What I took back from the mock teaching

So our mock teaching finally came to an end,I have to say,though it was a gruelling 3 weeks but everyone manage to pull it off.If I had to pick the best learning experience I had from one of the teachers,it would be from teacher Shevani.She taught us literature on that day and I have to say it was very informative,I haven't read Phantom Of The Opera in a long time after school,only been reading Singapore true ghost stories and ancient civilisation books but she sparked my interest again when she was explaining the chapters in the book.She even had a role play where some of us participated and created a reenactment of a chapter from the book which made it easier for the students to visualise the scenes which took places back then.We even had a short quiz/game where she divided into groups and though the main purpose of the game was to make it easier for us to remember the keywords,it also created teamwork and interaction between students which is vital in a classroom,for these reasons,Besides that,the time she put in to make the props for the students during the reenactment had me believe that she had taken the time to prepare for it and thats a quality that teachers should posses.


Though it was a good 3 weeks,there are some issues that happened during the mock teaching that I would like to highlight.First being the fact that some students were using their handphones,I noticed that some teachers just brushed of the fact that they were using them and that may send the wrong message to the other students,that its fine to use the handphone in class.This is basically chain effect of "monkey see,monkey do" and it may effect the performances of the students as their attention is not towards the lesson.Next,it would be the fact that some teachers were reading word to word from the slides that was displayed on the projector,it would be better for the students understanding if the teachers tried to use their own words to explain rather than reading from it.Last but not least,it would be the seating arrangement,I could see that students were scattered around table though there weren't many of them.Its harder for the teacher to focus on the students and give group activities when they are everywhere,therefore it would have been best if the teacher had the students combined onto a table.

In a nut shell,it was a good 3 weeks and though there were some minor improvements that could be made from my part and a few others,everyone still did a good job considering it was our first mock teaching

Getting ready for Mock Teaching

As part of our assessment,for the next couple of weeks,each of us are required to have a 30 minute mock teaching for the subject of our choice.I'm going with economics as that is gonna be my major. I've broken it down on what I should be preparing for.

First and foremost,it would definitely my communication skills.I need to interact with my students and get their attention focused towards me.This is definitely easier said than done,any teacher in the field would tell you the same,constantly asking them questions in between sub-topics will keep them aware of what is being taught,this is more of a psychological approach.When a student knows,he/she will be asked questions at the end of each sub-topic,the tendency of them paying attention and being responsive would be much greater.Having a dominant yet subtle voice would also come in handy in getting them listening to you

Secondly,it would be the material which I would be using.I would need to have lessons that are simplified,interesting and informative.Most chapters in Economics are pretty straight forward and is more towards understanding,so by making it relatable to their daily application and how they can use it to make their life easier outside the classroom would be the essential point I would like to make to them.



Last but not least,it would definitely be my appearance,as I'm the teacher,I would need to look the part.Wearing something formal may not make a difference for the students but it gives you the recognition you deserve from the fellow teachers.This would sum up my preparation for the upcoming mock teaching,and I hope I would be able to apply all if not most of the key points that I've mentioned here.

Rule to apply for an effective classroom management

In my opinion,the deciding factor on whether a teacher is going to be in control of her/his class,is the rules they will apply when they are teaching.An effective classroom is an enviroment where classroom lessons run smoothly,disciplined is maintained and where students feel can participate in classroom activities.Once a teacher has gotten a balance of these criteria,they will find their classrooms to be very efficient thus improving the students performances overall.As a future teacher myself,I've set a couple of my own rules that has helped me with handling my class


Rule Number 1:
                       NO ELECTRONICS,based on studies conducted around the world,its a fact that the biggest distraction in a classroom and outside the classroom is hand phones and social media,As a teacher,we can't control what our students do outside the classroom but when they step into our classroom,they become our responsibility and we have to ensure that we don't lose sight of their progress in class.Now,realistically speaking,it's no easy task to monitor each student whether they are on their devices and give them a warning when you have a class of 40 people,but we can minimise the usage of electronics in class,which leads me to my second rule


Rule Number 2:
                       MAKE IT INTERESTING,this rule serves more to the teachers than to the students,think back when we were in school ourselves,did we pay attention when the the lesson was dull ?,probably not,though some subjects/topics you were given to teach is a little dry but as teachers we have to find a way to spark that interest in our classroom,whether its taking some advices from other teachers or coming up with our own way to get them engaged,it doesn't really matter as long as you get them focusing on you.


Rule Number 3:
                      EVERYONE IS AN EQUAL,as easy as this may sound,we as teachers sometimes practice favouritism sub-consciously or may come off that way,a couple of ways to avoid this is to always give every student the same opportunity,avoid being bias when it comes to giving a class activity,don't put the weak students with the weak ones but mix them up instead so they can learn and improve.Secondly as teachers,we have to check our tone of voice,use of words and facial expressions.We don't want the students or student to think that we dislike them in any way,every student has their own way to express themselves,so we have to try to understand them individually though they may push our patience at times,I know I have done that to a couple of my teachers but I knew their limit and they knew I was just messing with them.


