MY-LIT : Updates!

MY-LIT Project, my school-based action research is up and running. Phew! It's been a painstaking process but I do hope my students would immensely benefit from my innovation. For the moment, I've updated the site with some digital notes, courtesy of the Curriculum Development Centre, Ministry of Education Malaysia. The materials are currently limited to Latif Mohidin's In the midst of hardship and Alcock's QWERTYUIOP as the focus was on my Form 4 students. Nonetheless, I'm hoping to develop more materials on other genres from time to time.

Do check it out!

MY-LIT: My Action Research Project

I am in the midst of preparing my latest action research project for this year which revolves around the 2010 English Literature Component. Based from the feedback I've received from my colleagues, students and also my blog visitors, it is inevitable to deny the lack of information on the aforementioned subject on the Internet. Hence, I have developed  MY-LIT, a website that provides digital notes and audio-visual learning stimuli to assist students to learn more about the literary texts without the constraint of time and place. I am utilising the Web 2.0. technologies to assist me in building this innovation. This is also the topic of my paper that I shall be presenting at the upcoming 19th MELTA International Conference in June. Apart from that, I'm also building interactive modules where the students can do the exercises online and check them on their own. My objective is to provide a platform for my students to conduct autonomous learning and instead of providing some monochromatic notes, the notes and activities are jazzed up with multimedia and dynamic contents. Good news for teachers, as it provides an alternative for us to take a breather and let students do all the hard work ;)

As it is still a pilot project, I haven't release the materials to the mass yet but I shall do it soon. For meanwhile, check out some of the materials on Slideshare.Still assessing the students' remarks and responses on MY-LIT and all I can say, it's a raving success. I'll link the site and hopefully, everyone could benefit from this humble project of mine.

In The Midst of Hardship by Latiff Mohidin

Here's one of the materials that I've received during the 2010 English Lit Component course recently. The materials are provided by the English Language Unit, Johor Education Department. I'll update more materials from time to time so, do check out this blog from time to time.

In The Midst of Hardship

View more presentations from Nor Fadzleen.

Transitions

On the last day of the English Literature course, I'd received a phone call from my school. I was puzzled when  Zakiah mentioned that the Deputy Officer of the District Education Office had summoned me to see him at 3 p.m. that day. Oh no, what's going on? I was even surprised when I opened the letter that was handed out to me. I'm now the new Media & Resource Center Coordinator for my school, effective 1st February 2010.

To be honest, I didn't know how I was supposed to react. I guess I had mixed feelings about my new post. Of course, I am grateful to God as this is a positive transition in my career advancement. Previously, I was the Coordinator for the Teachers' Access Center and the Head Developer for my school website but now it's a different ballgame. I'm now a part of the school administrators, having to foresee the management of the media and resource center for the whole school. Wow, that's definitely an arduous task. It's been a week now and I'm still learning the ropes and I guess this is the right time to switch on the assertive mode in order to manage efficiently. Phew, that's challenging all right! As mentioned by the former U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, with power comes big responsibility.  

The new responsibility means that I have to let go of some of the posts that I'm currently holding. Oh yeah, I'm no longer the Head of the English Language Panel and Hanim is now taking over the post.Other than that, I am no more the Head of the Health Unit and the Head Advisor of the Chess Club (some of my students will be part of the JB entourage to MSSJ, yay! Too bad I am no longer part of the team) Tsk..

Oh yes. I am a wee bit sadden that I have to let go 4SN2, one of the classes that I'm currently teaching.  I'll be teaching 3 classes, only 15 periods per week. Lesser time to teach English Language and more emphasis on the administration of the aforementioned area. I'm still learning from Ms. Halimah, the former Media & Resource Center Coordinator and hopefully, I am able to carry out the responsibility efficiently.So many things to do, so little time..sigh :/

JB's 2010 English Literature Course

 Pn. Hjh. Rahmah Sayuti, the trainer

Kak Rahmah & I

 

Flipping fantastic! That's how I would sum up the 2-day course that I've just attended with the other 22 participants at SMK Tasek Utara 2. Kudos to the trainers, Pn. Hjh. Rahmah and Mr. Azri for sharing with us the splendid approaches in tackling the new literary texts. I'm sure you had fun handling a room full of hyperactive teachers (only when we're not stuffed with tasty nasi lemak, lol)

 Group 3 members with Pn. Hjh. Rahmah & Pn. Zalina, GPK1 of SMKTU2.

Trying to gulp everything within 2 days is not an easy task. We were gasping for more time in order to digest everything that were presented. Nonetheless, I can assure you that all of the teachers who attended the course were totally immersed in all the tasks, especially the group activities. I can vouch for my group (Group 3: the loudest, the craziest yet the best group for this course!) that we enjoyed every single minute of it. I personally enjoyed the poetry in motion (meandering like a river), the choral speaking session (Selvi, you are the maestro of choral speaking, hands down) and the drama presentation of Gulp & Gasp.We could sense budding actor and actresses among all the teachers in JB. Rosyham Noor and Fasha Sanda, eat your heart out!

Poetry in motion. Credit: Engoasis

 Light, camera, action!!!!

