new life, new ways

Civic Education: Should it be implemented in universities as well?

2007-07-26T02:06:00.000-07:00

Huh...at last. I managed to make my way here...been quite busy lately. But Alhamdulillah. Everything has been moving so well for me as far as I know (I mean regarding my academic commitment..hehe..). Macro teaching dah habis.The nerve wrecking ethics pun dah habis. Language games presentation pun dh habis..The only ones left are my Maths' courses' assignments. Hope I can finish them on time.

So, want to ask those who are keen to make a visit on this page, have u ever heard of Civic education? for my cohortmates i know u all know. Hehe...Actually, i know a little about it..Not much.I only know that our education has started to implement this subject in primary schools some two years ago. It is aimed at teaching values to children. So back to my real question: should it be implemented in universities as well? My personal opinion, it is a so positive YES!!! It should be implemented in universities as well. I don't know. It's just that sometimes I feel, the more people learn, the more amoral they are.Tapi bukan semua oranglah. Well, maybe those people feel they have something to be proud of that they react less sensitively towards others. It has only been like 9 months since I’ve started studying in U but I have encountered so ample examples to support my stance. Tak payah pergi jauh2 or other facs. Just look around my fac cukup lah..Not condemning my own ‘people’ but sometimes i feel they dun have the values as teachers..Let me give one example..me and my roommates came to class on Friday for our ESL. So, after lunch we went straight to our fac's surau to have our prayer before we entered class. SO, the three of us queued up to take our ablution. At that time, there were two girls taking their air sembahyang. Being so unconcerned about us who were standing, waiting for them for almost 5 minutes, diorang boleh bersembang2 opening up their grandmother story sambil ambik air sembahyang..sembang2 sekejap tkpe lagi..ni siap bergelak2 sakan..dah lah dalam surau..Friday some more..can't they just leave their duniawi business for a while?Can't they show some respect in God's home? I know me myself is not so pious but at least I know how to respect some things that should be respected...Hish boleh pulak after that they realised and said "Ek eh..kite ni bleh bersembang2 pulak!Hihihi!!!" Didn't you feel like smacking them? People were looking you know. I just don’t know where did they put their faces.

Then the most critical time was when we want to have our Zuhur prayer every Monday and Tuesday. There will be like a massive jam in the surau. And we (me and my Maths clan) don't have a choice other than going through the jam as we have only 15 minutes before the next class (on mercy of Dr.Syarifah). But I just couldn't understand these future teachers. They see that the surau is so full of people, yet they just make their 'don't know faces' and lepak2 in the surau..Instead of giving little space to people who want to pray..they put their bags, duduk2 and chit chatting with friends.Hello!tk bleh pegi tempat lain ke kot yer pun nk bersembang?!!Kafe sikit punye besar!So can you imagine how value-lacking they are? They should be more considerate and sensitive towards their surroundings.

Bukan nye cikt2 orang yg buat mcmni..Ramai..and some who did those things are more 'pious' than us..You know what i mean..Kurang2 nye my cohortmates even they are sometimes English oriented people, at least they are being so considerate and tolerant to other people. Hmm..i tink now..'hejab' is not a measure to one's behahiour anymore.

Now, a story when we board on to the bus pulak. Sometimes, UM bus every morning is so packed. So, there must be some people that do not get to sit. Hence, they will be like terhuyung hayang when the bus moves or stops. Kalu terpijak kaki kite ker,terlanggar ker or even terjatuh atas kite, not even a word of sorry would come out of their mouths. Don't ever dream of getting one..Is it too much a wish? What's wrong with saying sorry? At least if they nodded their head to us also we understand. Ni macam biasalah..'muke don't know' tu would always be there. As far as I know, my friends agree with what I’m saying here. I don’t know about the rest. Sorry if my words here are too harsh or too being prejudiced or being too over generalizing. Does the same thing happen elsewhere? I really hope not.

Conversely, Alhamdulillah i still think not everyone is like that...there are some who are so rich with smiles, that at least could make other people's day. Here I’m just portraying those who don’t have the thing I’m issuing here..SO, I still believe civic education should be implemented in universities as well…till then…

posted on frenster's blog in april 2007

For all the things I have done

2007-07-09T07:54:00.001-07:00

Lately I have been thinking
About those days,
When smile and happiness rhymed,
When sadness and gloom were enemies,
When sounds were all seemed like songs,
Easy to feel,
Pleasant to hear.

Swiftly,
Smiles and happiness did not rhyme anymore,
Sadness and gloom became friends,
Songs would easily cause tears to fall,
Without an unnoticeable reason,
Or perhaps reasons.

But now things have changed,
For better
People just won’t understand
That sometimes things don’t work the way we want,
Sometimes ruthless decision in present will bring kismet in future

People just won’t accept that.

But as long as I know the real truth,
I’m glad I have made a decision,
I’m glad I was able to make a decision,
I’m glad I was brave enough to make a decision.

For all the things I have done to you in the past,
1000 words are not enough to make up a single sorry.
Although it is hard to chew,
Bitter to swallow,
Still I’m so sorry.
For every misery I have caused you,
I am sorry.

root-

2007-07-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

Maybe for some of you, when read of this word, you will think about the root of a plant or maybe a glass of A&W rootbeer..hehe..but those are not what I am going to write about. It is about my root.

Before this, I proudly said to people who were keen to know about my background, that I am half Minang and half Bughese. But I know nothing about these two different tribes. Yeah..my father is a Bughese but he can’t utter a word of Bughese. Even his family was like discarding anything about Bughese from their lives, which I can’t explain here the reason why. My mother is a Minangkabau. Better than my father, at least she can speak a little Minang with my relatives on my maternal side. But during this semester holiday, I have got an opportunity to learn more about half of my root, Minangkabau. Yes, I went to the place where this tribe is originated. I went to Padang and Bukit Tinggi, Indonesia.

I went there with my sister and two cousins from Seremban. I can say they were a big help to me and my sister as they have been to those places before. They even have some foster families there, which have helped us with accommodation and traveling. Yeah..only now I know that in Negeri Sembilan, that will be their event of the year to hold a student exchange programme with secondary school kids from Bukit Tinggi. And that answered why my cousins have some foster families there.

Soon as we reached Minangkabau Airport in Padang, we were brought to so many interesting plsces on our way to Bukit Tinggi. We went to their famous waterfall, Pusat Dokumestasi Minangkabau, which I found a picture of my great5x grandfather, perkampungan Pandai Sikek, which is renowned by their fine sulaman and ukiran and we went to a famous restaurant which serves Nasi Padang. I became so ‘jakun’ because at that time only I knew that dishes are served without us ordering. Only dishes that are touched will be charged. Simple hah..hehe.. But during my stay, I ate loads of food..food that I will not take here in Malaysia. I became more like an exotic food eater..hehe..from ikan nila to buffalo meat to satay Padang and even Bakso. Those were nice experiences indeed..huhu!

