Summary of chapter 1 and chapter 2

Name: Nurma Manurung

Class: 3.2 English

Lesson: Model dan Pendekatan Pembelajaran

Lecturer: Dr. Herlinawati,M.Ed

CHAPTER I

TEACHING PROFESSION

A. What Learning and Teaching Should Be

This book is not merely another book containing a collection of teaching techniques and dos and don’ts. The first thing this book will try is to have you potential teachers read its contents with an open mind. This book finds it saddening to see that the culture of learning and teaching has not been the best it can be for many years and in many places. With laptop and projector becoming the most common technology schools provide for classrooms and the curriculum shifting to student-centered from teacher-centered, one of the most common teaching practice we see in classes is PowerPoint presentations of the lesson material. The use of this facility has not shed the most optimistic light on formal education. Some teachers could spend the majority of classroom time sitting on their desk, lecturing and going through slides, barely interacting with the students and expecting them to be able to keep up with mere commentaries.

“Social media and mobile phones are distractions in the classroom” is not an unfamiliar statement, and students could go through class chatting and playing games rather than listening or taking notes. Some teachers who did not care if students truly understand the concept and simply wanted their classes to have students with high scores, have even let students copy off each other. Teachers were essential for children to be smart. Teachers were highly necessary for kids to develop an intellectual way of thinking, a philosophical way of self-reflecting. What the teachers know and believe were passed down to the next generation. As such, the good deed of helpingBut, for many years now, our society has put emphasis on the ideal, numerical results of learning that is good test scores. The natural result of this kind of priority are teachers teaching students to memorize what they need to pass tests, students studying for the shallow goal of high scores, and even parents encouraging students to get top ranks because good and teaching were passed down as well.

Grades are pre-requisite for well-paying colleges and careers. Crudely put, many learned for money and the promise of luxurious life. The goal of learning for many is no longer as holistic as it used to be. Instead, education is a transfer of knowledge, without the transfer of good character, so there are many people who are smart yet not of good character. Have you ever experienced your teacher telling you that you are not good enough? Have you ever told your teacher that you aim to be an astronaut or a doctor and your teacher said you are either good at it or not? That kind of teacher is not a good teacher and not the type of educator that will ever be desired. That kind of teacher has what is called a fixed mindset, which is the belief that someone is either born smart or stupid. In Indonesia, the famous phrase used is “otaknya sudah kayak gini.” Have you ever said that to yourself? Have you ever compared yourself to a classmate whom you think is a smart person and believe you will never catch up to them because you don’t have “talent”? Do you think you would never be successful? This means you also have a fixed mindset. Fixed mindset is a huge obstacle for your development as a learner. More importantly, it is a huge boulder for you as a potential teacher. You are not smart and you are not stupid. Whether or not you are smart or stupid is determined by your effort. Read back on Jay Shetty’s script about education on page vi. When you look at other people who you think they have talent so they have it easy to be successful, you are actually under what is called the iceberg illusion.

However, the goal of our current education is not just to make you good enough, but also to make you believe you can be better even after you are out of an educational institution. Failure is not your limit. Failure is an opportunity to grow. With a growth mindset, you will understand that failure and disappointments are normal. Your goal as a teacher in this era is to create learners who will challenge themselves to be innovative—who go the extra miles.For your students to become innovative, they must take risks. For them to maintain a growth mindset, they must recognize that nothing is ever perfect. This is why respect between you and your students for each other is essential.

B. Breaking Down the profession of Teaching

A profession can be described as a professional occupation in the education sector based on a specialization on a certain field. In this modern world, if school teachers don’t teach, can children be smart? Yes, They have the Internet. They have books. They can self-learn all sorts of subjects, languages, skills and specific professions if they so choose. So why is the teaching profession still necessary? Because teachers are still needed to give focus, to monitor, to assess. Teachers do much more than just teach. Teaching is a difficult and misunderstood profession and requires a dedicated, patient, and willing person to keep up with all of the job's demands, which are:

· You gotta understand what you teach, and it can’t be what you learned when you were in school a decade ago, it has to be the updated version. So, you’ve to continuously study and review new research within their content area.

· In the same vein, you have to keep up with and study new instructional pedagogy. Find a way to implement the teaching material to be relevant in daily life to breathe more context into the lesson.

· Furthermore, you must keep up with the newest technological trends.

· You as a teacher must arrive at school early, stay late, and spend part of your weekend to make sure you’re prepared. Not to mention, you’re the one setting a good example for your students. If you’re habitually late, they’re going to copy that bad habit at some point (and kids copy pretty quickly).

