E-PORTFOLIO EED21604 MICRO TEACHING WAN NOR SOFEA BINTI WAN HAIZAN 012021091387
TABLE OF CONTENTS N a t i o n a l P r i n c i p l e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 N a t i o n a l E d u c a t i o n P h i l o s o p h y . . . 3 A B O U T M E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 P e r s o n a l P r i n c i p l e i n T e a c h i n g . . . . 5 O v e r a l l r e f l e c t i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 l e c t u r e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 p r o j e c t 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1 p r o j e c t 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3
NATIONAL PRINCIPLES Indeed, our count ry Malaysia aspi res to achieving a greater unity for all her peoples: Maintaining a democratic way of life; Creating a just society in which the wealth of the nation shall be equitably shared; Ensur ing a liberal approach to her r ich and diverse cultural t raditions; and Building a progressive society which shall be or iented to modern science and technology; We, the people of Malaysia, pledge our united effor ts to attain these ends, guided by these pr inciples: BELIEF IN GOD LOYALTY TO KING AND COUNTRY SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION RULE OF LAW GOOD BEHAVIOUR AND MORALITY
NATIONAL EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY “Educat ion in Malaysia is an ongoing effort towards further developing the potent ial of individuals in a holist ic and integrated manner so as to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiri tually, emot ionally and physically balanced and harmonious, based on a firm belief in and devot ion to God. Such an effort is designed to produce Malaysian ci t izens who are knowledgeable and competent , who possess high moral standards, and who are responsible and capable of achieving a high level of personal well-being as well as being able to contribute to the bet terment of the family, the society and the nat ion at large”
about me My name is Wan Nor Sofea Binti Wan Haizan, and I'm now enrolled at Management and Science University's fifth semester. I am pursuing a Bachelor of Education TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language). Since I was born into a family of teachers, I can see that teachers play a significant role in our life. Besides teaching students in the class, they also help the students in many other ways. They implement moral values inside the students by showing good examples, the teachers always take care of them in the school whenever they got into trouble and the teachers also never give up on them. These are some of the reasons why I chose to pursue TESL. Besides that, languages and education are two things that fascinate me. Learning about various languages and cultures attracts me. In addition, I love to read novels and watch movies whenever I have free time. It helps me improve my vocabulary and my grammar. The journey of studying education (TESL) has been greatly rewarding. I have learned about teaching methods, studied theories of language, and learned how to teach in a correct and appropriate way. Since I am still in my second year of studies, I still have a lot more to learn in the future. Because of that, I am motivated to learn more and improve myself. I also would like to get out of my comfort zone and experience many incredible things in the future.
PERSONAL PRINCIPLE IN TEACHING I've always respected the teaching profession and believe that education has the power to transform lives. As a trainee teacher, I want to become a great educator for my future students. To do that, I believe that certain values and principles are essential. Firstly, I feel that it's important to treat all students with kindness and respect. No matter what their background or academic level is, every student deserves to be treated with dignity and compassion. I make it a priority to model the kind of behaviour I hope to see in my students. I also think that building strong relationships with my students is crucial. When students feel valued and heard, they're more likely to engage in their learning and take risks in the classroom. That's why I strive to create a welcoming and safe learning environment where every student feels included. I believe that every student has the potential to learn and grow, and it's my responsibility to help them achieve their goals and reach their full potential. I will try my best to understand each student's learning style and needs, and I'm always available to provide extra support when necessary. Lastly, I value open communication with parents and families. I believe that involving parents in their child's education is important and I work to build partnerships with them that support student success. By keeping families informed and involved, we can work together to help each student succeed.