Then, I even got the chance to witness Minangkabau wedding. We were brought by Pak Hasrat on the very first evening we were in Bukit Tinggi. At least I know now how wedding reception is done by this tribe..loads of rendang, cakes, colourful dais , and you now something, the bride and the groom are needed to be on the dais all day long, so long the reception is still on. Can you imagine how tired they will be?

Anyway, the second day was the full swing day to shop. We got no enough time to go from one shop to another to survey for prices or what not. We grabbed and go only. Tawarlah the price bagai nak giler dekat kedai yang kitorang pergi tu. But I really admire the sulaman there..so fine and teliti…had I enough time, I would spend that day admiring all the kebayas in all shops..hehe..

Anyhow, there were still some interesting places that we couldn’t go due to time constraint and their own nature problems. Yeah like Istana Pagar Ruyong and Lubang Jepun, we can’t visit those places due to the fire and earthquake they had earlier on.

Well I can say things are cheap there..compared to prices in Malaysia. In Padang, my sister went to a saloon to wash and cut her hair as well as to massage. So, boring waiting for her. I cut my hair too. Can you imagine I cut my hair for only RM4.80? I don’t think we can get such price here. Foods also are cheap there. And I even learned new Minangkabau vocabs too. Before this I only knew words like den(me), mamak(uncle) and nakdo (dun have) to name a few. So now my Minang vocabulary has expended a bit. I learnt words like uni(auntie), dima(where), rancak (good), bara(how much) and kaliki(papaya). I learnt those words when I brought things and even from my cousins’ foster families.

I can say, my vacation this time around was full with so many unforgettable experiences. There were so many interesting places which I haven’t mentioned yet. At least now, I know little pieces of information about my root. So my advice, if you guys have some spare money and wish to go on a vacation, Bukit Tinggi and Padang should be made under your consideration..hehe..till then..

It's a new year again!

2007-02-21T06:57:00.000-08:00

Hmm...i've uploaded down here a poem that i created for my lesson plan.it is meant fr year 5 pupils..hope everyone who happen to visit my blog might enjoy reading it..hehe...

It’s a new year again!

I woke up late,

It was half past eight,

I saw all things were in red,

“What is happening?” to myself I said,

I hurriedly got out of bed.

I rushed for my mum in the kitchen,

With her new red cheongsam,

She was steaming the chicken.

So, I grabbed her arm,

And asked what happened,

She just pretended she didn’t hear,

So, I walked away from her.

I went to the living hall,

There were oranges, big and small,

In front of the altar, I saw my granny,

Red packets in her hand, she smiled at me.

Suddenly I heard firecrackers,

It came from outside of my house,

Who were those troublemakers?

I ran out like a bullet train,

Only then I realized,

It’s a new year again!

“They are not the best teachers, but they are passionate people.”

2007-01-28T09:30:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, I managed to attend the Seminar Pendidikan 2007 held in my faculty despite of the restless days I had over the week. This seminar was aimed at discussing the ‘Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan’. Actually what fascinated me to attend this seminar with dark circles around my both eyes was that Professor Ungku Aziz was expected to come over as one of the speakers. Unfortunately, upon some professional reasons, he could not attend. But still, my presence to this seminar was not at all a waste. In fact, it gave me a clear understanding of this ‘pelan’ that I didn’t know its existence before..Hehe…

Came as the fourth speaker of the day was the president of HELP University College, Dr Paul Chan. He was also an ex-lecturer of UM. Honestly, I started to get bored listening but suddenly, I was attracted to listen further when he began to tell us his schooling experience when he was a child. I was fond of one of his statements in describing his teachers. He told us that “they are not the best teachers, but they are passionate people.”

When I heard of this statement, my mind automatically reflected the scenario happened in Malaysia now. It’s true; most teachers nowadays do not have the passion to teach. Teaching profession is regarded as a last resort when they couldn’t find any suitable jobs, not to forget, some agreed to settle down for teacher-training course because of external pressure, not because of their willingness to become educators. My dear teacher-trainee friends, is this true? I really hope being in this course for 5 years have made all of you change your minds. I still remember during our orientation week in MPIK 5 years ago. When one of the facilitators asked who were forced by parents to enter this college. I think there were almost 65% of us raising up their hands.

I just can’t understand, until now. Why is teaching profession regarded as a last resort? Should teaching be put as a last choice? Is it too bad? Why can’t people in Malaysia think highly of teachers? Is teaching children a so terrible work? I don’t know… I’m not a teacher yet. But I have a little experience of being a teacher. It’ true, teaching is not an easy job. Teaching is a job which requires a full commitment but rewarded a low salary. Maybe that’s the reason why teaching nowadays is considered as a last resort. Yeah...Compared to Singapore, it’s their culture that teachers should be highly regarded that makes teaching one of the most highly paid job (teachers in Singapore would at least be paid SD4000 a month! Can you believe it?).

And for some teachers who have been working in this field for years, I think they have lost their passion too. They just teach in order to fulfill the requirement of the job. They don’t take teaching as their responsibilities anymore. Whether the children understand or not what she/he taught doesn’t become a matter to them anymore. I hope I’m not too ‘teruk’ for saying this. To compare with teachers in the olden days, it’s definitely true; they are more passionate than teachers we have nowadays. They may not be so brilliant people but they have all the willingness to educate their people to become ‘orang’ one day.

Maybe I’m not the right person to say all these. I’m just a small future teacher with a big hope to become a passionate teacher. But do you believe a manager will die as an ordinary person but a teacher will die as a teacher?

Till then…

I'm back again! (the spirit of Qurban)

2007-01-27T23:32:00.000-08:00

Salam...I’m back again...Wow, such a long period since the last time I posted something here.. Well..guess all the assignments and tasks have robbed the rightful space of this blog from my life..hehe..actually I was intending to share with all, my new experience of this year's hari raya haji..but guess it's never been too late for that right? But sorry if my story this time is a bit 'basi' for all to read...just trying to find an ample spare time for this and now only I managed to find one.

Well, this year's hari raya haji was quite meaningful to me. This was because that was the first time i was called to join my parents to witness the Qurban in a mosque near my house. Actually my mum and big sis were performing their Qurban this year and that' the reason I was there. To see my mum and sis's cow got 'executed'..hehe..

SO, it's quite a scary moment to see the cows being sacrificed. The sound of the cows, the smell, even the facial expression of the cows, so 'giving up', i could still remember until now...and to see them dying hard but slow, reminded me that one day, I’m going to experience this too...it's only the matter of how hard or how easy God will make me die, would be the difference. The feeling of sad and gloomy slowly pervaded into my soul.

But still, I was happy on that day. Despite of hearing Malaysian youths have gone astray added with those facing social and moral problems, today I could see the different side of it. I was quite surprised yet proud to see many young men being the back bone for this upacara Qurban. Most of them who were helping out were in their 20s I guess. They were so busy helping the elders, right from holding tight the cows, to melapah, to even dividing the meat. They were so full of energy and spirit. At least now i know, there are Malaysian youths who still possess good values..cayalah orang Pasir Gudang..hehe..

