WEEK TWO: BAHASA ANYWHERE, BAHASA EVERYWHERE!

DAY 5 (JANUARY 14): THE BIPA CLASS COMMENCED

The start of the BIPA class. Learning Bahasa language of Indonesia is seemed learning their wonderful culture, people and country. This altogether happened at the Universitas Islam Indonesia’s (UII) audio and visual room. We got an amazing start of class for everyone inside the room is all nothing but excited to twist their tongue and burst new mouthful vocabularies. Our first lecturer was Ibu Ami, one of the supervisors of the SEA Teachers from the cooperating school where we’re going to be deployed. She had presented us the simple and basic Bahasa greetings, daily expressions, etiquettes and proper way of uttering polite words when involve in discourse.

Ibu Ima on the other hand, seconded the lecture of the Bahasa language class talking about ways to engage at market and doing shopping. She had burly emphasized the common grocery items found in the “toko” (store) and made a translation into our common understanding. She had also let us indulged in a Bahasa conversation by presenting a dialogue of conversation of the buyer and seller in the market. We find the exercise quite challenging and interesting for everybody must place themselves into hot seat. It was kind of perforating your mind to work but your mind doesn’t even have the chance to know what it was doing about.

The class had adjourned early in the afternoon, and we headed up into our dormitory respectively. It was another priceless experience to be witted to my home country.

DAY 6 (JANUARY 15): SECOND DAY MEETING

It was another worthwhile day full of learnings under our BIPA class with our two smart supervisors. Ibu Ami started to discuss the class about the Transportasi Tradisional (Traditional Transportation) of Indonesia. We also have been indulged to the different terms and expressions to use in transportation, learning the Bahasa days of the week (Nama Hari) as seemed we went back to the formative years of our elementary and finally learning prepositions. She had also introduced us to the Kahoot online game, which to be assessed was by far the coolest and exciting game I’ve ever experience in the rest of my education years.

Next set of topic awaits us to unravel in the afternoon session with Ibu Ima. She had introduced us to the most basic and common things likely to be found in the classroom for us to easily recognized them and help our teaching experience more likely to become successful. She engaged us to the various conversations of Bahasa language as applying our learnings into application and practice which had been one of the best way to express Bahasa in more competent way and to understand Bahasa in clearer way.

My thanks are due to the host University who eventually organized the BIPA class for the SEA Teachers not just to impart their culture but also to establish stronger connections.

DAY 7 (JANUARY 16): SCHOOL VISITATION

At last, we have eventually visited the school where I was get placed to teach and partake the flashing and exciting ideas I’ve learned in my country towards the new educational context and new varieties of students in the Muslim environment.

It was a great morning started with warm and great accommodation by the teaching force of the school headed by the school’s head master (Kepala Sekolah) Dra. Anies Rachmania SS.,M.Pd.

I felt a spasmodic apprehension upon stepping up the main entrance of the school building but the friendly faces and warm smiles wore by the students and teachers hastened it away. I was felt challenged, to working with the teaching force of the school for even though I always reminded that language is not a barrier, but I have to make up things efficiently I could for my main goal is to enhance my teaching skills and help students to grasp ideas, learn more and have some fun of my teaching style. I would rather stick to my goal that I must be consistent to the use of English for I also them to be GLOBALIZED in terms of

We had been headed to the orientation program where the Head Master officially welcome our short service teaching practicum in their school. I can manifest the willingness and eagerness of the recognized cooperating teacher who had been assigned to collaborate and guide our teaching experience.

SCHOOL: GENERAL INFORMATION AND ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION

School Profile

SMA Negeri 1Cangkringan is located at the Northern Yogyakarta Area, JI. Merapi Golf no. 3, Bedoyo, Wukirsari, Cangkringan, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The school is closed to the towering Merapi volcano, and is surrounded by torquiose forest.

Current head master is Drs. Anies Rachmania, SS., M.Pd.

In its historical context, the school was established on 1997, and held its 20th founding Anniversary last January 28 – 29, 2019.

It had garnered various regional and national awards, and was famed as the greenest and eco-friendly school last 2018.

Academic Support System

The school has 40 faculty and staffs which support its teaching force and academic system.