OVERALL REFLECTION ABOUT MICROTEACHING CLASS As I look back on my micro teaching class, I feel so proud of how much I have learned and grown. I am very grateful to Madam Nirmala as she managed to help me cover various important topics like DSKP, set induction, teaching aids, reinforcement strategies, questioning techniques, and closure. I discovered that DSKP is a document that guides the curriculum and assessments. It taught me to align my lesson plans with the objectives set by the DSKP to ensure effective teaching. Set induction was about grabbing students' attention at the beginning of a lesson. I learned many creative ways to engage them, like using thought-provoking questions or real-life examples. I have also implemented some of the strategies for my mock teaching by bringing an aeroplane model to the class. Teaching aids, videos and colourful pictures, helped make lessons more interactive and enjoyable. They enhanced students' understanding and created a fun classroom environment. As we live in the 21st century, Youtube has lots of interesting education videos and I also used it for my mock teaching. Reinforcement strategies like praise and feedback motivated students and boosted their confidence. I saw how these strategies positively impacted their learning experience. Other than verbal praises, I learned that I can also give the students pretty stickers and candies and rewards to encourage them. Questioning techniques involved asking open-ended questions to encourage critical thinking and class participation. Different types of questions helped engage students and deepen their understanding. Closure was about summarising key points and reviewing learning objectives at the end of a lesson. It provided students with a sense of accomplishment and clarity. To conclude, this microteaching experience has equipped me with valuable tools for effective teaching. I feel very excited to bring these lessons to life in my future classroom and make a positive impact on my students' lives. I would also love to implement all of the teaching strategies that I have learned in the class.
For the first class of this semester, Madam Nirmala briefed us about what Microteaching is and what topics we will learn throughout the semester. As this is a non-final exam subject, there are more assessments that need to be done compared with other subjects. There are two projects that need to be done and also two tests. There are ESL blogs and Teaching Aids for project one meanwhile for project two, there are mock teaching and e-portfolio. During the class session, I learnt that the education system has changed a lot. For example, there are no more centralised examinations for primary school and secondary school students which are ‘Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah’ (UPSR) and ‘Pentaksiran Tingkatan Tiga’ (PT3). The only centralised examination that is still carried out is ‘Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia’ (SPM) for Form 5 students. As the UPSR and PT3 have been abolished, the Ministry of Education introduced ‘Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah’ (PBS). The main reason for PBS is to make sure that none of the students will be left out. Every school has been given the responsibility to assess the students by themselves. This is because different students have their own unique ways when it comes to learning. There are six bands for PBS. If the student receives Band 6 from the teacher, it shows that the student has performed very well in the class. The teacher knows each and every student's strengths and weaknesses. Hence, the assessment will be fair for everyone. I can also see that PBS is related to Bloom's Taxonomy. As PBS consists of six bands, Bloom’s Taxonomy has six stages which are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Next, I also learnt about the importance of Dokumen Standard Kurikulum dan Pentaksiran (DSKP) for teachers. It is actually a guide for teachers. If there is no guidance for the teaching and learning process, every teacher will teach anything that they want and the outcome will be different for every student. In addition, if the teacher teaches something that is not related to the examination questions, it will be a waste of time and energy. 13/2/23 Monday
13/2/23 monday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
On the second day of the Microteaching subject, Madam Nirmala has asked each group to discuss the DSKP questions and upload them on Padlet so that everyone can see. My group was assigned to find the answer to questions 3 and 4. After some time, the class started to discuss the first two questions. During the deep discussions with the whole class, I learnt that to be a good teacher, I need to understand the true meaning behind the national education philosophy. In simple terms, if I want my future students to be good, I must be a good role model. Although I will teach an English subject, that does not mean that I do not have to think about other moral values. I should combine the moral values during the class session. Next, I also learned that CEFR, which is the Common European Framework of Reference for Language, has many benefits for the English DSKP. Madam Nirmala repeated the same explanation from the previous class as there were new students from another batch who just joined the class. We then discussed questions 1 until 2 only. 16/2/23 Thursday
16/2/23 Thursday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