As i don't have an mmc reader with me now, i can't share with all of you some pictures that I managed to capture during this event. Later perhaps...c u again...

Does love mean letting go?

2006-12-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, I got the opportunity to watch the film ‘Cinta’ that everyone has been talking about. Well, looks like newspapers and televisions have really done their jobs very well in persuading me to take an early trip to TGV to watch its first show of the day.
After watching, I think one part that really gave an impact upon me was when Rashidi Ishak left a note to his wife, saying that ‘Love means letting go”. (Earlier Rita Rudaini had told her husband that she loves someone else)

The poem that all of you will about to read has been inspired by this part of the movie. Okey, don’t think I am a ‘jiwang’ or ‘flowery person’. It’s just that, seeing this particular part of the movie reminded me of a good friend of mine. So, here I would like to dedicate this poem to her, hoping that if she happens to read this, more or less, this poem can help her pursue a new hope and life that she has been searching for, for a very long time.

DOES LOVE MEAN LETTING GO?

WHEN WE LOVE SOMEONE,
WE WOULDN’T BEAR TO LET HIM GO,
WE WOULDN’T BEAR TO LET HIM BE FAR FROM OUR SIGHT,
BUT STILL,
WHY DO SOME PEOPLE SAY,
LOVE MEANS LETTING GO?

IF YOU LOVE SOMEONE,
WOULD YOU DO WHAT EVER HE ASKS YOU TO DO?
INCLUDING LETTING HIM GO?
GO TO SOMEONE ELSE?
SOMEONE THAT HE FAVORS MORE?
AT LEAST MORE THAN HE FAVOURS YOU?

IF YOU LOVE SOMEONE,
AND THAT SOMEONE LOVES SOMEONE ELSE,
BUT YOU STILL LOVE HIM,
SO SO SO MUCH,
WOULD YOU LET HIM GO?
IF ‘GO’ WOULD MAKE HIM FEEL HAPPY,
EVEN IF YOU’RE THE ONE WHO WILL FEEL UNHAPPY?

IF YOU LOVE A MEMORY,
A MEMORY OF ONCE UPON A TIME,
AND IT RESTRICTS YOU FROM GETTING A NEW LIFE,
WOULD YOU LET THE MEMORY GO?
EVEN IT IS THE ONE THAT MAKES YOUR HEART WORK?
BACK THEN TILL NOW?

I GUESS,
WHEN I LOVE HIM,
BUT HE DOESN’T REALIZE,
OR HE PRETENDED THAT HE DOESN’T REALIZE,
BY RIGHT, I SHOULD LET HIM GO,
LET HIM GO OUT OF MY MIND,
LET HIS MEMORY GO OUT OF MIND,
BECAUSE OF THE LOVE I HAVE FOR HIM,
MAKES ME THINK AGAIN,
THAT IF I LIKE HIM SO MUCH,
I SHOULD LET HIM GO.
IF THIS COULD GIVE HAPPINESS TO HIM
THE MAYBE I SHOULD.
I SHOULD LET HIM GO.

Seriously, painting is not my job

2006-12-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

I was so tired today. I woke up at 8.30 a.m. today, which is considered early throughout this holiday. I brushed my teeth and I washed my face. Then, after taking a cup of Nescafe, I went straight to my neighbor’s house.

Actually, my neighbor operates a room rental service. As she lives in Pontian now, she entrusts her house to my mother to look over. In order to ‘ambil hati’ my mum who has been cooking whatever I want to eat during this holiday, I had promised to help her paint a room of my neighbour’s house. This was because a new tenant would come in. And we need to paint the room to make it look better. Well, this particular room had been unoccupied for too long and the last time my neighbor painted it was about 5 years ago.

Truly said, I was so dead beat. Well, painting is not my area of specialization. And so does my mother. But at least she can paint better than me.

We swept the room and cleaned all the dust. Then only we started to paint the room. My mother said, it would take only two hours to paint the room, but we ended up almost four hours there! Luckily, my father came to help us with the last coating of the painting. I just could not imagine what time our work would finish if my father didn’t come to the rescue.
As a result, my body, face and hairs were coated with drops of paint. Well, this could possibly happen to an unskilled worker like me..hehe..

5th of December 2006

the ties that bind

2006-12-03T20:21:00.000-08:00

It’s been so long since the last time I made a visit to my own page. Well, kinda busy with fasting, raya and exam the utmost important. But now, I feel relief that everything has finished. Yeah, raya too. It ended last week.

Now one question. Have you ever found a friend or some friends who can really function as F.R.I.E.N.D? I mean like hanging out together, watching movies, hear your happy and sad stories, help you when you need a helping hand, cheer you up when you feel down, boost your confidence when you think negative about your own selves? Actually, when I was in my primary school and secondary school, I didn’t care much about this. Yeah, I have a clique of friends that can really ‘go’ with me. But, our relationship is confined to school hours, as I was not in a boarding school. But when I finished my spm, got a place in college, I learned how to befriend with people, a lot. Maybe because I lived in hostel and I have no parents to take care of me there. Only friends that I could count on. Same here when I have to live in my rented house. I live with friends. And so far, they have been the wonderful ones to me.

But now I am not going to talk about them. It’s my other clique of friends in my hometown in Pasir Gudang. Actually, some of them I have known ever since we were in standard 1. While some in secondary school. But somehow, we always stick together. Until now. And believe me, once I get back to KL, I will start to miss them. So, every time Aidilfitri arrives, we would visit friends’ houses together. Whenever I get back to jb, I will try to spend at least 2 hours to go makan2 with them. But, arrrghhh…ok straight to the point, I am feeling sad right now actually. And that’s the reason I am writing this post. Guess what? One of them is going to build a new life very soon. What I meant here was, she is getting married! In less than two months time! I just could not believe it. Man, I haven’t prepared to lose her.

Is this a natural feeling a friend would feel for a bestfriend who is going to get married? Too bad, the other four of us also share the same feeling about her earth quaking news.
You see, when friends are getting married, the pattern that I could see is that, they will start to discard himself/herself slowly from us. Although this will be the first time my very best friend is getting married (that’s why I’m putting this as an issue actually), but I could see that kind of situation happened to my other friends, who are less close to me.

It’s kind of happy but sad really. So, we had planned a picnic together, maybe our last picnic together before she moves to a brand new world and role. So, according to our plan, there would be the six of us plus two bodyguards (our male friends). After discussions and plans have been made, too bad, we had to cancel it. Because the one that we are celebrating could not join, with an excuse that she had a tiff with her fiancée for hanging out with us this one particular night. Not really hanging out actually, attending kenduri orang nak pegi haji jek. And to avoid a further argument, she dare not go out with us anymore. She really wanted to go but it’s a matter of not to hurt somebody’s feeling.