In conclusion,these are the rules that would make an effective classroom,it may not seem like much but it covers all aspects of a classroom which I stated above,hope you found this useful.

7 methods to improve your lesson plan

This week,we learned ways to improve our lesson plan slides via power point.I gotta admit,though its small tweaks but it makes a significant improvement on your slide show.For instance,we want to keep the slide show simple yet elegant,thus we should minimise the background design.

Secondly,we should avoid using cartoon clip parts as it gives an impression that you look at them like they are still in primary school,use real-existing images instead which they can relate to.Thirdly,we should start of the lesson with notes but instead try using a different approach,something to grab their attention,asking them to analyse a pic from the beginning of your slide show and come up with their own interpretation of what the lesson is gonna be about.This gets them thinking and you will be able to get their attention for the lesson.


The fourth way which wouldn't be significant to you but to them would be the size and font,using a font that is hard for them to read would lose their attention in class.You will need to make sure that the size is big enough for them to read but not too big that you can't fit a specific material in one page.The fifth way would be to display significant information only for your slide shows,extra materials should be in the notes.This should be applied when showing the class a workbook or a coursebook cover,crop out the insignificant information.The sixth way would be to make the slides as simple as possible,not cramming all the information in one page and making it difficult for the students to understand.

The seventh and final way to make your slides better is to use your home ground to your advantage,making your slides localised and understandable by the people in your country would make it easier for you to relate the information to them,both urban and rural areas.These are the seven ways for you to improve on your slide show,powerpoint is an important tool that can make things easier for you and for others,therefore using it can help you maximise your efficiency in teaching.Use this information well.

The Lesson Plan

So,last week was interesting,we had to make a lesson plan for our Pedagogy class or as I call it,our Pedo class.It's when we were ask to do it,I was questioning whether do I really want to go down this road but then I changed my mind quickly after realising I've already put in almost 15k in this course,haha.On a more serious note,I would definitely go this road again if anyone gave me a second choice,I grew up knowing that nothing comes easy,you have to work for what you want.That journey you take is what makes you tough to get through the challenges in life.

Now heading back to the lesson plan which we had to do,it was pretty interesting,we were split into groups and I was lucky that my group didn't need much help as they were all well verse in power point and that made things a lot easier,though our lesson plan wasn't the most preferable among the other groups but I think we nailed the objective,which is being able to fulfil the necessary requirements and most importantly,it should easy for us to understand.Though "understand" is a very subjective word but everyone in my group knew exactly what everything in the plan meant and its function,so for that,I couldn't be more satisfied.Before I forgot,I gotta say,our class is lucky that we have a very patient lecture who takes her job seriously,for the first time in Unitar,I feel like I'm learning something that can/will be used when I start my career later on.


Till next week,
Yours Truly

Nature

So earlier this week,we did a discussion on the topic of “School of Thought” in the context of Learning and Teaching.We went through 3 different types of methods,one would say,on how a lecturer should/could incorporate them into their teaching.The 3 thoughts are Cognitive,Humanistic and Behavioural.Just by looking at these 3 words,you can already get the definition of it,its almost self explanatory but just to be sure everyone knows what I’m talking about,I wilL try to explain it in lay man’s term so you can get a clearer picture.

Cognitive,what is it?.We can say it’s the psychological processes involved in obtaining and understanding knowledge, formation of beliefs and attitudes, and decision making and problem solving. They are distinct from emotional and volitional processes involved in wanting and intending. Cognitive capacity is generally tested with an IQ test.

Remember what I said about Cognitive being distinct from emotional and volitional processes in the above paragraph? This is where Humanistic comes into play,it touches mainly on the more human meanings, understandings, and experiences involved in growing,teaching, and learning. They emphasize characteristics that are shared by all human beings such as love, grief, caring, and self-worth aspects of life.The main emphasise here is the mental well being of the students,thus making them more subject to learning

This leads me to my 3^rd and final school of thought,which would be the Behavioural school of thought. In behavioural,the factor that plays a key role here is the environmental factor,when I say environmental,I’m not talking about trees or stuff like that but more like the classroom and the lecturer,For instance,having a lesson where there’s no much verbal interactions between the lecturer and the students will lead to the students not wanting to learn,its human nature isn’t it,if something doesn’t grab our attention, why waste our time?.Another example would be lecturers with no commitment in their line of work,just walking into the classroom and telling the students what to do without giving them a reason to do it gives a negative vibe to everyone thus leading to their students losing interest

As a economics major,I have to implement one of this methods into my teaching but before I do that, I have a theory,we shouldn’t base our choice of a teaching method solely on what we teach but on our nature as well.How would a person with no sense of empathy and sympathy be able to incorporate humanistic method in their particular field. A moral education teacher which has to teach about forgiving and respecting in the classroom but not having the values himself /herself won’t do much on the students.The right approach here is to know your strength and weakness and what you are given to work with before you start.I’m a more understanding,loving and caring person by nature therefore the right approach for me would be Humanistic as I can use these values I have to my benefit in the classroom.