Organize your classroom in a student friendly way, meaning that the seating arrangements maximizes learning and gives breathing room, without creating any unnecessary hassle for them and you to move around the class.
Develop ways to differentiate instruction to challenge all students without frustrating them while still ensuring that everyone meet the learning objective.
You must decide whether or not a seating chart is appropriate. They must also decide when a change to that seating chart is necessary.
You must monitor students while they are working independently. You must walk around the room, checking student progress, and assisting students who may not completely understand the assignment.
Decide on a behavior management plan, which means “gaining mastery” over classroom management, procedures, and expectation. By “gaining mastery” we mean that you must hold students responsible for what they do by determining an appropriate consequence when they disobey to the point of disrupting the learning environment. Punishing them for every mistakes or misconduct is unreasonable as they are humans and they are children.
Try to formulate questions that require both higher and lower level responses so every student have the opportunity to participate in the discussion; also by giving them an appropriate waiting time and rephrase questions when necessary.
You must break down data from assessments to self-assess whether or not the new content is successfully taught or if it needs changes.
You gotta grade and record every student’s papers in a timely manner. In addition, also try to give your students timely feedback with suggestions for improvement. This is crucial so you can determine whether or not students have mastered a topic or are in need of re-teaching or remediation, which in turn, is a pretty big point in your teacher-parent talks.
You’re obliged to attend in the required professional development because you’ve to learn the content and figure out how to apply it to your classroom. Also participate in optional professional development for areas that you recognize as your individual weakness or as an opportunity to learn something new. This one, you do it because you want to grow and improve.
Sometimes, these obligations might make you miss a class. Therefore, you must prepare a backup plan so you can adapt and change on the fly. These include emergency lesson and substitute plans for days you might have to miss
Obviously, establish healthy working relationships with your co-workers. Help them out, answer questions, and work together in a team environment. You should spend time observing them, for that matter, so you can have in-depth conversations with other educators to exchange ideas and ask for guidance or guide. Be willing to listen to constructive criticism and advice! Use the feedback from their evaluations as a driving force for growth and improvement. Perhaps ask the principal or evaluator for strategies on how to improve specific areas.
Also, keep your kids’ parents informed of their progress on a regular basis (by calls, emails, or face-to-face conversations). This is so you can engage the parents in students’ learning process.
Plan with other grade level and/or content level teachers to determine common themes, objectives, and activities. This will be particularly fruitful when your students could relate what they learn from other subjects to yours and vice versa.
Another duty a teacher has is to serve as a sponsor for a class or club activity. As a sponsor, you have to organize and oversee all of the activities.
Oversee classroom fundraising opportunities, including tallying and submitting orders, turning in and counting money, and sorting and distributing orders.
At some point, you’d also have to organize and schedule class field trips. These field trips are important to cement student learning because you can use them to give the kids first-hand experience. Get information to students and parents in advance, and make it clear to students if the field trips are obliged or not, and if participation is counted in their final grade or not, to avoid confusion and students only asking and taking action at the latest moment possible.
Extra-curricular activities include your presence because it demonstrates institution pride and support for the students who participate in these activities. Some teachers think these “extra-classes” are a bother, but try to think of it as a time to teach your students in a less formal way than an official class in which you can connect much better with your kids. Remember from Chapter I, teachers must develop and cultivate relationships with their students, and they accomplish this by building a trusting rapport with each student on mutual respect.
Sit on committees to review and oversee critical aspects of the school such as budget, hiring new teachers, school safety, student health, and curriculum.
You must have empathy for every student. Be willing to put yourselves in your students’ shoes and realize that life is a struggle for many of them.
Health is also something teachers must pay attention to. You should monitor the health and safety of all their students. Look for signs of abuse or neglect, and report it anytime you suspect or believe a student is in any potential danger.
If you found one student or some in risk, complete referrals for individual needs and services (e.g., counseling, special education, speech-language or occupational therapy, etc.).
You must counsel students when they bring a personal issue to them. Be a willing listener capable of giving students great life advice that can help lead them to the right decisions.
You must help students identify their individual strengths and weaknesses. Then help them set goals and lead them on the path towards reaching those goals. This’ll make it easier for you to create and lead small group activities focused on helping students acquire specific skills.
This is often unmentioned at first because it’s something most teachers realize in the middle of the way, but you should make enough paper copies for your students. Fix the copy machine when there is a paper jam, add new copy paper when it is empty, and change toner when necessary.
You should change the decoration on your bulletin boards, doors, and classroom at various points in the year. Variety is always nice while monotony is inviting boredom, you know~
As a teacher, you must be a role model who is always aware of their environment and does not allow themselves to be in a compromising situation—so no unprofessional or abusive relationship with the kids you’re supposed to teach!
You must pause from lessons to take advantage of teachable moments. Use these moments to teach valuable life lessons that can carry on throughout their life.
Go the extra mile for your students offering tutoring or extended help for students who may be struggling.

C. The Challenges of Teaching

This job is difficult and draining—anyone who had ever been a teacher would tell you this. In the process of writing this book, we have engaged with multiple people with teaching experience to compile a list on the things that makes the profession of teaching challenging. Like we mentioned, teachers don’t just teach.

⬥ The job salary will never make you rich. Teachers are sadly underpaid (except in Finland). Most teachers work take a side job to supplement their income. This condition can change though, if you’re clever to spot opportunities to create lucrative outputs with your teaching.

