Post PMR Programmes

I just sent my sister-in-law to the train station. She was going to KL with her school contingent for a trip specially made for PMR students. It is good actually that the school prepared such programmes to fill in for the PMR students so that they will do something beneficial after their PMR examination. However, it should be carefully planned and not a lazy fill in just because the school was forced to do it.

My school conducted some programmes such as ICT courses (some of these form 3 students never had a chance to properly been introduced to computers because ICT classes started just this year at my school), games and video viewing. Some of them also filled in forms to go to the technique school (sekolah teknik) while others thinking of remaining at the school for next year. School targets are those in Form 3 Teguh because they are in the target class (Kelas Rancangan Khas or KRK) - 24 students in total. However, not all are expected to get all As, as school history showed only 2 students managed to get it in the past. They are Fatiha bt Mahmood (8As in 2004 - picture left) and Marhelia bt Alias (8As in 2005 - picture right). I wish you all the best of luck!

Hari Raya Celebrations

Today, I got 7 invitations for Hari Raya celebrations. I did not want to disappoint any of them, so I tried to go to all the classes that invited me. I started with Form 2 Proaktif eating 3 sticks of satay. Then, I visited 2 Iltizam and took a plate of chicken rice. After that, I went to 2 Sejahtera to eat some Roti Jala before going to 2 Teguh for another 3 sticks of satay. On the way to go back to the staff room, I stopped by 1 Teguh just to eat 2 pieces of kuih, because it was not in my original invitations. Then, I rested in the staff room before continuing my eating spree at 3 Teguh by taking a plate of Karimah's spaghetti. Finally, I dragged my stomach to 1 Tekun and ate a couple of bread with chicken sauce. For 1 Proaktif, I apologize because when I went there all were already packed.

Teaching English to Aboriginal Students

Today, I taught English to aboriginal students during extra class. I decided to do a lesson on vocabulary building, because theirs are very poor. Basically, I taught them how to find meanings of certain words in the dictionary. I gave them a worksheet consists of pictures with English words, and I asked them to find their meanings in Malay language. I found that some of them could do it fast enough, while others were very slow.

What Happens to Our Children Nowadays?

Our children are not what they are supposed to be anymore. Gangsterism, vandalism, band-worshiping, fighting, etc. are common, even in a rural school in Gua Musang. We just heard about how two female students kicked and punched their teacher in front of the whole class, while one of them took out a phone and took a video. A teacher's job become more demanding each day, apart from the routine teaching and administrative works, he/she has to be a disciplinarian. I doubt that all teachers in teacher's training courses learn martial arts, as it is a very useful tools to handle (or to protect themselves?) these problems. Nor more 'Yes, teacher' type of students, but more of a 'I will sue you for all your money's worth' type of students. Even the support of their parents do not help matters, they just go about their work without getting to know what their children do at school everyday. Some of them do not bother to come when summoned by the principal, and it makes matters worst.

School Access Centre

School Access Centre (SAC) is a cyber cafe in a school compound, designed to enable students to access the Internet without having to spend valuable money at cyber cafes outside the school. It is sponsored by the Ministry of Education, and for now, only a handful of schools received this generous investment by the ministry. My school is among the fortunate ones, and it is functioning well for the students' benefit. Moreover, I assigned students as committees to take care of the SAC, and it is a good opportunity for them to learn about responsibilities. I am not worried about the contents of the Internet available to the students though, as it is filtered by the Schoolnet system. Apart from that, students are given the chance to relax themselves after a hard day of study by listening to the music while they are surfing, or sending e-mails, or whatever they do.

The SAC committee members, Nabilah and Ain

Gua Musang now has CELCOM 3G!

Good news for Gua Musang residents (especially me!) as my broadband modem turns from green to blue light. It started approximately a week before Hari Raya Aidilfitri this year (2008). I hope it stays that way for the rest of my stay in the district (not planning of moving in the near future, though). It was false dawn at Tanah Merah (my in-laws' residence) during last election, when I enjoyed UMTS connection for only about a week, as it turned back to GPRS after the election. However, the district also has Celcom 3G connection now, and I'm not complaining.

Good Luck, PMRians

Today, Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examination starts throughout Malaysia. I wish all those involved good luck in your examination, including my brother Mohd. Harith (picture left) and my sister-in-law Noramni (picture right). Hope that all of you will pass with flying colours. Eventhough this examination is not the only key to your success in life, it is surely the first stop where you can build your life on. I was among the first batch of PMRians, at its inception way back in 1993.