Giving Birth

So many might wonder how did this blog come to life.Well, few days back we were required to set up our blog during the Pedagogy in Education class,it was our first lesson in the week.Every student was required to bring their laptops so that our lecturer,Madam Ng could guide us through the process of getting it done.Everyone assumed that we would be done in 30 minutes or so,but after an hour had passed we realized that we were wrong.As a future teacher,it had hit me that there were lessons that I couldlearn and take back from that day and apply it on my own teaching.For instance,I learned that as an educator,we have to be patient,imagine waiting in a 10 people line for ice cream,then imagine waiting in a 20 people line for ice cream and then imagine waiting in a 30 people line for ice cream.Teaching is a 40 people line,each and every student has their own pace and you can't expect them all to be on par with each other.


When it came to a point where one of us had successfully set up his/her blog,they looked to their sides and helped those who still couldn't get theirs up and running.That was being helpful to each other,wolves are stronger in a pack than by them-self.In the context of a classroom,the teacher should not let one student fall behind from the rest.Madam Ng is a lecturer who takes her job seriously,you can see that from her teaching,she's a no-nonsense lecturer which tells you that she's a responsible person,a trait that every educator should have,knowing that you are responsible for another person's well being is a lot of weight to carry on your shoulders.The one other lesson that I could take back from that day was the sense of accomplishment,knowing that everyone got their blog up and running had put a smile on my face and a wider one on Madam Ng face for sure,it may have taken us slightly longer than usual,me especially considering that I've not much experience in the field of social media but I still got there.Knowing that you have accomplished something on that day just helps me to sleep better at night.Well that's all from me now,thx for reading and have a good one

P.S:Few photos were taken on that day but sadly it all got deleted when I reformatted my phone,no worries though,if I manage to get some pictures from my friends,will be sure to upload them here ;)

What I'm Into

Hey everyone,its Retesh here,I am known to many as "R" as they have difficulty pronouncing my name.I'm 21 this year and I'm currently residing in Kuala Lumpur,Taman Melawati near Zoo Negara.People tell me how fortunate I am as the national zoo is only a stone throw away but they can't be more wrong.The fact is,staying near a zoo can lead to hearing weird mating noises around 3 in the morning and the residence are not allowed to play fireworks during any festive season as it may scare the animals,and then there's that occasional break in by the monkey's which are set free by the zoo keeper to roam the area before they are caged up.I'm assuming that they aren't well fed as they always put their hands thru my kitchen grill and steal the food that is cooking on the stove.However,its not all bad news,staying near the zoo does make for good property value and I get to see animal planet live

Unitar campus,PJ

Besides staying near a zoo,I've other interesting things going on in my life as well.I'm currently a student in Unitar doing my Degree in Education (Economics).What made me choose this career path you may ask,especially for someone who has been in the science stream path for the majortiy of his life.Well,the easy answer would be,because I like teaching.I believe there's more to that,at least to me,you see growing up in Malaysia's education system taught me that not everyone receive the same quality of education and opportunities.Without getting into the details just yet,I believe that to make change in the education system we have to study the education system first and truly understand it before we can tackle the problem.Being a student is not all I do,I try to get myself involve in some students association as well,one of it being Aiesec,as a member of Aiesec In Malaysia(Sunway University),this really gives me the opportunity to reach beyond my expectations and mold me into someone who is an all rounder.To join this association,one must go through a series of interview,conduct presentations and challenges that would touch each of your skill set

Group pic of Aiesec,sunway and monash university

Aiesec provides us with a foundation to develop our leadership,marketing,etc skills as well as provide us with exchange programs all round the world.

Who doesn't have time for gym

How do I de-stress?..In the gym of course,every night except on sundays,I make it compulsory to hit the gym at 10pm-12am.Not only its beneficial to the mind but to the body as well.All it takes is 1 or 2 hours in your schedule to keep yourself healthy,you should be your own priority.

                                

Remember I said,I dont hit the gym on sunday,that because I'm off doing this on sundays,its another way just to escape the hustle and bustle of the city,kicking back with your friends that are way older than you and hearing the stories they have to tell you

A group of 4x4

Camping for the night

                                                                                                           

Light em up

I guess thats all from me right now,hope you guys got the jizz of what my life is all about,this is my first post so I'm gonna keep somethings to myself for now but stay tuned aite and I shall surprise you.