⬥ Teaching isn’t glamorous, are undervalued and underappreciated by many people in our society. It’s very odd, but our society has the idea that teaching is the most noble perception, but also places a negative stigma that teachers “complain too much and so don’t do much”. Prove them wrong.

⬥ There’s a general lack of respect. Just a few decades ago, if a student got poor grade, it was because they weren’t accepting the knowledge that the teacher gave them. Nowadays, if a student is failing, teachers get blamed, even though they really can’t focus on an individual in a class of 30 students, not to mention when a single teacher has to teach multiple classes and multiple subjects. Teachers are unfortunate scapegoats for society when students aren’t showcasing their brilliance and this speaks of the general lack of respect toward the profession.

This lack of respect in schools can be traced back to what is taught in the home. To be blunt, many parents fail to instill the importance of core values such as respect as they once did. Because of this, like many things in today's society, the school must take on the responsibility of teaching these principles—akhlak.

⬥ Since students themselves also have general lack of respect for their own teachers, classroom management is even worse. Worst case scenario is when students are so unruly, your teaching time basically got replaced just trying to discipline them. Remember: you do not need each student to like you, lest they take advantage of that “need”. Demand and give respect.

⬥ You can't play favoritism (and if you have a favorite student or some don't call them out on it). You might care for all of them but you have to keep a professional difference. Students are smart enough to know if they'd be given leeway or get off scot free if they feel you're too emphatic. Figuring out your boundaries is hard for new teachers. Figuring out your boundaries is hard for new teachers.

⬥ Most schools are underfunded (the funding depends on standardized tests results, sadly). Meaning, if the school’s student body had low achievements, the school’s income lessens, so your class might be overcrowded or only have outdated tech and books. If the school is understaffed too, teachers might have to take on dual roles (e.g., teach multiple subjects, hold multiple positions) to save school budget.

⬥ Overcrowded classroom is a hassle because every person has different personalities, interests, abilities, and needs. The practice of standardization means all students are treated and taught as if they are the same, when in fact some of them have high or low ability, motivation, and other factors. The best teacher evaluates and teaches each student differently, but doing so came at the price of the teacher’s time and energy.

⬥ Overcrowded class, new batch of students—you’d have a hard time remembering all the names of your students, let alone adapting to everyone's learning style. To overcome this, actively engage with them; build a genuine relationship and let them personally know that if they have problems in learning they can come up to ask for advice.

⬥ Too many kids… means too many parents. When parents aren’t supportive of you, teaching a specific student could be more difficult. Many parents aren’t supportive, only show up to complain, and don’t actually know what’s going on with their child. There are few supportive parents who are engaged (positively, not in the tiger-parenting sort of way). So, keep up communication with them from Day 1. It doesn’t have to take up a big chunk of your time; emails about school activities and advice to the parents on how to handle their kids’ education at home every few weeks or months is enough, and usually highly appreciated if they were truly personalized for their child and not simply generic, probably copy pasted commentary.

⬥ This job gives you tons of paperwork, mostly grading which is time-consuming, monotonous, and boring. Virtually no human enjoys doing this. Lesson planning also takes up a lot of time and thought. Don’t forget absences, classroom level reporting, and discipline referrals.

⬥ Being a teacher takes up more time than what is shown in the class schedule. You’d have to arrive earlier and would probably stay late to grade papers, prepare for next lessons, other paperwork. Summer is holiday for students, but not so much for you—you got to attend those obliged and voluntary professional development workshops.

⬥ Time is limited. Not just in teacher’s life in general as stated on the previous point, but also in class. You only have them for a short period of time to prepare them for the next level. So, maximize the time you have with them.

⬥ If you have children of your own or someone younger under your care, your work will consume much of your family and quality time, more so when you need to bring your paperwork home.

⬥ Education is trendy; best practices in education almost often changes because of new trends every year. It’s frustrating to invest time learning and implementing new things, only to have new research come out to say it does not work. But just because new research came out with negative results for the teaching method you are currently using doesn’t mean you should change it; research is conducted to evaluate it but doesn’t ultimately decide if it is useless or useful and must be abandoned or adopted. If it’s found to be ineffective, then try to make it effective.

⬥ At the same time, while teaching practices are encouraged to be updated on a constant basis, society at large and local emphasizes standardized testing results. Nowadays, teachers are judged on their class’ test scores (not their actual teaching performance, sadly). If your students score well, you’re great; fail, you’re doing a terrible job and need to be terminated. That one test day is apparently more valuable than the whole semester.

⬥ Education could be too political. Politics affect the local and state levels including education, and unfortunately many politicians continue to push mandates on schools and teachers without truly seeking input from educators themselves or consider the potential impact of a mandate 5 years from now.

⬥ Some other teachers might not make it easy on you. New teachers might be intimidated with “veteran” teachers, and some “veteran” teachers might even be cold to collaborate or provide support

⬥ If you have children of your own or someone younger under your care, your work will consume much of your family and quality time, more so when you need to bring your paperwork home.

⬥ The way kids communicate is different. This younger generation has their own lingo and slangs; be prepared to feel old and try not to take too much offense if they send you texts, tweets, or Facebook comments that are too casual. Reprimand and remind them first.

