Weekly Reflection Practicum (Week 04-12)

The more you do your job, the more people will respect you. This is true for my case, and I’m nowhere to boast around saying that I am perfectly good with my job. But I believe that, for one to be a teacher, he must have the right conscience for it. Because a teacher is not only a job, it is a calling. If one does not have the heart for this job, he better quit as he is not only tormenting himself, but also his most important clients, the students. I had seen teachers in my own school, who are very teacher-like. What I mean by teacher-like is that, they are really dedicated to the students. You can see them rushing here and there for the students. And I want to be that kind of teacher. Often I heard about teacher burn-out, and honestly, that happens a lot when a teacher cannot deal anymore with the job. But if one has the right intention, I believe that whatever comes, he will be able to endure it.

 

I also find it hard to follow other teachers who demanded to use textbook for learning. I remember from somewhere, that a textbook does not know the students, and whatever being stringed in it is completely irrelevance and I found this true. As I analyzed the textbook, sometimes I can see that the activities are not well connected, and sometimes it would be just off-topic! How can teachers fully relied on textbook? That, I don’t know. However, to strike a balance in serving the syllabus and the need for students to learn, I find it would be easier to pick up necessary things from the textbook. For example, the article in the textbook might be useful for the topic, but the activity might be ridiculous. What I need to do is to create another activity that is relevance to the article and also not difficult for the students. This brings to another issue, where the activities done for the students must not be too challenging or too easy for them. We need to strike a balance between these two spectrum, and for that, a teacher must know the students really well. Find out which students are good, which one require more attention and guidance, which one favours linguistic, kinaesthetic, visual aspects of the activity. Through this way, a teacher will be able to maximize his own teaching, and also the students’ learning.

Not many things that I experience this week, but surely, the experiences for being in the school for a month will be share in next mid-practicum briefing in IPGKBA with all my friends. I hope through the sharing, I will be opened to a wider perspective of a teacher, and ways to deal with various issues in school.