For me, like Malay saying, ‘Berat mata memandang, berat lagi bahu memikul’. I try to put myself in her shoes. Ya, truly say, I also don’t want him to quarrel with her fiancée just because of us. I know her fiancée. He’s an amiable person so far that I know. But many people say, once you get engaged to someone, you can’t be free unlike when you’re dating each other. This could be due to the fact that the sense of belongingness is stronger than what it used to be. And that’s why engaged people will have to restrict themselves from doing what they used to like, if that action will cause ‘sakit hati’ to his/her partner. And to even torture my already ailing brain, older people would say ‘tak baik keluar selalu2, darah manis’ Hee…tension tau tak!!! I just can’t understand. Okay consider me bad for condemning this kind of thing but this just doesn’t fit into my head. I don’t know. Most probably because I was not being brought up with abundance of ‘pepatah nenek moyang’ or maybe because I was not surrounded by engaged/married cousins or family members.

So, as how a best friend should be, I feel glad for her. At least I know she will be in a safe hand. And as I’m among the remaining two who are still not working, I offer her my aid in case she needs a helping hand or something regarding her marriage But, I’m kind of sad really. She is not yet married, but somehow, I could really feel her lost.

Should curriculum drive technology or Should technology drive curriculum?

2006-09-27T06:26:00.000-07:00

(azee, me and aisyah)

Today’s class started off by Professor Dr Raja showing us some pictures that she managed to capture during her school visit in Sarawak last week. Well, she loves sharing pictures with us, which I think is a good method instead of showing us a wordy text at the very beginning of the lesson. But what amazed me was that when I saw those pictures, I could see that schools as rural as in Sarawak have already been equipped with technology tools to enhance students’ learning. Guess, our Ministry of Education has really taken so many steps forward in integrating technology into school curriculum in order to prepare Malaysian citizen for the real world.

Then, Prof has given the title above as an issue to be brought up in our post, which I am doing right now. Well, when I heard this phrase, my mind simply reflected my previous post on ‘technology can support a vision but it cannot be the vision’. So, I said to myself, “Hey, I have come across this before!” Thus, that gave me a wonderful feeling that I firmly answered “Curriculum should drive technology!” And these are the reasons why.

When I searched on the net for some resources to post this blog, I came across ‘NETS’, which is National Education Technology Standards, which is planted to a belief that the world is changing in ways that require learning environments to change to prepare students to meet the challenges of the future. I think this is absolutely true that we can see now; computer is now being integrated into the teaching of many subjects in schools. Even, music lesson is implemented with the aids of LCD projector and a laptop. In my opinion, the word ‘integrate’ itself has symbolized that technology is standing-in as a tool to promote purposeful, engaging learning, by which it enables students to learn in ways previously impossible. So, as we have stepped towards a new era of globalization, this technology should be integrated so that our students are learning in accordance to the new culture. For example, computers, being the dearest technology tools to students now should be a means to reach instructional objectives in the classroom. But as much importance technology is to our lives, we should not let it drive curriculum. Instead, all the curriculum decision should be supported by some technology-based materials.

Teachers, on the other hand, are encouraged to use technology to assist their roles as teachers, for it gives ways for them to be the facilitators of learning and for students to direct their own learning, as well as to build knowledge collaboratively. Teachers, must try by all means to be a computer-using teacher, by which, computers are regarded as a teaching partner, not the object of study. But as much this issue has been raised up, the question ‘how familiar should the teacher be with the technology?’ came into my mind. To be frank, I am still frail at using technology which I think will create anxiety when I go teaching later. So take this simple analogy, driving is comparable to operating computers. You don’t need to know how the engine works, how to repair the car or even how to buy cars to make you know how to drive. To be able to drive, you need to know how to operate the car and understand the road signs. As the driver gains more experience in driving, the level of confidence will increase. The same thing goes to computers; a basic skill is necessary in order to be successful. You don’t need to know how to repair a computer or to know how the computer works to make you know how to use it but rather you should know how to use and operate it effectively in the classroom. Overtime, you will become more experienced and confident in operating it. So, that gave me an idea that even though my knowledge of computer is still superficial, at least I possess the basic knowledge of how to make it work. And that will help me gain more confidence when I teach later.

So, my conclusion, technology should be integrated into curriculum to give paths to students to learn in a global way, but not letting the technology to drive curriculum. Well, you don’t want to stop teaching if there is a blackout in your school, right?

Akhir kata, to all my Muslim blog readers: Selamat berbuka puasa!!!

References:

http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/antifaiff/antifaiff.htm

http://telr.osu.edu/research/pedagogy.pdf

http://cnets.iste.org/students/s_integration.html

http://www.ipenz.org.nz/ipenz/forms/pdfs/Info_Note_7.pdf#search=%22curriculum%20should%20drive%20technology%20or%20technology%20should%20drive%20curriculum%22

http://www.edtech.sandi.net/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=196#search=%22curriculum%20should%20drive%20technology%20or%20technology%20should%20drive%20curriculum%22

Multiple Intelligences

2006-09-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

Today we learnt Multiple Intelligences. Actually, this was the second time we were being introduced to this topic. (the 1st one was during Child Psychology subject). So, that gave me and my friends some schemata of what to be discussed in class, which indirectly produced a proud feeling that at least, we knew a lot of what to talk about.

Now, a bit of introduction. Multiple Intellligences was defined by Howard Gardner, a psychologist from Harvard University in 1983 in his book 'Frames of Mind'. At that time he has acknowledged 7 Multiple Intelligences, know as:

Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence
Spatial/Visual Intelligence
Logical/Mathematic Intelligence
Kinaesthetic Intelligence
Interpesonal Intelligence
Intrapersonal Intelligence
Musical Intelligence

But in 1999, Howard Gardner has added two more intelligences into this list in his book 'Intelligence Reframed' which are known as:

Naturalist Intelligence
Existential Intelligence

According to Gardner, everyone in this world posssess all nine intelligences in varying amounts. Those intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened or can be ignored or weakened. But, thinking by the mind of a teacher, these Multiple Intelligences are important for a teacher to know, so that by knowing pupils strengths and weaknesses, it would able to help them become successful, by which the idea about teaching can be changed and provision of a range of activities could be done to facilitate learning and most importantly, to accommodate the pupils' Multiple Intelligences. As teachers are the ones who know their own pupils Multiple Intelligences, addressing them would be beneficial as it creates opportunities for the strengths to be fostered and for the weaknesses to be prevailed.

So, in teaching English, most probably people would think only those with Verbal/Linguistic intelligence can survive. But, if we know how to tackle pupils by accommodating our teaching-learning activites and teaching materials to suit their varying intelligences, more or less they would look upon this subject as what their intelligences help them to look at it. These are some suggestions of what teachers could implement in the classroom:

Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence

These are the 'word smart' pupils. They will learn best with language including listening, speaking, reading and writing. They are good at writing, convincing and expressing themselves. So, in motivating them to learn English, teacher could encourage them to write, for example essay, email or even poems. Teacher also could provide text-based softwares such as e-books.