⬥ Lastly, some students could be very inappropriate, sharing and asking topics such as relationships, sex, pregnancies, drugs, family gossips, and even give away movie spoilers.

However, challenging isn’t the same as impossible. Doing something hard often equal worthy rewards, whether they are actual rewards or simply your own satisfaction on having completed the challenging task. If you can have fun taking up the challenge of trying to pass Level 2000 of Angry Birds or Candy Crush Saga, you can have absolute joy taking up the challenge of teaching.

D. The Rewards of Teaching

This profession is hard, but also bore the best fruits. This book has also asked many teachers to share what they found rewarding in their profession.

⬥ You're a contributing member of society. This may sound basic, but you'll really feel it when you look around the street and see people who are just getting by selling street food and toys or cleaning the road in the heat. It tugs the heartstrings and motivates you to do better for your community.

⬥ You'd look around at your fellow teachers and realize you're surrounded by some of the most caring and dedicated people in the world (even if some of your colleagues not easy to work with). As much as teachers find things hard, they still stick to the job because they are invested for the future.

⬥ You and other teachers share the same experiences of this emotionally draining job. When there are too many responsibilities, teachers can share the duties based on each other’s weaknesses and strengths.

⬥ At some point, someone might make you cry. You'll find support from unexpected people; the admin you thought who disliked you but helped you, the parent who seemed angry but sees your dedication to their child, or the student that might be unruly but was the first to lend help.

⬥ Your kids will come up with some of the funniest statements and the laughter you all shared in the class will be one of the most memorable experience. During breaks, you might have and even give endless “you'll never guess what this kid said.”

⬥ Many students might claim their lessons were boring, but for you teaching would never be a bore. Time, students, topics, even the state of the society are just some of the many variables that make every class different. Maybe you found better examples or analogies for your second class of the same unit; you could tell the students to share what they know to the class you held first that morning to promote team work and study groups.

⬥ Your students learn stuff, obviously. But there's a difference between giving a student an A or 100 and knowing that this kid had worked hard to bring up their Ds to As.

⬥ You learn stuff. Sure, you learn so you can teach, but you also learn surprising responses from your kids to things that adult-you may take for granted. Whether it's a different interpretation of a classic story, an unconventional approach to solving a problem, or a whole new outlook on life, you can learn as much from your kids as they will from you.

⬥ You can be legit nerds. Awesome teachers teach enthusiastically with a passion that’s like a motivational virus. They engage students in creative lessons that spark self-interest and the desire to learn more about a particular topic. You basically have a great platform to share your passions with others.

⬥ This career gives you the chance to collaborate with all kinds of people (e.g., students, parents, college students, community members, organization members, orphans, professors, professionals, etc.) It's up to you to connect and create more opportunities.

⬥ Teaching rarely makes you rich, but you can pay your bills. The salary generally isn't so bad, plus you get health insurance and a pension pretty much guaranteed. That's more than a lot of professions can say.

⬥ You can build a vocation, not just a way to pay the bills, because you’d be pushed to build your skills and innovate new ways to teach.

⬥ The job market is both flexible and permanent. Teachers are a necessary part of our society so this job will always exist.

⬥ The best reward most teachers agree on is when they found those students who really love to learn. The ones who have passion for a subject and a work ethic to accompany it. Help them and give them the best opportunities to grow.

⬥ Years later, you might get a blast from the past when your ex-student sent a thank you card or a picture of them making it big in their lives.

E. What Makes a Good Teacher?

Students’ teacher’s philosophy will influence you. When you are learning, your mind is open, and whoever your teacher may be, their ideas, body language, way of speaking, etc. may affect you, the student. Ideally, learners should be able to choose their own teacher. But in conventional education, students have limited choice. Learning and teaching should not make life as a job training. Both students and teachers have many values to pass down beyond simple knowledge, and so should be open-minded to accept them wholeheartedly.

⬥ But you as learners must also reflect what your teachers give you. Teachers are not perfect, will make mistakes, and occasionally exercise poor judgment. There are times that you’re simply.

overwhelmed, lose focus, or cannot remember why you chose to stay committed to this profession. These things are human nature.

And in the same vein, your students are also human. They will make mistakes. They will test your patience as they try to understand the world around them. What makes you a good teacher is your respect for your students’ struggle. Never belittle them. As teachers, your words and actions are powerful. You have the power to transform, but also the power to tear apart. Be professional by choosing your words carefully. Teachers have an awesome responsibility that should never be taken lightly. The words you use (as well as the ones you omit) can actually impact the intellectual abilities of your students.

Also, sometimes we forget where many of these students come from and the situations that they deal with on a daily basis. Every kid is different and these differences should be embraced. If all kids were the same our jobs would be boring. Therefore:

🗶 Do not yell at or call a student in front of their peers. If you expect them to respect you, you must respect them too. Don’t berate or humiliate a student! If they answered a question incorrectly, remind them that getting something wrong is normal in learning and teach them the right way again, don’t make them embarrassed in front of the class by calling their wrong answers silly or stupid. If they displayed poor behavior (e.g., cursing or bullying), reprimand them to show the class that such behavior is not tolerated, but don’t spend too much time berating the student who did it. Advice the student who did that privately. The key is to talk to them, not to make them feel down.