For this class, we proceeded to discuss the next question until the last one. The most interesting fact that I learnt today is that a teacher will always be a teacher until the end. Being a teacher is not just a profession. It is actually more than that. It involves spreading optimism constantly and being present to inspire, instigate, and provide opportunities that have an impact. The essential pillar that shapes and supports tomorrow's leaders is educators. The goal of teaching is to establish an open learning environment where students may interact, take risks, express themselves, and most importantly, have friends and role models. A teacher is also actually a learner. Every time a teacher goes into the class for a lesson, the teacher will always learn something new from the students. As every student has different learning styles, the teacher needs to adapt quickly to the new situation. Other than that, a teacher will also always learn new things from the students because of different generations. For the current generation which is Gen Z, a teacher must think outside of the box for the activity that can be done in the class. This is because this generation tends to love collaborative learning where they can do the task with their peers. They also love using technology during lessons. I also got to know the difference between collaborating activity, cooperative activity and group work activity. For collaborating activity, there is only one goal that the students need to focus on. The students will have different tasks in the group and their roles will depend on each other. The next one is a cooperative activity. The main target for this activity is for the students to cooperate with each other. For this activity, the students will have their own individual roles and also group work roles. The last one which is group work activity is where the students work in a group and there are no shared goals. The students will do the task together and help each other. 20/2/23 Monday
20/2/23 Monday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
Madam Nirmala started this class with some questions based on the discussion that we did previously. Some of the questions are ‘CEFR vs KFFR’ and ‘3.1 vs 3.1.2’. After that, we learned how to write a proper lesson plan. To get a complete and perfect lesson plan, we need to write it in detail. For example, we need to write the exact Content Standard and Learning Standard from the DSKP. Other than that, the skills must be paired and related to each other. If the main skill is reading skill, then the complementary skill can be writing or speaking skill. In addition, as the class can only be conducted for 1 hour, we cannot set too many learning objectives. The maximum number of learning objectives that we can set is 3 learning objectives only. The next point is resources. As for the resources, we can use various teaching aids, not just textbooks. Other than using textbooks, we can also show a video from YouTube, present a poster and also a live worksheet. The last one is the thinking tools. Mind maps are one of the easiest thinking tools that we can use in class. There are actually 8 types of thinking maps that we can use depending on the topic of the lesson. The maps also have different uses. The thinking maps are circle map, tree map, bubble map, flow map, multi-flow map, brace map and lastly bridge map. For example, the circle map can be used when we want to define the topic in context, the tree map can be used when we want to classify something and the bubble map is used for describing. We can also use thinking hats during our lesson. As there are 6 thinking hats which are red hat, black hat, yellow hat, green hat, white hat and blue hat. Each of these hats has its own role. Hence, the teacher can assign the hats to each of the students so that they can think based on the colour of the hats. For example, the student who gets the white hat can think about the facts and information about the topic and present it to his or her friends. 23/2/23 Thursday
23/2/23 Thursday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
During this class, we learned the second topic for this subject which was Teaching and Learning Objectives. Learning objectives are statements that clearly describe what students are expected to achieve as a result of instruction. If there are no specific learning objectives during that lesson, then there is actually no learning happening. If the teacher is lost because there are no learning objectives, the students will also be lost as well as they do not know what they should learn in the class. Learning objectives act as a guide for the teacher to make sure that the teacher will follow the DSKP and won’t go overboard. Learning objectives also can be known as learning outcomes, must be measurable statements that articulate what students should know, be able to do and value as a result of taking a course or completing a program. Effective learning objectives should be studentcentred since we are now in the 21st century and also specific. Good learning objectives should be aligned with the teaching and learning activities as well as the feedback and assessment. There are two ways to write good learning objectives. The first one is SMART and the second one is ABCD. SMART, is actually the acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Based. In the learning objectives, we should always avoid the verb ‘know’ and ‘understand’ . This is because those words are subjective hence we do not know if the students really understand everything during that lesson. To make it easy, we can check the Bloom Taxonomy to find the correct verb for the learning objectives. There are various ways for the teacher to share the learning objectives with the students in class. Some of the ways are, writing on the whiteboard, presenting using a mini projector and also explaining verbally to the students. As for the education domain in the lesson plan, we should always refer to the cognitive, affective and psychomotor pyramids and choose the best one for that topic. 27/2/23 Monday
27/2/23 Monday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
During this tutorial class, Madam Nirmala could not attend the class. Hence the class was taken over by Miss Siti Hajar. We learned about the second way of writing learning objectives which was ABCD. It is an acronym for Audience, Behaviour, Condition and Degree. ABCD is almost the same as SMART but in my opinion, using ABCD is easier and quicker. For the tutorial task, we needed to sit in pairs and write 3 learning objectives based on 1 content standard and 1 learning standard. My pair and I decided to do writing skills for Form 1 students. After finishing the task, Miss Siti Hajar gave us some feedback. We wrote too long hence we needed to make it shorter and simpler. After making the correction, we put our answer on Canva and submitted it on Padlet for discussion during the nex t class. 2/3/23 Thursday