It has homed of several facilities for academic support system like computer laboratory, Biology and Physics laboratories, these two facilities have wide range support system for students’ experimental activities and practices.

The school also includes library which is only minimalist but has a collection of books and sufficient learning media. The media contained in this library are 24 "TV, LCD, DVD Player, and CD tapes to support teaching and learning activities. Other collections available include textbooks, reference books for subjects or references, magazines, newspapers, novels, and books and others that can increase knowledge. It is equipped with some volumes of books which could even provide students help for their classroom research activities and enhancing reading comprehension.

Teaching System

Teachers were varied from conventional to unconventional type of classroom approaches and incorporate wide use of technology in the class. They have simple teaching strategies and employed first hand learning experiences to the students.

The teaching system approach of teachers is mostly focused on the didactic classroom teaching and contrived classroom discussions, which eventually deemed to be partly teacher-centered.

Teacher in the classroom stands as the more-knowledge other for the students, and they allot time for lecture and discussion methods of teaching. Some teachers, do incorporate group discussion and brainstorming activities to students, but this had been seemingly less necessitated to gather higher other thinking skills.

Materials and other Learning Sources

Several materials are manifested inside the classroom setting as learning support system, these are students’ text books, modules and several learning materials. Classroom has been designed by white board and projector screen, which make an easy discussion for teachers and an employment of technology for the students’ meaningful learning experiences.

Measurement and Evaluation System

Learning assessment of teachers to the students learning includes the traditional type of assessment of learning.

Based on my classroom observation, the evaluation system is relative to the measurement of cognitive skills of the students where teachers discuss the lesson and provide assessment of learning at the end of lesson. Teachers as manifested to give less focus on the assessment of affective and psychomotor domain of learning experience to students.

Based on my observation, authentic assessment as a vehicle for learning was rarely used by the teachers to give a real life examples and contextualization.

DAY 8 (JANUARY 17): SETTING FOOT TO THE FIRST CLASSROOM OBSERVATION

I had once driven for introducing my culture learned in the classroom settings to the Indonesian students everything what Filipinos had to actuate showing response to the teacher. I doubted if I would have been Culture shocked or at the zone of culture-vulture where I observed students remained in chair while teacher asked them to read or to give something on the topic. I thought I could do it with myself too, observing that it was good but, however, I realized I will miss the imperative part of my journey by introducing my culture and at the same time condensed the Filipino style of learning which would be better to let them stand as showing respect and eagerness to learn.

What came out during my observation were the style and strategies of teachers, especially my cooperating teacher who was fond of making discussion, she also employs group activities to her students but minimal as it seemed.

PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT

Teaching Methods

Teaching methods are outlined with the school’s curriculum guide and the course outline – syllabus. These are the basis of teachers’ daily lesson of the core competencies and basic learning standards.

Methods of teaching employed by most of the teachers are didactic classroom discussion, experimental activities, lecture and discussion, Socratic method of questioning and mostly on teacher-centered type of classroom approaches. Some teachers use grouping activities which help students brainstorm the ideas of the lesson. It does seem to have students were not gotten used of interactive classroom activities like classroom academic games or activities relating to the lesson, they rarely engulf the partition of knowledge gain from differentiated instructions and they do not used of student-focus technique of meaningful learning experiences.

The school has the focus on improving the students’ reading comprehension skills. They utilized a 15-minute time of the first period class of every first meeting of the week.

Subject classes are divided into sections. Teachers meet twice a week to their class in an average meeting, which implies decongested class time for students and even to teachers.

Classes starts normally as early as 7:15 in the morning and end at 3:30 in the afternoon. Teachers have an average time meeting to their classes of 45 minutes to two hours.

Learning Materials and Innovation

Learning materials and sources found in the classroom were the students text books and modules which became the daily hand-instrument by the students and teachers every class meeting.

- Classroom is equipped with white board and built-in projector and screen. Teachers’ resourcefulness on the materials used in the class helped students enhance learning experience on the lesson. Teachers may add visual aids and conventional instructional materials, but what mostly seen with the regards of the instructional materials are video presentation and pictures flashed on the screen.