The saddest part of this situation is that current media seems to keep showing cases of lack of respect between students and teachers, such as abuse. A Google search with the keywords ‘guru’ and ‘murid’ and the first pages would show inappropriate headlines. Remember, as a teacher, you are a professional. In an age where everyone has a phone, your misconduct would be put out on the Internet and you’d be out of job sooner than you’d think. Think before you react and choose your words carefully.

🗶 Don’t claim that a student “will never be able to do that.” Encourage your students, don’t discourage them, even if their dreams may sound lofty or impossible. No teachers should crush any student’s dreams. You are not in the business of predicting futures, but of opening doors to the future. When you tell our students they can’t do something, you place a lid on their potential. Teachers are big influencers, so show students a pathway to achieving success, rather than telling them they will never get past obstacles.

Kids are going to make mistakes. It would be ignorant to think that they won’t. You are setting yourself and them up for failure if you do. There is a difference between having high expectations and having unrealistic expectations. Preconceived notions can and will destroy a relationship with a student. Everyone deserves a second chance. Allow someone this chance and you will find that they will surprise you more often than not.

🗶 Don’t accuse a student is “just lazy.” When students are repeatedly told that they are lazy, it becomes a part of who they are. Many students get mislabeled as “lazy” when there is often a deeper reason why they’re not giving much effort. Get to know them and determine the root cause, don’t dismiss them.

🗶 Telling them “That’s a stupid question!” is a big No. Always address their curiosity (appropriately). Students should be comfortable and encouraged to ask questions. When you refuse, you’ll discourage the entire class and would end up with a class that just stay quiet when you ask questions. Questions are important because they can extend learning and provide teachers with direct feedback allowing them to assess whether or not students understand the material.

🗶 Don’t dismissively say “I’ve already gone over that. You should have been listening.” Each student understands differently and your job is to make sure everyone understands. Some students may require more explanation or instruction than others. Some materials might need to be retaught or revisited. Even if only one student is asks a question, many more might also need further explanation, so think of another way to reinforce your points.

🗶 Honestly, never say “I don’t care if my students like me.” Teaching is often more about relationships than it is about teaching itself. You can accomplish so much more when students like you genuinely.

🗶 Please, do not gossip about another teacher with a parent, student, or another teacher. Discussing about different ways other teachers teach, students learn, or parents react to figure out how to solve any issues is great, but gossiping and talking bad about others is disrespecting them. Gossiping will just create discord and make it more difficult to work, teach, and learn.

🗶 Becoming complacent is arguably the biggest problem you’d have. Complacency will ruin a teacher’s career. Always strive to improve and become better. Experiment with new teaching strategies and change them up a little every year. Go the extra mile by implementing your ideas through research, professional development, and by talking with other educators. Otherwise, it can be an embarrassment when your students found out from their seniors or alumni that you’ve used the same material or technique a decade ago.

Other things that a professional teacher should not commit might be:

🗶 Being afraid to apologize or admit when you make a mistake

🗶 Treating students differently based on personal interests

🗶 Ignoring a student

🗶 Creating unfair rules

🗶 Misusing your authority

🗶 Having a negative attitude on a consistent basis

🗶 Never giving control over to your students

🗶 Being hypocritical

🗶 Using profanity (swear/curse words)

🗶 Violating a student’s personal space

🗶 Giving vindictive or counterproductive threats

🗶 Holding things against a student that is beyond their control, such as a grudge on their mother or father who was an alumni and had been a bad student or such reasons

As mentioned above, being complacent—stagnant, not improving, apathetic—with how you teach is one of the biggest negatives a teacher can commit. It does a disservice to your students and education as a whole too. Here are several things that an awesome teacher should do:

ü Have a positive attitude. In fact, be funny. Students will naturally look forward to coming to your class and learning if they know that you aren’t uptight and rigid, and a motivated teacher would make students fired up.

ü Be consistent. Students must know what your expectations are on a daily basis. You’ll quickly lose their attention and attention with inconsistency. For example, you asked students to use or buy a certain book for the course, so align your tests with the material in that book because kids often get angry when what they’re asked isn’t the same with what they’ve studied.

ü Be fair. Treat everyone equally. Giving a different set of consequences for the same actions will undermine your authority.

ü Give students control. Give them options. Student autonomy makes students more likely to engage.

ü Be flexible, else both you and your students would keep failing because of your unwillingness to adapt.

ü As new teachers you might want to be all friendly and not stern, but teachers must assert authority so classroom would run smoothly throughout the semester.

ü Know your resources. Where’s the school’s list of rules? The library? The office to send an injured kid? Get information of these in advance.

