be my very first entry using wordpress and i’ve got long long way to go before could master it. It might be new for me, but i guess i’ll never stop learning. Anyway, just want to say hi and hello ICT world!