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Every single teacher in this world for sure has his or her unforgettable teaching
experiences, so do I. My personal experience reminded me of the diversity of the
classroom. Pupils with different personalities, abilities and history can only be addressed
after careful study and planning. Good intentions are necessary but insufficient alone to
meet the challenges presented by today’s young people. To teach effectively, I must
possess considerable skill, knowledge, patience, caring, and commitment. However, these
are still not enough. I must also possess understanding. I must understand myself and
those with whom I work with. Failure to understand the relationships between these
contexts or how I can influence my teaching can lead to ineffective performance and
frustration.

Daniel Ellard personal style of teaching is based on the following principles: engage
the students, establish fair, set clear and realistic goals, identify and fix
misconceptions early, let the students make mistakes.(students learn more from
understanding why an incorrect answer is wrong than from simply memorizing the
correct answer), and always respect the students. I practice those principles since I
started teaching in 1990. My first teaching experience was in Sekolah Menengah Agama
Rakyat Addiniah in Changkat Jering, Taiping. At that time, I was only 19. I always made
research to tackle my students. My father, who was also a teacher, always guided me to
be a good teacher. Then, I entered Sultan Idris Training College and learnt more about
pedagogy of teaching.

According to Daniel Linden Duke (1990) there are two types of observed classroom
behaviours. There are verbal behaviour and nonverbal behaviour. Parts of the verbal
behaviour are praise and encouragement. It happened to my Year Two pupil, Amoral.
At that time, I taught remedial class. He did not even recognise A-Z letters. He came
from a poor family. His father had three wives and his mother was the second. His father
was only a bus driver and left them with a kilogramme of rice and a kilogramme of fish
to eat in a week. He had a very low self-esteem. I always praised him even he only

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achieved very little improvement. At the end of the year, he finally was able to read. I
always encouraged him to study hard. This is because he is the only one helps his mother
till he grows up. He promised me. I felt very touched.

There are six personal qualities and eleven listening skill when communicating with
pupils (Peter P.G ,1987). Parts of the qualities are to develop a positive attitude to all
students and show trust in their actions and intention. This statement reminds me about
one of my experiences when I taught my pupils singing “nasyid” for a contest. I still
remember the lead singer, Aishah. She did not have the confident to sing in front of
audiences. After a very hard practice Asia, she can sing very well even her parents also
did not realize that she had such a melodious voice. Finally, that year our school got first
place in the district level contest. The most unforgettable part was when the lead singer
expressed her thankfulness because I gave her confident not only during singing but also
to face the world full of challenge. Suddenly, my eyes filled with tears.

I also read a lot when I have problem to tackle my pupils. In 1998, I was asked to
teach English Year 2. The pupils were very quiet when I entered the class. I realized that
they were scared to converse in English. To overcome this problem, I practiced the
“Assumption of Modern Behavioural Theory”. I used manila cards as my teaching
aids as my stimulus. Then, I hung the charts. Everyday, I enforced them to read the chart
and their class monitor led the reading. Finally, the whole class can master the vocabulary
on the chart. Sometimes, when I entered the class late, other teachers wandered how my
pupils could read the entire chart without my supervision. Thank god. At last, they
became motivated to learn English.

I have found that a good way to engage students and identify misconceptions
quickly is to give short questions during class and following the discussion of each major
idea. These questions are important because they primarily test on how well I explained
the topic and holding the attention of my pupils. Lorna K.S. Chan (1987) listed six
purposes of questioning:

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1. To facilitate communication
2. To focus attentions on particular aspects or features of a topic
3. To evaluate students’ knowledge and understanding of subject matter
4. To review essential content in a subject
5. To stimulate particular kinds of thinking and cognitive activity
6. To control social behavior of students

A career in teaching will expose me to many challenges. Some are predictable and
some are unpredictable.Most important, when I teach my pupils, the class must be
interesting, relevant, and fun. A pupil who is curious and interested in the subject is easy
to teach, but unfortunately, not all students act the same way. It is my responsibility to
show the elegance and beauty of the subject so that the pupils will love the subject for
their best future undertakings.I agree with Daniel Linden Duke (1990) “to be a successful
teacher requires years of practice and sound professional judgement” .I am in love with
teaching and it is my only ambition since my childhood. Therefore, I could not ask for
more.

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Bibliography
Ayers W.(2006) The Hope and Practice Of Teaching. Journal Of Teacher Education: The
Journal of Policy, Practice and Research in Teacher Education, 57(3),269-277.

Cole,P.G. & Chan ,L.K.S.(1987). Teaching Principle And Practice. Sydney, Australia:
Prentice Hall

Duke, D.L (1990) Teaching An Introduction..Singapore. McGraw-Hill International Editions

Ellard, D( n.d.)*. Teaching Stetement.[online].Available http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/

ellard/pubs/teaching.pdf

Joyce, B.,Weil ,M. & Showers,B. (1992). Model of Teaching (4th ed). Needham Height,
Massachusetts: Allyand Bacon

Klauseier,H.J (1980) Learning And Teaching Concepts. New York , USA :Academic
Press

Klauseier,H.J (1980) Learning And Teaching Concepts. New York , USA :Academic
Press

Reinnert H.R. & Huang A.(1987) Chidren In Conflict (3rd ed). Third Avenue, New
York: Macmillan Publishing Company

Skinner P. (1990) What’s Your Problem: Posing and Solving Mathematical Problems In Junior
Classes. South Melbourne , Victoria , Australia: Thomas Nelson Australia

Sukram E.(2004) The Power To Teach. Pendidik: Pencetus Idea Masyarakat Pendidik,
(6),74-75

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