ü Be specific. “For homework, do your handout,” you ordered. Well, are they supposed to just write the answer on the handout, on their notebooks, on a separate paper? You need to give clear instructions because kids like to avoid doing assignments by claiming “I didn't get what the homework was so I didn't do it.” Even better, tell them the goal of the assignments to make students feel the relevance of doing them.

ü Notice how kids learn, react, and interact in different ways—Be creative. No students want their studies to be mind-numbing instead of mind-stimulating.

ü Don't forget that kids are people and not just vessels to absorb the history of Tuanku Tambusai or Fundamental Values of the Constitution and regurgitate the information on test day. Get to know what makes them tick (what motivates them personally), like a certain subject, a favorite activity, or an incomprehensible obsession with a fandom. Getting a sense of what makes each kid an individual snowflake will help you interact with them better and teach them better.

F. The Status Quo of Education in Indonesia

Indonesia’s population will reach its peak with about 70% of our demography as part of the working age group in 2030, but our economy is still declining because job creation is still not accelerated and youth unemployment statistics is still rising due to tight labor regulations, skill mismatches, and low education quality. Indonesia has known this for a while since 2000 and have implemented major policy reforms to improve education such as:

· A constitutional mandate to spend 20% of the national budget on education. However, since national budget is 15% of GDP, Indonesia’s spending for education is only 3% of GDP, one of the lowest in the region. An increase is needed because if you think education is expensive, you should try the cost of ignorance.

· Decentralization of education sector functions to the district and school level

· The Teacher Law in 2005

· Increase of resources to schools with the School Operational Assistance Grant (Bantuan Operasional Sekolah, or BOS) program.

· Support for parents enrolling their children in schools through the Smart Indonesia Program (Program Indonesia Pintar, or PIP).

Improvement of our education is demanded because our population in the near future will be—nay, already is—expected to have the four skills that are desired, essential, and the 2020 Target of Education are Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Computer Speak, and Collaborative Competence. A classroom in which teachers and students’ highest goal is merely to memorize facts so they can correctly answer the tests to past the standard grade (KKM) is now considered left behind. Building more secondary and tertiary schools to accommodate elementary school graduates will take a very long time, but what we can do now is to improve the quality of all our students so they can learn and survive outside of school.

G. To Teach or Not to Teach?

In this modern world, if school teachers don’t teach, can children be smart? Yes.

They have the Internet. They have books. They can self-learn all sorts of subjects, languages, skills and specific professions if they so choose. So, what are teachers for?

To give focus. To monitor. To assess.

Internet, books, all those resources are simply tools that store knowledge for children to reach. But they neither know how to reach for them yet nor the best way to grasp them. It is frustrating to see students who have tremendous potential but do not want to put in the hard work necessary to maximize that potential. The journey is hard, but it doesn’t have to be void of fun. Education is no longer as monotonous as it used to be when primary education started to become compulsory all over the world sometime after 1775, but it still has challenges from so many different factors because while your job title is ‘teacher’ you have to do more than just ‘teach’. You have administration duties, you have to manage things beyond lessons, and beyond teaching you also have to learn just like your students. A good teacher expects their students to succeed and also expect themselves to succeed.

We ask you: why do YOU teach?

Think thoroughly about your answer. If you are serious in pursuing a career in teaching, you will find this book most useful in your journey.

CHAPTER II

TEACHING ELEMENTS

A. Instructional Planning

Teachers plan. Good teachers don’t simply “wing it”. Teachers have to organize their lesson plans by considering the curriculum, school resources, student motivation, student ability and other variables that will affect all instructional decisions teachers must decide before they actually teach. Below is a comparison of what excellent and poor planning may look like.

Table 2.1 Good vs Bad Lesson Plan

You are a first-year teacher in a public school. Today, you are going to be observed by one of the school administrators to be evaluated. Your class will start in a few minutes. The assessor asks you to hand over your lesson plan for this class.

Good Lesson Plan

Bad Lesson Plan

School: U-Raise Academy

Class/Semester: XI / 1

Subject: English

Aspect/Skill: Speaking

Unit Title: Expressions of relief, pain, and pleasure

Time Allocation: 2 x 40 minute (1x meeting)

Meeting: 5

Learning Objective: 75% of the total students (n=27) will be able to identify expressions of relief, pain, and pleasure, as well as using them while interacting with another person.

Teaching Model: Direct Instruction

Technique: Think-Pair-Share

Lesson Material: Expressions of relief (e.g., I am relieved that…, I thank you for…, I’m so grateful for…), pain (e.g., It hurts because…, I’m miserable due to…, I’m sad to hear that…), pleasure (e.g., It’s wonderful that…, I’m happy with…, that’s terrific!)

Learning Resources: Short videos containing expressions of relief, pain, and pleasure

Rationale: Students need to remember these common expressions so they can respond appropriately to different kind of situations

Syntax: (1) Teacher greets the students, led a pray, and checks their attendance, (2) Teacher explains about expressions of relief, pain, and pleasure, (3) Teacher directs students to pair up one-on-one; if there is an odd number, students may have three people in one group, (4) Teacher asks the pairs of students to create a short conversation containing expressions of relief, pain, and pleasure for them to perform in front of the class, (5) Teacher calls out three pairs of students to come forward and demonstrate their short conversations in turns, (6) Teacher provides feedback to students about their performance to improve their understanding.