2/3/23 Thursday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
6/3/23 Monday This class is conducted through Zoom. During this class, we discussed the learning objectives that we did during the previous class. We received so much feedback from Madam Nirmala and it really helped and was useful. After discussing the learning objectives, Madam Nirmala explained to us about the ABCD again to make sure that we really understood and could write the learning objectives correctly. After that, we moved on to the Set Induction. Set induction can be referred to as the process of using thought-provoking statements, interesting facts or audio-visual aids at the beginning of the class to gain the students’ attention and also give an overview of the topic that the students will learn. A good set induction must be exciting and the students can be prepared for what they are going to learn. There are 4 strategies to get a good set induction. The first one is the attention-getting method. For this method, the teacher needs to find a way to get the attention of the students. The teacher can speak loudly, perform something and do absolutely nothing. Then, the teacher can go to the next strategy which is the interest method. The teacher should know what are the things that can attract the students’ interest. It can show videos, present a poster and also show a demonstration. The next one is putting the lesson in context. The teacher may ask questions that can test the prior knowledge of the students and during this strategy, the teacher can share the learning objectives. The last one is advance organisers. This is where the teacher can provide the students a mind map or a handout where the students can transfer their prior knowledge to the new information. The duration for set induction must be 5 to 7 minutes only. If the set induction is too long, it might take time for the activities. Hence the teacher must manage the time correctly in the class.
6/3/23 Monday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
9/3/23 Thursday During this tutorial class, Madam Nirmala recap the set induction topic that she explained before. Then, the activity for this class was the set induction trial. Everyone needed to prepare and find a topic from the textbook. Next, some students were chosen or volunteered to present in front of the class. After every presentation, Madam Nirmala gave feedback to make sure everyone can improve and avoid the same mistakes. Some of the tips that she gave were, we as a teacher need to always give a response whenever the students answer the questions. The examples of responses that we can give are, ‘great’ and ‘good job’. This is because our responses will show that we care about the students. Other than that, the students will also feel more appreciated. Next is body language. The students can know whether the teacher is nervous or confident standing in front of the class. If our body is slouching, our voice is unclear and we just stand still, the students will not respect us and make fun of us. Hence, although the teacher is really nervous, the teacher should not show any sign of it. We must always smile and hide our nervousness. Other than that, if the teacher wants to show a video, the video should not exceed 1 minute. The reason is that the duration for set induction is just 5 to 7 minutes. Hence, if the teacher shows a long video, there will not be enough time to explain the topic and the learning objectives. Lastly, Madam Nirmala briefed again about Project 1 which is the educational game that must be presented on 20th March.
9/3/23 Thursday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
13/3/23 Monday This class was conducted online since Madam Nirmala was not on campus. Firstly, we were given a task to be completed in groups. We needed to find a few types of teaching aids and find a topic that is relevant to it. Then, Madam Nirmala explained to us the new topic which was Teaching Aids in Language Teaching. Teaching aids can be defined as anything used by a teacher to help teach a lesson or make it more interesting to students. Teaching aids can help the students to engage with the topic and focus more in class. There are 3 types of teaching aids. The first type is visual aids, the second one is audio aids and the last one is audio-visual aids. Visual aids are the aids that we can see and hold. Examples of visual aids are posters, brochures and maps. For audio aids, these are the aids that involve our sense of hearing. The examples are podcasts, radio and tape recorder. For the last teaching aids which are audio-visual aids, this is the aids where it involves both hearing and visualising. The examples are Youtube, television and projector. I learned that by using teaching aids, the students will feel more excited to learn. This generation does not like sitting and just reading books for the whole day. We as a teacher need to find a new alternative and make the class more fun and interesting for the students. In addition, the teacher can’t use the same type of teaching aids for every class. The teaching aids need to be varied so that the students won’t get bored.
13/3/23 Monday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
20/3/23 MONDAY On this day, we presented our first project which is the Educational Game. For the game that we did, it was actually based on the bubblegum machine. My group wanted to create a game that is flexible for all topics, can be used during set induction, lesson delivery and closure and also fun. Hence, we came up with this game. It took us 3 days to make this game as we needed to prepare the materials and make sure that measurement is precise. We also painted the machine with bright colours which are pink, yellow and blue to make it look more attractive. I also listened to the other groups’ presentations and I learned many new things from them. Their ideas were also interesting and great. The group that I found attractive the most was the first group. They created a game based on the Monopoly game. One thing that I liked about it was they prepared both online and physical games. The size of the physical game was also big and it looked really fun to play.