Although we could leaf through the dictionary-thick modules or explore the CD on our own, I personally believe that by doing the activities ourselves, we could clearly see how they could be conducted or adapted in our own classrooms. I would like to congratulate all the State JUs for putting together the modules to assist all the teachers in teaching the new literary texts with ease. One interesting info, drama will not be tested in any assessment. However, we still need to teach them as part of literary appreciation and enrichment programme. By the way, I'll try to download some of the materials online for easy reference soon.

19th MELTA International Conference

The 19th MELTA International conference will be held this year at three locations as given below:

-7 and 8 June 2010 (Kuala Lumpur)
-11 and 12 June 2010 (Kuantan, Pahang)
-17 and 18 June 2010 (Kuching, Sarawak)

Important Deadlines*

Submission of Abstract and biodata : 26 February 2010

Registration and Payment : 31 March 2010

Submission of full paper for Conference CD :15 April 2010

For more information, please go to http://www.melta.org.my/2010/

Source: MELTA's website

English Literature Component Course 2010

Good news for all the English Language teachers. The Johor Education Department will be organising an English Literature Component Course throughout the state. For the district of Johor Bahru, the details as follow :

Date: 28 - 29 January 2010
Time: 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Registration: 7.30 a.m.
Venues: SMK Dato Abdul Rahman Yassin SMK Tasek Utara 2 (change of venue) and SMK Taman Tun Aminah
Trainer: Rahmah Hj. Sayuti

Hanim and I will be attending the course at SDARY SMKTU2 and we're looking forward to learning effective methodology in teaching the new Literature Component. Hopefully, I can get some spritely ideas on how to teach drama in class.

No pain, no gain

Alhamdulillah, I'm back to school and it's back to the grindstone, folks. It's time to oil up the rusty teaching cogs and kick start the learning mechanism. It is great to be reunited with wonderful colleagues and beloved students but the work schedule is as hectic as ever. I'm teaching all the Form Four classes and 5KN this year. My eyes almost popped out of the socket when I saw the number of students in 4SN1. 63 students! They had to use the lecture hall in order to accommodate such large number of students. It's maddening but I've been informed that the class will be splitted into two by next week. Now that's a relief!

 This year would be challenging as the Form Four will be using the new English Literature Component and it would be intriguing to see their feedback on the literary texts. So far, I'm glad with the students' enthusiasm although I think I've scared them a wee bit with the workload that they have to endure this year. Knowing that they need to write 350 word-essay shook them to their core but I'm sure they are aware that it all goes back to the old adage ; no pain, no gain :)

Albeit constant workload, I still believe that it is vital for the teachers to have fun in teaching. Fun, teaching? Yeah, it's shocking I know . True, our education system is pretty much exam-oriented but it's not a good excuse not to instill the element of fun in our lessons to encourage maximum engagement from the students. We can't change the wind but we can always adjust the sail :)

It doesn't hurt to ask for help and learn from your students too :)

2009 JPNJ Quality Award

Salam Maal Hijrah and Happy New Year to everyone.
2009 has been such a blissful year to me. I've been given so many opportunities to learn and share my knowledge and it is good to know that everything is turning out so well. This morning, an officer from the Johor Education Department had just informed me that I'm the recipient of the JPNJ Quality Award! I won an award in the 'Anugerah Khas Kualiti' category for my Action Research project (L.I.T. Module) and my contributions at the international level as well. I'm so elated, alhamdulillah. The prize giving ceremony is going to be held at SMT Johor Bahru on the 28th December.

Oh oh. That's not good since I have to attend an important meeting affliated with the assessment body. Called the person in charge, explained my situation and the verdict? I can't attend the prize giving ceremony. Honestly, I'm crushed as I really want to attend it and accept the award myself. I know I've worked so hard and to be there would be the pinnacle of my career. Alas, I am aware that I've signed on the dotted line of the pink document so I shall have to abide by the rules and regulations required. Prioritise mon amie, prioritise.

Next year, I'll be the new head of the English Language Panel for my school. Although I've been the Head of the EST Panel all these while, I know I will face tougher challenges as it's the core subject in the curriculum. Phew, hope I can emulate Jey's enthusiasm and dynamics in navigating the team efficiently. On a personal note, I really hope that I can continue to improve myself and constantly learn more in becoming a better teacher. I hope to inspire more students and be more active in English Language conferences and seminars.

May you have a wonderful year ahead :)

New novels for Lit Component 2010

Happy holidays to all fellow teachers and students. I was on a blogging hiatus for a while but now, I'm back with some juicy info on the new English Literature Component. I blogged about this in my previous post and it is now confirmed that graphic novels will be taught as well.

F1
-Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
-Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
-The Boscombe Valley Mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

So far, they have yet decided on the novels for Form 3 and Form 5 so we'll just have to wait and see. Based on the circular from the Ministry of Education, the Form 1 & Form 4 would study these texts next year, followed by the Form 2 & Form 5 in the 2011 and the Form 3 in 2012. The assessment of the new lit component would be carried out in 2011(PMR) & 2012 (SPM). I've also been informed that the State JUs will conduct literature workshops for all the teachers in January 2010 so hopefully, we'll be able to absorb as much input as we can on this matter. I'll update more on this soon. Toodle pip!