Assessment: Score of 1-4 (i.e., 1 = very well, 2 = good, 3 = inadequate, 4 = very poor) on pronunciation, vocabulary, and accuracy. The formula is:

x 100

Expressions of relief

Expressions of pain

Expressions of pleasure

Assignment

Homework

You as a teacher must have a solid lesson plan not only so you will not flounder during teaching, but also so the superior evaluating your teaching performance will have a solid idea and expectation of how you will run your class. Your lesson plan is your “script” which gives you confidence and reduce the anxiety beginning teachers typically have. The above example is not a concrete guideline. Lesson plans differ depending on the subject, the model, the class, and many other factors including the teachers themselves. You and a co-worker may be teaching the same lesson topic, but the way you personally teach are different thus you cannot simply copy another’s lesson plan is it is highly likely unsuitable for you. Teaching is a personal endeavor, so you must plan on how you will run your class.

In the 20^th century’s first half, society at large believe in behaviorism (Mayer, 1996; Reynolds, Sinatra, & Jelton, 1996), which emphasizes teachers to use certain activities to stimulate students to behave appropriately and learn the information given to them. Behaviorists view students as passive recipients, like an empty bottle that respond passively to teachers’ cues who will be rewarded if they behave and punished if disruptive. Overtime, education has realized students in reality actively respond to their environment based on their background knowledge, motivation, and strategies. Society now sees learning as a development of strategies to encode and retrieve information, learners as active participants who try to make sense of their environment using strategies, and teachers as partners in the process of interpreting information. This perspective is called as cognitive psychology (Brunning et al., 2004).

B. Your Topic: Curriculum and Syllabus

The lesson topics you will teach is typically already determined by the school curriculum, which is a set of standardized learning goals across grades. A curriculum is the guideline of the course/program, covering the knowledge, skill, behavior, and performance that will be taught to and expected of students. In essence, a curriculum is what an educational institution offers to students. It is well-planned by the government and educational institutions for a long duration. Teachers do not make the curriculum, but adhere to its objectives.

A curriculum contains all factors involved in an educational program, and one of it is called a syllabus, which covers the portion of what topics should be taught in a subject or content area. Subject syllabus is a unit of the curriculum containing 7 primary segments: instructor data, general class data, course targets, course arrangements, grading and assessment, learning assets, and the course calendar. The table below details the differences between curriculum and syllabus.

C. Your Learning Objective: Taxonomy and Task Analysis

Teachers are not directly or solely responsible to create a school curriculum and syllabus, but you will be responsible to determine the goals of your classes. Specifying learning objectives is commonly difficult because schools generally have a broad spectrum of goals and individual teachers prioritize different things. For example, imagine this scenario of three physical exercise teachers discussing their goals:

s A wants the students to develop their muscle strength and flexibility so no matter what kind of other exercises they do, they’ll have a good foundation.

s B prefers students to know many different kinds of exercises so they will be able to differentiate aerobic and anerobic exercises.

All three of these objectives are equally important, but attempting to reach all of them for one class is nigh impossible so teachers must select on a specific learning objective. One topic could have dozens of goals, so make it easier to select them, teachers can use two conceptual tools: taxonomy and task analysis.

1. Taxonomy

This tool divides the broad selection of objectives into 3 domains:

a. Cognitive Domain

This domain consists of objectives concerned with obtaining knowledge, understanding, and skill, such as teacher B’s goal. Researchers have developed Bloom’s taxonomy to classify the different student outcomes that are in the cognitive domain (Bloom, Englehart, Furst, Hill & Krathwhol, 1956) shown in Table 1 which is then revised by Anderson & Krathwohl (2001) shown in Table 2.

Table 2.3 Cognitive Taxonomy

Level	Description
Knowledge	Students can recognize, define, recall specific information
Comprehension	Students understand content by being able to summarize, translate, or give examples
Application	Students can solve problems and properly convey the information
Analysis	Students can break down the topic to reveal in organization and structure
Synthesis Evaluation	Students can create a unique (for them) product/output using the information Students can judge the value or worth of something by comparing it to predetermined criteria

b. Affective Domain

Objectives of this domain is aware that school doesn’t exist simply to make students smarter as teacher C said. Schools also aim to internalize students with healthy views, moral values, and good manners (Krathwohl, Bloom, & Masia, 1964). Affective learning objectives ask “what are schools for?” (Noddings, 2003).

Table 2.5 Affective Taxonomy

Level	Description
Receiving	Students are willing to listen passively to the message/advice
Responding	Students act on the message by responding, discussing, or obeying
Valuing	Students show preference by voluntarily displaying/sharing the message
Organization	Students incorporate the value to their outlook and everyday habit
Characterization	Students act consistently with their beliefs

c. Psychomotor Domain

This domain involves the development of coordination and physical skills (Harrow, 1972), which is the goal of teacher A. The physical activities aren’t limited to physical education, but can also include typing, music, home economics, arts and crafts.