20/3/23 MONDAY P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
23/3/23 thursday On this day, we proceeded with the last group that needed to present project 1. After that, since this class was the tutorial class, each group was assigned one teaching aid and we had to find a topic, skills and how to use the teaching aid in the class. My group was assigned a brochure and realia. As for the brochure, we chose the topic ‘Life’s Great Mystery’ from form 5 textbook. The skill that is found relevant with brochures is reading skills. For the activity, we will bold some words in the brochure and ask the students to read the entire brochure. After that, the students will be asked to find the synonym and antonym for the bolded words. The next one is realia. For this teaching aid, we decided to bring an apple and an orange to the class as the realias. The topic that we chose is ‘Food, Food, Food’ from form 3 textbook. The activity that we came out with is the students need to talk about the difference between the apple and the orange. Hence, the skill that we chose for this activity is speaking skill.
23/3/23 Thursday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
27/3/23 monday For this class, we moved on to the next topic which is ‘Stimulus Variation’. From my understanding, stimulus variation is the teacher’s way to make sure that the students maintain their attention in class. If the teacher knows how to vary his stimulus, the class environment will become more fun to learn hence the students will be able to understand better. There are actually 5 factors to get the students’ attention and make the lesson more fun. There are intensity, contrast, movement, audiovisual aids and lastly teacher’s personal behaviour.For the first factor, the teacher must make the classroom environment a bit different than usual. The teacher can make the class brighter, or even change the table setting. The teacher can also speak more loud to make sure the students are engaged. As for contrast, teachers should use or bring anything that is bigger than other things in the class. It can be a big book or even an educational game that is in human size. This will surely attract the students’ attention and make the lesson become more memorable. As for the next factor which is movement, the teacher can just easily walk around the class while teaching the lesson. This will make the students focus more during the class as they know that their teacher is aware of everything that happens. For audio-visual aids, students nowadays love watching educational and interesting videos in class. The teacher can easily bring a projector or bring the students to the computer lab and project videos to them. By using this factor, the students will feel more excited to learn English. The last one is the teacher's personal behaviour. For this factor, the teacher himself should be energetic when teaching. He should show his enthusiasm to teach and avoid being dull in front of the students. If the teacher is excited to teach, the students will surely be excited to learn.
27/3/23 monday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
30/3/23 thursday For the tutorial class, Madam Nirmala recap back the topic that she explained in the previous class which was stimulus variation. After that we did one activity where we had to present our own interests in front of the class and make sure that everyone was engaged with the presentation. After every presentation, madam gave some feedback to make sure that the next person who was going to present won’t make the same mistake and everyone can improve together. Some of the new things that I learned was body language is very important. When giving instructions, the teacher should stand in the middle of the class to make sure that every student can focus. Next, if the teacher wants to ask for a response from the students, the teacher should move to the side of the class. This body language shows that the teacher is giving a space for the students to give their answers. Other than that, after the teacher gives a task to the students, the teacher must stay at the back of the class. This shows that the teacher is not in charge and the students can do their task without any pressure. The next thing that I learned was the non verbal communication such as eye contact and the gesture. When the teacher keeps his or her eye contact with the students, they will automatically focus in class as they know that the teacher is aware of everything. As for the gesture, a female teacher should always wear heels to make sure that their body posture is straight, hence the teacher will look professional when teaching the class. Lastly, a trainee teacher must ask permission during the internship whenever they want to bring any teaching aids in class. This is because the school does not want anything dangerous or bad to happen during the lesson.
