Things Teachers Are Thankful For

I read this article this morning and it compelled me to jot down my thoughts on the matter. It's definitely an eye opener, envisioning that there are a lot of Malaysian teachers who are in the same boat. Some of the issues I've mentioned in my previous post were echoed in this article. It made me wonder whether our plight would be answered with a victorious outcome. Only time would tell.

On an optimistic note, I'd like to share some comic strips that are very heart warming indeed. They are drawn by David Finkle, a talented high school teacher from New York. I am his ardent fan and I have also used some of his works for my lessons. Do check out his website!

" There's a time for daring and there's a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for."

           ~John Keating (Robin Williams)

Dead Poets Society

Quality vs Quantity

By now, I am sure you've heard of this news. As much as I applaud the Education Minister's interests towards upholding the excellence of English Language proficiency in our Malaysian classrooms, I sincerely believe that we should rationalised the issue thoroughly from myriad perspectives.  Would increasing hours of English lessons per week overcome the declining state of English Language among our students?

Frankly speaking, it's the quality that counts, not the quantity. Let's face it, teachers nowadays are too bogged down with documentation and clerical work that at times, we are gulping and gasping for breath in preparing the best lessons for our beloved students. Teaching is challenging, no joke. We would deliver the best if we are allowed to do what we know best, being a teacher. No teacher in the right mind would settle for mediocre approach towards teaching (the late Tan Sri P.Ramlee's depiction of 'hari hari cikgu main bola' might be one-in-a-million scenario)

God saves our children. *shudders*

I strongly hope that our government won't scrimp on the needs of professional development for the sake of our future generation. If we want top notch teachers, we must be willing to allow the teachers to develop their niche. I have full optimism that all the English teachers in Malaysia are willing to go the extra mile for their students. If we were to teach extra hours for our students, I am sure we are able to do so willingly if we are allowed to focus sans the interference of  extra clerical works. With the right mindset, we are able to achieve anything. As uttered by the late Martin Luther King, I have a dream and right now my dream  is to be the best teacher that I could ever be. Let us teach.

p/s: I've updated My Lit Project. Do check it out :) 

Taking a breather

Things I did for the past one week:

*Documentation & execution of MY LIT PROJECT, my latest action research project (pheww!)
*Gave a talk to the Form 5 students at SM Teknik Johor Bahru, Johor  (I had a great time, such an attentive crowd )
*Formed the committee members for the School Website Contest - english version (dateline: 31st March *cringes*)
*Built website for the School Resource Centre (in progress)
*Marked test papers (sigh..5 failures for 5KN, need to do analysis item & module to overcome this problem)

Things I am planning to do this week:

*Take my sons out ( park, zoo, library,beach or some nice holiday spots)
*Catch up on my reading (check out the MPH Sale, great books up for grab!)
*Watch Alice In Wonderland!
*Set items for the upcoming JB's SPM midyear examination 
*Construct writing module, targeting on 5KN weak students (a simple academic writing template that would guide them to write better)

Have a nice holiday!

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.