Table 2.6 Psychomotor Taxonomy

Level	Description
Reflex movements	Unconscious behavior
Basic fundamental movements	Early age behavior (e.g., grasping, walking)
Perceptual abilities	Muscular movement coordination with outside world
Physical capabilities	Strength, endurance, flexibility, agility
Skilled movements	Complex movements (e.g., skipping rope, shooting basketball)
Nondiscursive communication	Using bodies to express feelings or ideas

2. Task Analysis

After you have determined your learning objective, ask “what will I show and tell my students to do so they can reach the learning objective?” This tool breaks down the learning objective into small tasks (Alberto & Troutman, 2003).

For example, teacher D’s learning objective is for students to write simple sentences with correct punctuation, so they wrote down the skills needed to meet this objective: (1) Being able to differentiate between complete sentences and sentence fragments, (2) Knowing the difference between declarative, interrogatory, and imperative sentences, (3) Knowing whether periods, question, or exclamation marks go with each type of sentence, and (4) Correctly using these marks to punctuate different kinds of sentences. You can see that task analysis helps you break complex skills into smaller subskills that will be easier for you to teach to students. For this example, teacher D would have to firstly make students understand what sentences are, then help them understand how to punctuate the different kinds of sentences, and finally have them write and punctuate on their own.

D. Your Learning Activities: Lesson Plan

Lesson plans focus your efforts on a specific day and class, so it is commonly personalized for each teacher. It needs to be specific enough to give you structure and a solid idea on how you will proceed with your class, but also general enough to give you room to be flexible and adapt to unexpected circumstances (e.g., interruption by other teachers, unruly students, malfunctioning technology facility, students taking too long to finish their assignment). You have seen an example of a good lesson plan on Table 2.1. To understand it further so you can make a lesson plan of your own, below is a description of the most important elements that must be included in a teacher’s lesson plan:

Table 2.7 Elements of a Basic Lesson Plan

Component	Description
Unit Title	Relationship between this lesson and others in the unit
Instructional Goal	Broad goal for the lesson
Learning Objective(s)	The specifics of all the things the students should learn
Lesson Material/Content	Major ideas/skills in the lesson

Learning Resources/Aids	Needed equipment and supplies
Rationale	Why the lesson is important
Learning Activities/Syntax	Learning experiences that will be conducted
Assessment Procedure	How student learning will be measured
Allocated Time	The duration of the lesson and its learning activities

The last item on the table above is perhaps the most difficult to control. Allocated time is the amount of time teachers assign to different learning activities. Depending on which activity you’d prioritize, the time allocated to specific activities can vary. To understand how you can maximize your classroom time, you must understand its 3 dimensions:

Table 2.8 Dimensions of Classroom Time

Dimension	Description
Instructional time	Time available for teachers to teach after classroom routine (e.g., greeting, praying, role call)
Engaged time	Time for students doing the learning activities
Academic learning time	Time for students successfully doing the learning activities

There are some types of assignments you can choose for the class activity:

v Whole-class; you lecture the class as a whole and have them all participate in discussion.

v Small groups; you have students to work on assignments in groups.

v Workshops; you get students to perform various tasks simultaneously.

v Independent work; you ask students to complete their assignments individually.

v Peer learning; you ask them to work together and learn from one another.

v Contractual work; both you and your students come to an agreement of what kind of assignments students should do and what their deadline will be.

When you choose the type of assignment, you must choose the type that would provide the most benefit for the students based on your assessment measures (Biggs, 2011). Try to ask:

· What level of learning are my students at now?

· What level of learning do my students need to get to?

· What’s the amount of time I want them to use to complete the assignment?

· How much time and effort to grade and give feedback?

· What’s the purpose of the assignment?

· How does the assignment fit with the rest of the lesson plan? Does its content knowledge or does it require application in a new context?

· Does the lesson plan fit a particular framework?

E. Your Evaluation: Assessment

You should be intimately familiar with this portion. As students, you have to participate in quizzes, do your exercises, and submit your home assignments. Now, as teachers, you are the one who will prepare and create them. Though in recent years, you may even ask your students to create their own questions and answer them on their own so the students can provoke their own knowledge.

What needs to be stressed is the alignment of your assessment with your learning objective (Hammer, 1998). Your quiz, assignment, and test cannot simply require students to be able to correctly answer a question or command; your assessment has to address the question “how can I determine if my students have reached the learning objective?” Both your activities and assessments have to logically connected to your learning objectives. This is called instructional alignment, which is the matching of learning objectives, activities, and assessment (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). You can’t aim for students to be able to create an essay when your learning activities focus on isolated grammar skills. Without this alignment, it will be difficult for you and your students to understand what is being learned (Bransford et al., 2000).

How do you make your teaching elements align?

Step 1 : Develop learning objectives

Step 2 : Identify how you would assess if students reached the learning objectives

Step 3 : Design the way you would teach the material so students can reach the learning objectives

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