Logical/Mathematical Intelligences

These are the 'number smart' pupils. They have the ability to think abstractly and conceptually. They learn best when there is an involvement of problem solving and data organization. So, in catering to their Intelligence, teacher could vary the text to be exploited in the classroom. For example, instead of giving them a-too-wordy text, teacher may give a text in a form of statistics or charts. Also, if a teacher wants to use a story as a teaching material, it would be good if the teacher could create or find a story which requires problem solving (e.g the story of a bird in a dessert who found a bottle of water, but its beak could not reach the surface of the water). This will give a room for them to develop their intelligence eventhough they are in a language class.

Visual/Spatial Intelligence

These are the 'picture smart' pupils. They enjoy visual form. they have the ability to think in images and pictures and to visualize something accurately. So, whenever possible, teacher could integrate drawing into English lesson. And as much, try to use pictures as a stimuli as pupils at this age love pictures. Animation would be very helpful but games would make this people have fun in learning English too.

Kinaesthetic Intelligence

These are the 'body smart' pupils. They learn best through physical activity and maybe these are the ones who enjoy Physical Education the most. They like to express their ideas through movements. As learning English is attached to words, that doesn't mean the pupils need to be attached to their seating place too. Maybe what the teacher could do is to implement activities which require the pupils to move around. Maybe, by asking them to act out roles as a task might enhance their English learning. Also, if teacher wants to use a song in teaching, teacher could actually ask them to act out the song or create their own movements to accompany the song. This will make the learning environment even more lively.

Musical Intelligence

These are the 'music smart' pupils. They learn best through sounds, songs and rhythm. They also could be classified as good listeners. Knowing the fact that not only these pupils but also other pupils love songs and things that rhyme, teacher could take this opportunity to use songs in teaching, maybe as an appetizer to the forthcoming lesson, as a closure or as the main text itself. Also, as they are good at listening, teacher could implement many listening tasks to cater to the needs of these pupils, not only the time when the mid-term examination is just around the corner.

Intrapersonal Intelligence

These are the 'self smart' pupils. They learn best through metacognitve practices such as getting in touch with own feelings and self motivation. So, in helping them to develop this intelligence, teacher could ask them to think about their thinking through writing, for example by asking them to write journals or by giving them spaces to work on their own. Maybe, they would learn effectively through this way.

Interpersonal Intelligence

These are the 'social smart' pupils. They learn best through interaction. So, in accommodating to their needs, teacher could implement different modes of learning. As being suggested in Constructivist theory, teacher might want to consider giving the pupils to work in groups or pairs, not just individually. It will help pupils with this intelligence to learn better. This includes having discussions or project works or even group presentations.

Naturalist Intelligence

These are the nature people. They learn best through their environment. They also enjoy outdoor activity and field trip. So, the simplest thing that teacher could do, for example if the teacher is teaching the topic 'nature', taking them for a walk around the school would be more effective than showing them a picture on nature. As being suggested by Jean Piaget in his theory of Cognitive Development, primary pupils are able to deal effectively and logically with concrete materials. So, whenever possible, teacher should consider using realia as the concrete material, so that the learning will take place more effectively.

Existential Intelligence

These are the wondering people. So, as much as possible, teacher should give them a space to think of the big picture of a matter and to get them involve with discussions or chats to answer their questions and doubts.

According to Howard Gardner, learning is both social and psychological process. When pupils understand the balance of their Multiple Intelligences, they begin to manage their own learning and to value their individual strengths. As teachers, we should be the ones responsible in helping the pupils to recognize their strengths and weaknessess. Not only we should help them develop their dominant intelligence, we also must encourage them to balance themselves in other intelligences. This would produce specialists among the pupils but with the ability to handle other things well too.It could not be denied that the needs to cater to every pupils' Multiple Intelligences in one class are very demanding, but as our goal is to make the pupils become successful, we should try by all means to cater to their needs through the teaching aids and teaching-learning activities. By doing so, pupils will be able to learn effectively and they are even motivated to have to learn something that they are not good at.

References:

file:///F:/Concept%20to%20Classroom%20Tapping%20into%20multiple%20intelligences%20-%20Explanation.htm

file:///F:/Technology%20and%20Multiple%20Intelligences.htm

Wiki

2006-09-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

This week we are learning something new again. It is called 'Wiki'. Sounds cute right? And we felt it even cuter when our lecturer Prof. Dr Raja Maznah told us that our second assignment has a lot to do with this Wiki..haha... Now a bit of information: Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly(file:///F:/Wiki%20What%20Is%20Wiki.htm).

So, today we were so grateful to have Miss Lim to give an explanation on how Wiki works. Firstly, i felt a bit weird as why we should use Wiki to complete this assignment. But thinking again: "Oh! This is technology class. So, we should try to transform our old ways of doing work!".For me it not simple though, as there are 75 of us and we need to take turn to use Wiki so that we will not overright each other's work. Maybe one weakness of Wiki is that, there must be only one people editing Wiki at one time, and that person must lock the page. If not, others might edit it and their works will overright each other's. So, if this happens, don't wonder too much if tomorrow you will not see your last night's work on the page.

This second assignment has divided us into three categories, the ones elaborating Brennen's Principle for English, Science or Maths. So, for this assignment, Azee, Mohanesvary and I choose to work together in a group. Seeing that all of us live so far from each other now, it is more like an advantage to my group as we are living in the same place, thus giving us opportunities to have discussions outside class hour. And as we have experienced working with one another before, hopefully there will be no problem of combining our minds together. Then, today also, the bargaining and crossing-hands session started where we have to 'fight' to get the topic for English (so TESL teachers we are...haha..). But unluckily, my group didn't manage to get it. So, being the 'Maths People', my group has decided to work on environmental-based learning principle and learning through guided activity and discovery principle for Mathematics. Hopefully, we would enjoy doing this assignment as indirectly, we learn to do things differently. If before this we were so attached to Microsoft Words to finish our assignment, now Wiki might change our old method of doing works.

PoEIT

2006-08-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

Why is my teacher talking non-stop?
For it is so tiring,
Sitting still,
Not even a chance to hop!

I don't want to sit still,
I don't want to keep shut,
But why is still,
My teacher's talk can't be cut?

Why am i learning this?
Why am i learning that?
Instead,
I want to 'do' this,
and I want to 'do' that.

I have a question,
But why doesn't teacher ask me?
Will I get the chance to?
Did she ever ask me to?

It's not fun,
It's boring,
In this class,
There is no 'sun',
Only 'dim lighting'.