SK Lepan Jaya, Gua Musang

Teacher and In-Service Training

Last week, I went to a Web Page maker course at SK Lepan Jaya, Gua Musang. It is a beautiful school situated 15 kilometres from the Gua Musang city. This is only one of the many trainings I was involved with this year. Every teacher nowadays has to complete at least 7 days in-service training in a year. This is to ensure their development in many aspects of their teaching profession. However, not all teachers have the privilage to find at least 7 days of trainings, even throughout a year span, especially the female teachers. Even the male teachers will find it difficult to complete this requirement. Nevertheless, in theory it can be done, as long as the school itself is willing to conduct trainings for these teachers who just go about their routines from classroom to classroom. Trainings can range from a lesson in Microsoft Excel to harder tasks such as handling a database. Even a training on how to keep a file can be useful for the betterment of their service.

Teachers are Disciplinarian

Are you a discipline teacher? Are you responsible for disciplinary problems in your school? If your answer for the first question is 'No', it is acceptable because you are maybe an IT teacher or a teacher responsible for examinations. However, if your answer for the second question is also a 'No', you are absolutely wrong. Teachers are born to be a disciplinarian. They don''t have to get a title of a 'Discipline Teacher' to correct those students who committed the offenses. They can punish them accordingly or just send them to the discipline teacher, if their offenses are too serious. Either way, those students should not be let off the hook for their crimes, or they will think that there is nothing wrong with it. Among popular sins committed by students (my school included!) are fighting, bullying, skipping classes and the most popular, smoking. Almost everyday students smoke in the toilet, and they do not afraid of getting caught. It is as though smoking is not a crime, as their father and family members smoke at home. School is a non-smoking place, be it for students or teachers alike. Therefore, in order for the teachers to curb smoking among students, they must also not smoke in the school area. This is not the case, however, because we can find that teachers openly smoke, especially at the canteen.

Teachers and Extra Tasks

I've been an inactive blogger for 2 years now, during which there have been so many things happened since the last time I logged in. 2 and a half years at SMKTIP(2) happen so fast, with so many interesting memories now residing in the 'memory section' of my brain. Throughout the colourful years, I taught mainly English Language for lower secondary students. Nowadays, I am given the task to introduce these students to the Information and Computer Technology, or ICT. It is a challenging subject, so to speak, because I am not an IT graduate. But, I try to do it as best as I can, for it is my duty to adhere to the task given. On the contrary, what have been happening all these years are teachers withholding their abilities and skills just not to burden themselves with extra works, be it academically or in extra curricular activities. Although they have the knowledge in accounting, for example, they prefer to keep quiet and go on teaching lower secondary mathematics. Some of them have the expertise in English debating, to cite an extra curricular activity, but they have the heart to let an inexperience Geography teacher to guide the debate students who are going to represent the school. As in my case, I pay the price for revealing most of my abilities, as I am given many tasks by the school authorities. Even though I do not regard it as a burden, but time constraints restrict the percentage of what I can accomplish compared to distributing these tasks among the others. The principal and his administrative staffs do not know what you can do unless you offer yourself to do the task. And even though you do not have the skills to do that particular job, you can always learn from those who know, in order to upgrade yourself to another level.

My First Posting

I received my memo on the 3rd of January at the New Pacific Hotel, Kota Bharu, along with 23 other KPLI graduates, to mark my first step in the teaching profession. As already expected, because I have already known via a trusted source, I was posted to SMK Tengku Indra Petra 2, in the city of Gua Musang. It is a new school which was built three years ago. Luckily, I was posted there with my colleague I knew from M4P, who lives near my house. We went to the school the next day with his Proton Wira. The journey was escorted by his father, an ex-officer of JPN Kelantan, who claimed that he knows where the school is situated. However, we got lost trying to find the exact location of the school. We eventually arrived at the school at approximately 10am, after a 4 hour-exhaustive journey. We were greeted by Cikgu Hasruddin, the teacher who was in charged of the school Koperasi. We were ushered to the office to see Cikgu Su Rid, the Penyelia Petang. After that we went to see Cikgu Ummi Mariza, the PK1. She was the one who found us a house to rent at Taman Bunga Tropika, although we stayed at the hostel for 4 days before the negotiation completed.

Teachers and Holidays

It's been a while since I last jot down my thoughts. Well, these two weeks I get tired easily as the final exam is around the corner and there are books to be read. That's why when I have the time to sit in front of my computer to share something, I got drowsy. However, I want to share with you something about holiday. There always have been unsatisfactory comments on us teachers about how much time we are free. Regardless of what they say, I personally think that teachers don't really have a nice time for themselves. Teachers even bring their works to home and had many sleepless night fighting the deadline to submit the examination marks. Not to mention the everyday work of preparing the lesson plans. Even in school holidays teachers have to attend courses to enhance their command in their respective fields. Don't even think about giving teachers extra works not related to teaching, as what happened before when they asked teachers to catch PATI (Pendatang Asing Tanpa Izin) or illegal immigrants.