Sources of Learning and Technology

One of the sources of learning by the students are the modules of every subject. These modules were already contained the basic learning experiences, the core competencies, and the objectives of the lesson. Books have also provided the learning outcomes and the expected skills the student will have to acquire and develop at the end of the lesson.

Technology is being wide use as one of the effective instructional materials by the teachers. Projector screen is use to present the lesson to the class, it is also the medium for motivating the students like presenting the videos relating to the topic, and can be an interactive media for class activities.

Authentic Assessment

Teachers assessed the students by traditional type of test. This had been done at the end of the class lesson.

Teachers also employed authentic assessment where it measures not only on the content of the lesson learned by the students but how they could apply the learnings in the real life scenarios but the application of authentic assessment in the classroom is rarely can be observe.

DAY 9 (JANUARY 18): GO GREEN DAY

My second day of classroom observation is kind of Green. This started with the unique practice of all students every Friday called “Go Green Day”. Since on the outset, the school was given the national award for the greenest and eco-friendly school last 2010. By means of maintaining their tagline, they have to sustain a green school environment for sustainability. As we’ve observe, students and teachers of SMANCA wear white shirt with green sleeved as a gesture of passionate support to their school’s practice.

OBSERVATION ON TEACHER IN THE CLASSROOM

Their Planning for Teaching

Teachers’ planning for instruction takes a considerable preparation. They must execute appropriate lesson planning, crafting and making syllabus, and adhere to the core competencies.

Teachers prepare lesson plan before setting foot to the classroom teaching experiences, a blueprint of an effective instruction.

Teachers also plan for making their instruction much effective to the students. As far as my observation is concerned, students had shown unwillingness to over-used approaches to them, hence teacher must have to try out other things which could elicit their attention and set their concentration up to the class.

Their Preparing Lessons and Materials

Teachers uses the module as one of their guide by framing the lesson’s objectives and the outcome of instruction. Teachers prepare lesson plans and syllabus as their daily log and course calendar which serves as their basis for how much time they would spent in a certain topic and how to manage the class activities against the schedule of the school.

Most of the materials used by teachers inside the classroom is power point presentation and video presentations. The use of materials in the classroom sometimes depends to teacher with his/her specialization. Teachers do include contextualization as per my observation. They provide localized example of materials available in the community for the students to receive an authentic learning experience.

Their Teaching in Class

As observed, teachers were the more knowledge other in the classroom. They present the lesson in mostly pure lecture and discussion methods of teaching. Student were engulfed by a didactic classroom discussion where they were learning in a pure contrived setting.

Teachers were basically employed technology in the class but the principles and methods of teaching is deemed can be trace back as teacher-centered classroom type.

Inquiry-based and discovery methods were less manifested and students were dependent to what teachers could offer.

Their Measurement and Evaluation

Expected outcomes and objectives of the lesson were assessed through conventional type of assessment strategies.

Assessment of the students’ learning in classroom involved formative and summative assessment, where teachers evaluate the lesson at the end of its discussion to see how far the students were able to attain the objectives, and conduct quarterly examinations for the overall learning experiences of the students to a given course of program or subject.

My Overall Impressions to the Teacher's Performance

My kind of overall impression to the teaching performance of the teachers is satisfactory. The competence of teaching styles, techniques and approaches of teachers can be deemed mediocre in my personal assessment. Since I am gotten used with the principle of student-centered learning process, which allows all 21st century teachers to have the interactive classroom activities which mainly focuses on the students’ development and performances. I was satisfied with their teaching performance for they have able to incorporate the novelty in teaching process blended with their rich cultural heritage on the variety of students they have. They manipulated the use of technology in the classroom at the expense of an effective instructions amidst of various styles of conventional and unconventional teaching-learning process.

DAY 10 (JANUARY 19): LESSON PLAN MAKING

Starting off my first lesson plan for the first meeting in school.

Upon learning the school's location, teaching system and the instructional materials to use, I have gathered ideas how to mobilize my resources, expertise and time to manage my first class in SMA Negeri 1 Cangkringan.

DAY 11 (JANUARY 20): RELIGIOUS OBLIGATORY DAY

Day to thank and worship God.