I am back again...hope everyone enjoys this lousy poem...hihi..lousy but meaningful to me because somehow or rather, it has got to do with what i am going to say here(I just don't know how to put in an essay..hihi..). Have you ever come across the PoEIT strategies? Neither did i before i entered this week's technology class. It's not about strategy of how to be a good poet, but it is a strategy of Pedagogy of Engagement Integrating Technology.These are the strategies underpinning PoEIT:

tailor the content to learner's needs
ensure learning continuity
support anytime, anywhere learning
enable peer and mentor dialogue
involve learners in own learning
apply assessment for learning

When i wrote this poem, i was trying to put myself in a primary pupil's shoes who felt dissapointed, as his/her needs were not fulfilled by the teacher.He didn't know why he should learn that topic, he felt frustrated because he did not get any chance to ask questions. The teacher on the other hand, was talking non-stop and all he got to do was to sit and listen, there were no hands-on activities and seemed like this particular class did not have sparks. Maybe all this happened because there was only one direction of learning available and the pupils, whereas, did not get the chance to participate actively in the teaching-learning activities. This is what i understand by pupils' engagement in the classroom.

With the help of technology as a tool to implement any teaching-learning activities, the concepts portrayed in PoEIT are hoped to achieve. A teacher must be able to tailor the topic taught to learner's needs so that they can feel that they are learning something meaningful to their lives and that, what they want to know is what the teacher wants them to know.For example, the teacher should take pupils' schemata into accounts. This will make learning even easier to the pupils as they are equipped with some background knowledge, that will help them absorb new knowledge effectively. But teachers should not give everything wholesomely to the pupils.Instead, teachers can still fulfill pupils' need if they are given the chance to discover what they want to know on their own. Perhaps, they will find it even more relevant as they are the ones discovering it.For example, by using computers, pupils can experience with their own hands of how to do things. So, maximum engagement from the pupils could be obtained as they are involved actively in the learning. In addition, teachers can conduct an on-going assessment, to see how are the pupils developing with all the skills required, by looking at their practical work. So, maybe by using the technology tools, teachers can apply exploratory learning or inquiry discovery method. In addition, opportunities to ask and to inquire must be given to the pupils. By doing so, not only teachers can measure pupils' level of engagement, more or less it will help teachers to know the strengths and weaknesses of the pupils as well as the effectiveness of their teaching. Lastly, teachers must ensure pupils' learning continuity. As we live in a world full of technology, we must educate pupils to become global individuals. This is because technology will never become stagnant. It will always develop from time to time, and this is very important for pupils to know and continue learning it in order to survive in this world. Maybe by integrating this phenomena with what they are learning in schools, they could become individuals that are functioning their best in the society. It's all begin from the classroom!

So, these are all what i understand regarding this topic. Till we meet again in the next blog.

Refreshments for the minds...

2006-08-21T08:58:00.000-07:00

Hello to all my blog readers. Here are some poems that might ‘make your day’ when you feel bored reading the other part of my blog..hehe…

The Supply Teacher

Here's the rule for what to do
If ever your teacher has the flu
Or for some other reason takes to her bed
And a different teacher comes instead

When the visiting teacher hangs up her hat
Writes the date on the board, does this or that
Always remember, you have to say this,
OUR teacher never does that, Miss!

When you want to change places or wander about
Or feel like getting the guinea pig out
Never forget, the message is this,
OUR teacher always lets us, Miss!

Then, when your teacher returns next day
And complains about the paint or clay
Remember these words, you just say this:
That OTHER teacher told us to, Miss!

Allan Ahlberg

Still remember this poem, friends? Let’s walk down the memory lane…

The Lesson

Chaos ruled OK in the classrooms
bravely the teacher walked in
the nooligans ignored him
his voice was lost in the din

"The theme for today is violence
and homework will be set
I'm going to teach you a lesson
one that you'll never forget"

He picked on a boy who was shouting
and throttled him then and there
then garrotted the girl behind him
(the one with grotty hair)

Then sword in hand he hacked his way
between the chattering rows
"First come, first severed" he declared
"fingers, feet or toes"

He threw the sword at a latecomer
it struck with deadly aim
then pulling out a shotgun
he continued with his game

The first blast cleared the backrow
(where those who skive hang out)
they collapsed like rubber dinghies
when the plug's pulled out

"Please may I leave the room sir?"
a trembling vandal enquired
"Of course you may" said teacher
put the gun to his temple and fired

The Head popped a head round the doorway
to see why a din was being made
nodded understandingly
then tossed in a grenade

And when the ammo was well spent
with blood on every chair
Silence shuffled forward
with its hands up in the air

The teacher surveyed the carnage
the dying and the dead
He waggled a finger severely
"Now let that be a lesson" he said

Roger McGough

Fish?

2006-08-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

'Everyone is getting mad! Fish are thrown everywhere!What on earth is happening? Targets are searched. There you are! Watch out! Ouchh!! They will never miss even one. Still, neither of us stands...'

Well, neither of us stood as there were some who still looking blur, couldn't figure out what was happening just now. As a result, our lecturer called us passive learners...hihi...

Today's lesson started off a bit different. Prof.Madya Dr Raja Maznah had thrown toy fish at us and asked us to start throwing them everywhere. And that was why we didn't stand and would rather sit and threw the fish, afraid that we couldn't handle ourselves and couldn't stop playing. Well, we're good at playing if given the opportunity to..hehe.. After the 'fish throwing session' our lecturer introduced us a philosophy named 'Fish Philosophy'. At first, i felt a bit weird as why this philosophy didn't sound very scholarly. Instead it sounded like a philosophy for fishermen and fishmongers in the market, like how to get good catch, or where to find it and what strategy to be used to make your selling profitable. But my guess was not totally wrong. Indeed, this philosophy originated from the World Famous Pike Place Fish Seattle Market. And these are the 4 concepts being portrayed in this philosophy:

play
make their day
be there
choose your attitude

After being introduced to this philosophy then only i could connect it with teaching. In my opinion, this Fish Philosophy is important to be used when teaching so as to make students feel motivated to learn. As a fan of motivation myself, i feel that this philosophy is sharply directing to the point of how to make students feel happy and that, they are going to school as a place where they can get knowledge and have fun at the same time. Maybe, many people don't know but i feel glad that i know this one thing. Teacher plays a major role in determining students success. In school, teachers are everything to the students. Whatever the teachers do will motivate or demotivate them. And whatever the teachers do will be highly regarded. So, even a simple praise that they are looking good today will make a remark upon them for at least a week, a little game to be implemented before or as a closure of a lesson will enlighten them and a show of concern will make them feel that they are acknowledged by their teacher. Well, possibly they would feel that their teacher will forget one or two of them as there are many to be taken care of in a class. I still remember how my friends and I adored this one lecturer in our previous college. She dressed so nicely everyday and she looked so presentable to our eyes. And, to be truthful, each one of us could not wait to come to this particular class just to see what was she wearing that day. So, try to make the connection. The teacher's atitude also could be the reason for students to come to class and learn, right?

Reflecting back my days when i was a temporary teacher in a school in my hometown, i supposed i had never cared about some concepts of the philosophy before. What i cared was that I had to finish the syllabus and other things did not matter to me. I tried to set an attitude of being a nice and full of smile teacher on the very first day, but the moment i stepped into the class, as a teacher, for the very first time in my life, i thought i need to change my attitude. Since then, i could be considerd as a fierce teacher. Even the prayer that they recited at the beginning of the lesson i would ask them to read it properly(with correct intonation and pronunciation). See, how firm can i be? But after i learned this philosophy, i supposed being fierce is not wrong, but there should be some ways that students can feel the teacher's warmth and concern.