30/3/23 thursday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
3/4/23 MONDAY For this class, we went on to the next topic which was ‘Questioning Techniques’. The main reason we have to learn about questioning techniques is to prepare ourselves in the classroom to open conversations, inspire deeper intellectual thought, and promote student-to-student interaction. There are many characteristics of a good question. Every teacher needs to understand each characteristic so that they won’t have any problem when asking questions to the students. The characteristics of a good question are, it must be short, it must be thought provoking, unambiguous, relevant, related to the objectives, clearly stated, straight forward, comprehensive, contain common vocabulary and lastly properly stated. If the teacher uses uncommon vocabulary or the question is too long, the students might have problems understanding and also answering the questions. When the teacher wants to start questioning the students, the teacher can use the WH questions first which are why, when, what, who and where. Other than that, the teacher should also ask questions starting from the first level of Bloom Taxonomy. The teacher must avoid asking questions that are difficult in the first place. Instead, the teacher should ask an easy question first and start to create more harder questions based on the students’ answers. This will make the students feel like the teacher is just having a quick conversation with them hence they won’t feel any pressure when answering. The last thing that I got during this class was since every student has a different proficiency level, some of them might need more time when answering or even do not fully understand the questions. So, the teacher can rephrase the questions to a simpler sentence so that the students can respond to them.
3/4/23 MONDAY P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
6/4/23 thursday For this class, we did a questioning techniques exercise which was a talk show. The reason we did a talk show was to see if we were capable of asking the open as well as the closed questions. As a teacher, we need to ask various questions based on the Bloom Taxonomy. Hence, we should use both open and closed questions. An open question is a question where there will be lots of different answers and it will not be anticipated by the teacher. For example, ‘What is an example of preposition?’. Meanwhile for closed questions, it is a question where there will be limited possible answers and the teacher will anticipate it. The example for the closed question is ‘What is a preposition?’. The reason teachers use closed questions as the first question is to build confidence in the students. After a while, the teacher can ask open questions when the students are comfortable enough to speak in the class. So, at the same time, the students’ speaking skills will improve. There are 3 strategies to use when the students have responded. The strategies are, reinforcement, probing and adjusting. As for the reinforcement, the teacher can say ‘good’ or ‘interesting’ when the students give the answers. As for probing, the teacher can ask more questions that are related to the previous responses so that the students can speak more. Lastly, for adjusting, the teacher can extend the questions and make the students think deeper. There are also other strategies when the students don’t respond and also strategies for responding to the students' questions. All of these strategies should be used in the class by the teacher in order to make the class more interesting. At the same time, the students can also improve their thinking and speaking skills.
6/4/23 thursday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
10/4/23 monday This class was conducted online since Madam Nirmala had other things to attend to. For this class, every group needs to assess the other groups for their first mock teaching. Madam had given us the instructions in detail on the Telegram group and we needed to assess it strictly without any biases. My group, which is group 6 has been assigned to assess group 14. Madam also gave us a Google Form link for the leader to fill in during the assessment. For the first mock teaching, we had to record the set induction only. The duration for the video should be 5 to 7 minutes. In that video, it should have the criteria for set induction as well as the teaching aids. My groups assessed all of the five videos together. We also discussed carefully about the criteria to make sure that we did not miss anything and be fair with group 14.
10/4/23 monday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
13/4/23 thursday We moved on to the next topic for this class which was Reinforcement Strategies. For this topic, we learned about how to make sure the students can maintain their good behaviour in the class and at the same time, decrease their bad habits. For reinforcement, it can either be positive or negative. Positive reinforcement can be defined as providing a stimulus that can immediately increase the behaviour and maintain it in the future. As for negative reinforcement, it is when we take something away from the students. Hence, they will try their best to make sure that they won’t do bad behaviour in the future. Negative reinforcement and punishment are two different things. Punishment, for example, is when the teacher uses rattan or anything to hit the students to make sure the students decrease their bad behaviour. But for negative reinforcement, we do not use any form of hit or physical punishment on the students. There are actually many ways of positive reinforcement that the teacher can use during the lesson. If the teacher uses only one reinforcement, the students will tend to get bored and will not anticipate anything during the class. Some of the students' reinforcements are, verbal praises such as ‘good job’, attention such as showing thumbs up, edibles such as candy, giving activities such as giving them time to play computer and lastly, the students’ preferred item like books and stationaries. To be a good teacher, we must always use a variety of reinforcement in the class to make sure the students are excited to learn. When the students are excited to learn, at the same time they will understand the lesson better.