Award-Giving Dinner

At last.. the most awaited day was finally over. Our break of fast-cum-dinner ended on a high note. It was a fabulous night organized by the KPLI English teacher trainees to commemorate our togetherness throughout the year. The tentative was quite interesting, with lots of events happening. After break of fast, we went for congregational Maghrib prayer where I was the imam. Then we had our dinner with lots of lauk ranging from meat, fish, chicken, and also prawns. During the dinner, we presented a power point presentation containing the biodata of our class members and also most of the programmes we were involved throughout the year. After the dinner, we gave away lucky draws for our guests. The final event on the agenda was the most awaited - the exchanges of gifts from class members and also the awards giving ceremony. The full list of the awards were: Gorgeous Gutsy awarded to Gee, Cheeky Congenial to Thana, Tantalizing Talented to Jusna, Mollifying Motherly to Akka, Splashing Sporting to Rin, Adorable Adroit to Hani, Darling Demure to Ain, Hearty Hungry Ghost to Izral, Sizzling Stylish to Mar, Alluring Athletic to Rafi, Mesmerizing Meticulous to Kema, Enthralling Erudite to Bala, Dolly Decorous to Ida, Benevolent Bambino to Yati, Blazing Benign to Komat, Funky Flamboyant to Yone, Picante Posh to Yana, and finally I got the Ecstatic Enigma award.

Teachers are Role Models

I just came back from Ibadah Camp at Keda Recreation Centre, Bendang Man, Sik Kedah. All KPLI trainees were required to go to this camp to complete the credit hours for the subject of 'Dinamika Islam'. Here we practically learned how to slaughter the chicken, how to cater for the dead, how to be an Imam for daily prayers and so on. The camp was closed by the Director of the MPTB himself, Mohd Adenan b Deraman. In his lengthy closing speech, he said that this camp is important because teachers should know about all these basic Islamic fundamentals even though they are not from the field of Islamic Studies. Teachers are role models wherever they go; people tend to look at teachers and ask for their advice, especially when it concerns their children. Therefore, it is compulsory for the teachers or would-be teachers to equip themselves with such knowledge, especially the basic Islamic fundamentals so that they are better prepared to face the ever demanding community.

Teacher Training Course

Phewh.... tired.. I just finished an athletic course conducted by the maktab.. owh.. maybe you still don't know that I am still enrolled in Kursus Perguruan Lepas Ijazah (KPLI) at Maktab Perguruan Tuanku Bainun (MPTB) in order to get the 'license to teach'. During this one year course we as teacher trainees have to endure many tasks from writing assignments to organizing events inside or outside the maktab. All these supposed to prepare us to be good teachers, as the demands of the schools out there are becoming more challenging day by day. Among the programmes we have to be involved with were Bina Insan Guru at Kem To' Sakah in Perak, and Kursus Kadet Remaja in Kg. Chinchin in Melaka, as well as organizing events inside the maktab such as Public Speaking Seminar and Education Seminar. I was also involved in organizing events outside the maktab where we went to SK Sungai Kob in Kedah to organize an English Camp for UPSR students.

Teachers are Good Listeners

A good teacher is not he who gives everything to the students; he should also take something from them. In other words, he should not always be a 'sage on the stage' kind of teacher rather he should be a 'guide by the side' type of teacher. Teachers nowadays should not be as all-knowing as they were before, because the students' minds have expanded due to its exposition to various knowledge and information ranging from any kinds of media such as the television, the Internet, the newspapers and the magazines. Many of the students also attend tuitions to add to what they get from the formal classroom. Therefore, it is only appropriate for the teachers to listen to what the students want to say. We should give them the room to express their opinions, to expand their creativity, and to state their stand in whatever issues we invoke in the classroom discussion. The curriculum today also pave the way for them as it requires the classroom environment to be more 'student-centred' rather than 'teacher-centred'. During my practicum at SMK Mengkuang, I insert a lot of group discussions in my lesson plans. True, we should not put it into every lesson we planned; we should also alternate it with individual works or partner works (with their friends sitting on their right, left, back or in front of them).

Teachers and Child Psychology

Salam. I had never done this before, so go easy on me. This is my first time writing something on the Internet. I am actually a little old for this kind of thing, but, I am a little childish on the inside. I like playing games; any kind of board games will be just like putting a fish into the water as I will master it quite naturally. Personally, I think that you should be a little childish if you are a teacher like me. You'll have to master the knowledge and the technical know-how of tackling your students, and nothing is better than being at their level to know how they feel, what they want. It is funny that you think you know what your students want but you actually didn't. Yes, it is true that you are not supposed to succumb to everything your students want, but still you have to show that you understand them by leveling yourself once or twice and heed to their demands (as long as it does not degrade you as a teacher). I had once postponed my lesson because everybody was not in the right mood for the lesson, so I took them to the language lab to play Scrabble.