So, i hope when the moment i become a real teacher arrives, i would be ready to serve my clients as how they should be served. But, beware, don't let the 'BE THERE' part influence your mind and heart..or else Halo effect will arise and you are no longer a good teacher! Till then.. .

References:

www.grand-blanc.k12.mi.us/qip/fish%20philosophy.htm

http://teacherweb.esu1.org/esufirst/stories/storyReader$8

technology can support a vision, but it cannot be the vision

2006-08-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum and good day first of all.. quite sometimes since i made my last appearance in my previous blog... so here i am again..hehe..Ok now this topic was assigned to us: TECHNOLOGY CAN SUPPORT A VISION, BUT IT CANNOT BE THE VISION. First of all, this is what i understand of the word 'vision':

the ability to see perfectly
your vision of a future situation that you imagine or hope it would be like

'Technology can create wonders'

Often we hear this statement from the mouth of people who rely on technology. Indeed, technology has helped human beings in many ways. Recently, technology seems to dominate the whole world. Education, also does not to be left out from this revolution. As we can see now, computers have been integrated into school subjects. At least, half an hour per week is required to be implemented in the computer lab. Teachers are also encouraged to use computers in teaching. In addition, computer class are opened to any interested students.

In my opinion, the first sentence of this topic has two different meanings. Firstly, technology can help teachers to give an even clearer visualization of the topic taught. In order to teach a topic efficiently, teachers can use technology in making the students understand the concept. For example, when teaching analyzing and collecting data, teachers can use Microsoft Excel to show the relationship between every data gained by tabulating the information and traslating it in a form of a graph. (I'm more a Maths teacher than English through this example..hehe...). the vivid and colourful image is able to help students to capture the concept better. Technology are also hoped to aid different learnnig styles of students. That's what i think as technology to support a vision.

On the other hand, in conjunction to Vision 2020, technology is hoped to make Malaysia a developing country and it's people wiser. Well, technology is domineering the world now. It is a part of the world. So, to survive in this world, a person should be well equipped with the knowledge of technology.

Having to say all these, it is true that it cannot be the vision. As its name is still TECHNOLOGY, it is considered unreliable sometimes. What or whenever the technology is used, there must be a source or a faucet to its weaknesses. So, in relation to education, teachers must not let technology drives educational decision. Instead, learning and teaching need of the students should drive educational decision, with the helps of technology. And the most obvious thing in supporting the first statement of this paragraph, try to imagine what will happen if there is no electricity? Try to imagine a world that is mainly operating using technology and not even a single thing could be done manually? I think for those people who rely so much upon it, that would be the end of their lives. So, how much technology has dominated us, there is still a limit to its usage. And that is why it cannot be the vision even how powerful they can be.

References:

http://markwagner.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!1pVGrVZfiI485ySbt5CLoe0A!109.entry
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/math/ma2tvisi.htm

Where do we belong? (In response to the topic ‘Digital Immigrant vs. Digital Citizen’)

2006-08-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

When I first heard of these terminologies, my mind simply reflected my residential area in Pasir Gudang. As Pasir Gudang is an industrial estate, there are many immigrants coming to work at factories there. These include Vietnamese, Bangladeshis, and Indonesians. My place can be considered as a hot spot for them to find a place for shelter. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because of its strategic-ness that my place now become an ‘international region’. But now, I am not supposed to talk about those immigrants in my hometown. But somehow it has some similarities with what I am going to say here.
Actually, I had no single clue of what digital immigrant and digital citizen is all about. Until I browsed some articles on the Internet only I had some schemata of what to talk about here:

Digital natives- those grew up with technology and they are natives to the digital world and technology.
Digital immigrants- those coming to technology, as an immigrant come to a second language.

So from here I can conclude that I am a digital immigrant because I was born without computers or nowadays' technologies. But, while I was reading these few articles on digital immigrant and citizen, this one man called Rupert Murdoch came very familiar. He is an America’s more prominent immigrant who lined up to support moves by President Bush to introduce ‘guess worker’ legislation and reform immigration laws. But recently, Rupert Murdoch turned his attention to another kind of immigration, which is digital immigrant. These were what he described digital citizens as:

q They want their news on demand
q They want control over the media
q They want to question, to probe, to offer a different angle
q They want to join in debate

From his description, I could see that these digital citizens are bringing some changes to our culture. If we are made to obey to the media of what news we are supposed to know or what we are not supposed to, these digital citizens want their needs to be fulfilled. They want something more than the newspapers that are thrown at their doorsteps could serve them. That’s why we could see nowadays they are more into blogging than writing to editors, so that they can voice out what ever they want.

Reflecting this, I dare say that it can give a big impact to education. We, as the digital immigrant teachers need to realize that we are confronting the digital natives. If back then, students were supposed to learn only what the teacher disseminated to them, I guess with all these technologies coming, the students want something more than what they are supposed to learn. They will become more independent, they will try to find out beyond what the teacher gave them, they enjoy changes and they have strong values and principles. I support Rupert Murdoch’s opinion that what is required is a complete transformation of the way we think about our product. So as teachers, we should be ready to change in facing these digital citizens. If traditional teacher-centred approach has long being given the priority in the teaching-learning session, now is the time for its abdication, which is by changing and turn our attention to student-centred approach. Only through this way we could serve the needs of the digital natives. And what is more important is that we should never shy to learn from these digital citizens. This is because; we could never resist the fact that teachers and learning is like a printer and its ink. They will live their lives with learning. So, in order to be competent in teaching digital citizens, we should never be afraid of changing our methods of teaching and learn new things that will make us equipped and up-to-date with technology. We may not be digital citizens. But at least we should try by all means to be at the same level as them. Well, why not? Sometimes, a non-native English speaker can be as competent as the native one, so why can’t we?

Second week of learning how to use the IWB

2006-07-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the second lesson of IWB that we attended. Indeed, the feeling of excitement to learn to use IWB has never vanished from myself since last week. During the first session, our lecturer, Prof Madya Dr Raja Maznah had shown us some interesting activities that can be implemented in a primary ESL classroom, using IWB. I felt this session was so resourceful. This was because, one day before we had this lecture, my group members were trying to plan and consider the type of activity that can be taught using IWB. But, still, we could not visualize it in our minds. But after this session, we felt so happy that our doubt was being cleared and we felt more confident to create one.

But different from what we had last week, we didn't get the opportunity to operate IWB this time. Instead, we got the chance to operate this SMART notebook through computers. But i think this second session created advantages for us as we could interact with the assistants if there were any problems or to clarify doubts about IWB if there were any, while exploring it ourselves. So, i took this opportunity to explore the functions and what so ever being placed in this notebook so that i would get familiar with it, thus making it easier for me to develop an activity using it. T hese included how to use spotlight, how to change the colour of the pen, how to hide one word and disclose another, and how to hide pictures and words.