13/4/23 thursday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
17/4/23 monday During this class, it was the due for the presentation of the e-blog project. My group was the sixth group to present our e-blog. For our project, we decided to choose ‘Wonder of Nature’ for the topic. We designed 3 reading activities, 3 writing activities, 2 speaking activities and 2 listening activities. We created our e-blog by using Canva and the colour for the website is in green to match with the topic. For each activity, we created a Google Drive link for the students to submit their answers. We also prepared a WhatsApp group where the students can communicate with the teachers whenever they have any questions. Overall, Madam Nirmala was satisfied with our e-blog and my group felt very grateful and happy as our hard work has been paid off. The only thing that Madam commented on was my group did not highlight the topic and the form in the e-blog. So, the students might have some confusion about the e-blog. The next thing was there is no gamification in our e-blog. As students nowadays are the generationZ, they tend to love playing and watching video. Hence, teachers should create a game where they can have fun and at the same time learn English.
17/4/23 monday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
8/5/23 monday During this class, I learned that it's important to have a "closure" section at the end of a lesson. This is where the teacher reviews the most important points of the lesson and connects them to the learning objectives. The point of closure is to make sure the students understand what they just learned, and to help them think about how they can use this knowledge outside of the classroom. The teacher should limit the closure part to 3 to 5 minutes if they want to perform it well. They should encourage students to speak out to demonstrate their understanding of the subject matter by asking questions that are related to the learning objectives. To make it more enjoyable, it's also a good idea to include an activity. I became aware of the need of helping students comprehend what they are learning and why it matters after studying about closure. By going through the key elements of the lesson, relating them to the learning objectives, and ensuring that the students can understand what they just learnt, I will use closure correctly during my teaching practice in the future. In order to make it more interesting, I'll also try to think of some entertaining activities such as fishbowl. Overall, I think using closure can benefit the students' learning and help them become better students in general.
8/5/23 monday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
11/5/23 thursday This class was conducted online. For this class, every group needs to assess the other groups for their second mock teaching. Madam had given us the instructions in detail on the Telegram group and we needed to assess it strictly without any biases. My group, which is group 6 has been assigned to assess group 11 this time. Madam also gave us a Google Form link for the leader to fill in during the assessment. For the second mock teaching, we had to record the activity parts only. The duration for the video should be 7-10 minutes. In that video, it should have the criteria for questioning techniques as well as the stimulus variant. My groups assessed all of the four videos together. We also discussed carefully about the criteria to make sure that we did not miss anything and be fair with group 11.
11/5/23 thursday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
15/5/23 monday For this class, we moved on to the very last chapter which was The Use of Whiteboard in Classroom. Madam Nirmala asked each of us to practise writing. Since there was no whiteboard in the class, we had to bring our own mahjong paper and a marker. Each of us needed to write any random words onto the mahjong paper to see if our writing were readable. When we did the activity, Madam gave us feedback to make sure that we can improve our writing. I also learned how to organise the whiteboard. I should always write the day, date, topic and learning objectives everytime I enter the class. Madam also suggested we bring coloured marker pens to make the students more attracted to engage with the activities in class. Lastly, Madam gave us some useful tips on how to write on the board. Some of the tips are, teachers should hold the marker away from the pointed ink to make our handwriting bigger. Next, teachers should not show their back 100 percent towards the students. Instead, teachers should face the students 90 degrees while writing on the whiteboard. Lastly, before we go to an internship, we should buy our own small whiteboard and practice to get neat writing.
15/5/23 monday P I C T U R E S O F E V I D E N C E
18/5/23 thursday Today’s class was a bit different. Madam gave us a fun activity where each group needed to go out of the class and did a simple research. We had to ask a few simple questions to MSU students from different faculties. The questions were related to set induction, teaching aids, reinforcement and closure. Basically, we had to ask the students whether their lecturers implement all of these strategies in the classroom. In summary, we concluded that most of the lecturers in other faculties implemented some of the strategies but not most of them. The lecturers mostly used slides as their teaching aid as it was easy to teach. They also gave reinforcement such as ‘good job’ as the reinforcement. But for the set induction and closure, most of the lecturers did not implement the strategies. My group managed to interview 5 students from FBMP, FISE, IMS AND SHCA. I learned that to be a good educator, I need to attract the students’ attention by using interesting teaching aids. I also need to apply the reinforcement strategies to make sure the students feel more appreciated in the class. Lastly, I would say this class is very memorable to me.