But one biggest thing that i learnt in this session was how to make 2 words ungrouped. Maybe this sounds silly to some but this was quite a big thing to me. Actually, i had opened a blank page and put two emoticons next to each other on this page. So, below each emoticon i wrote the feeling each expressed. But however, when i wanted to change my writing into font, somehow these two words were recognized and grouped together. So, i tried very hard to ungroup them but it turned out that all the alphabets were grouped individually.So, my friends and i were trying to figure out the solution. After we had given up on it, then only we sought the help from the assistant. And the assistant came up with the simplest solution that i never thought, which was to write those words so far away, so that the smartbook would never recognize them as one word! So, actually i really wanted to laugh at myself but this was a part of the learning process. We would never learn unless we make a mistake. And also, sometimes when we learn something so complex, we would easily forget the simplest and most logical thing in attending it, because we will push ourselves to try and see everything in a complex manner. Have you ever experienced this before?

Reflection on IWB session

2006-07-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, our first real technology lecture had taken place..Indeed i was amazed by this first lecture..reflecting on the title of this course, which is 'technology in primary ESL classroom', this very first lecture had actually played a good job in portraying it...why?Because this was my first time being introduced to the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB). Sound so usual?But to hear might not be the same as to see. This whiteboard is not a usual whiteboard! It is so full of technology that i never thought there would exist such thing. Actually, before this, i've got some opportunities to go teaching in school in my hometown during semester break. But considering my place was a sub-urb's, this thing never came across me..and that's plausible. But even when we were doing school orientation in this one school in KL town recently, all the teacher never uttered a word of this IWB.. I think, there is still a long way to go before we could actually use it effectively in the classroom. I felt very honoured to get this opportunity to learn new ways to make my future lessons become more interesting. The big font, the links, the colours, the animation, really attracts me. During the lecture, the lecturer had given us important input to make this thing worked. Even the assistants were a big help in helping us to get more interactive with this IWB. For the second session of this lecture, i got the opportunity to write my name on this board..and i got very fascinated as i got to write my name really well! Well, for some of us, the writing might turn out to be in dotted manner, and that is why i was so proud of myself! But what i can say is that: Seeing it is easy but to operate it needs a firm hand.

In conjunction to its usefulness in ESL classroom, i really feel that this IWB may be a helping hand to ESL teachers. I can't comment much as i haven't learnt to operate it thoroughly. But i can feel that the IWB might be a useful visual aid soon. Firstly, the IWB might be new to the children. So i feel by using this in our teaching, it might arouse pupils' interests in learning, especially primary pupils considering that they like to experience new things!Second thing, i really believe that motivation really plays a big part in determining pupils' success in learning. So, even a simple matter might degrade their level of motivation, including the feeling of frustrated for not to see what is happening in front of the class. So by using IWB, the pupils, even those at the back of the class might get to see what is happening in front, as the screen is big enough to be seen, and there is no such thing like the teacher's back blocking pupils' views, with the aid of the IWB. And also, i think what fascinated me when i was first introduced to the IWB might fascinated the primary pupils as well (but in a longer term than me i guess). But there are some questions i have in mind: in maybe 3 years time, would all schools be supplied with IWB? And will there be a lab or one class(like computer lab) that pupils can sit comfortably with IWB in front of them?

I think this is all i can share with you as i still have more lessons on the IWB to be reflected..So better save the best for the last...till then.

Has technology really changed the way we do things?

2006-07-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Previously, the issue of Malaysian primary and secondary school students getting permission to bring handphones to school has really caught my attention. I guess parents nowadays really do not want their children to be left out in this technology world...

When heard of the word 'technonlogy', automatically what was my mind visualizing were computers, handphones, handycams, internet, Ipod, and MP3. Not to be denied, all these equipment have made people's lives easier.In my opinion, technology has really changed the way we do things. But, dire consequences may result if we are too depending on it. Take an example, handphone; it can be considered as the most 'in thing' that people crazily crave for. For some, handphone is just a handphone.So long they get to call and to give SMS, it would be enough. For some, handphone is regarded as a multi purpose equipment as it can function to get in contact with someone, to gain information, to listen to songs and radio, to play games while waiting for someone, to take pictures or to record an event.From these, we could actually see this particular technology tool really change the way people do things.Compared to those days, people nowadays could make a call outside home. People would not have to read newspapers to get the latest news. People would not have to carry along cameras to take pictures.But, try to ponder on this upcoming question..If the hanphone got lost, what will happen?

Not to forget, for some, handphone is regarded as tool to portray status.Sometimes, friends would compete to get the latest handphone with the most updated technology. In conjuction to the issue of students bringing handphones to school, are we so sure it is a good privilage for them as they get to contact their parents if anything happened in school? What if they play with the handphones while the teacher is teaching in front? Will this matter change the way students do things in the clasroom? Try to think on the flipside. In my opinion, students motivations, especially primary school students are the utmost important aspect in determining their success in education. If this matter deprives schools from serving students a place for them to be 'in the same uniform',don't you think their motivation to learn will get distracted as well? Remembering back those days when I was in the primary school, i could still survive without a handphone in my school bag, so why shouldn't they?

But somehow, i could not resist the fact that i really support the effort of integrating computers to schools' subjects. The teaching and learning methods applied in school are changed. If those days, learning would be so teacher centred, now student centred learning is introduced using computers so that all students will get the same learning experience as well as to support the idea of constructivism in Malaysian classroom. Don't you think this has made teachers change the way they do things? Following this path, i'm so sure our students would not be left out in this technolgy world, as they get the knowledge of technology everyday and to experience to learn in a global manner (using different kinds of resources, not only books!)

the word 'first'...

2006-07-12T00:08:00.000-07:00

First? I'm sure this word would be very popular this week among the B.Ed TESL students, including me. To all the readers, announcing the arrival of the 3rd year B.Ed TESL students into the Faculty of Education of University Malaya! Okay this is my story.When i was asked to sign up a blog and to post a blog, the word 'first' firstly came into my mind..d you want to know why? that's because this is my first week in the Universiti Malaya, my first time ever posting a blog in the net, my first experience of having to learn a subject totally with a computer in front of me for three hours and my first time to be introduced to the gigantic smart board! i've never thought there exists such thing. Well you can call me a computer- blind person but i hope through out this technology-centred semester, i would be able to learn abundance of new things and catch up with every technology 'things' that i have never bothered before. Looking at my title, 'newlife, new ways',i'm sure you can link this word 'first' to our new life, and to learn new ways to live our lives in this new place. So, to all my cohort mates...don't be afraid of this new surrounding, don't be afraid to try new ways to survive in this new surrounding and never afraid to enjoy your lives to the fullest ok(these advices would be very beneficial to me..haha..)!Good luck!