Practicum Reflective Report

Nur Faradhillah Bt. Mohd Noor

Introduction

After three months being a practical teacher at Sekolah Temenggong Abdul Rahman 2
(STAR 2), I gained a lot of useful knowledge in order to prepare me to be a better teacher in
the future. Now I realized that to become a teacher is not as easy as an ‘ABC’ because it
demands a greater patience and skills in order to make a lesson fun and informative. In order
to be a great teacher, we need to be a practitioner, analyst and problem solver in the
classroom.

Practitioner

From the practicum experiences, I can see myself as a practitioner when I designed
the activities that need to be carried out in the lesson based on the pupils’ background
knowledge. For instance, when I decided to teach a topic regarding four seasons, I brought
the real things to the classroom like gloves, trench coat and so on in order to introduce the
word ‘winter’ to the pupils. This was because in Malaysia we do not have the four seasons
like New Zealand and any other countries. That was why I had to use ‘realia’ and showed
some videos that related to the topic to give the clearer view to the pupils because the pupils
did not have the experience with the four seasons. In addition, since the young learners like to
see colourful pictures, I would ensure that every lesson would have at least some pictures to
be shown to the pupils. For instance, when I taught them a topic regarding sports, I brought
some pictures of the famous football players in order to attract the pupils’ attention towards
the lesson. Besides, I did also ask the pupils about their favourite sports and what they usually
play during their leisure time at home. As mentioned by Charles (2010), teachers should link
curriculum content to pupils’ out-of-school experiences for working with pupils form all
societal and economic groups. Moreover, as a teacher I also always aware for not using the
materials that can trigger the sensitivity of the pupils because as a teacher I have to respect
individual differences in the classroom in order to have a good rapport with the pupils.
Charles (2010) inferred that a failure to recognize and adjust to such differences can lead to
misunderstanding between teachers and pupils, making teaching and learning more difficult
than essential.
Analyst

Moreover, being a teacher required me to be an analyst before teaching the pupils.

This was because I need to analyse the curriculum specifications first before designing the
activities for the Year 5 pupils in order to ensure that all the activities suit the curriculum
specifications. In addition, for the KBSR syllabus, I had to ensure that all the four skills are
well integrated in every lesson. On the other hand, for the KSSR syllabus I had to analyse the
content standards in order to ensure that all the learning outcomes are achievable. Moreover,
now I realized that an analyst teacher will analyse the pupils’ abilities in order to prepare the
teaching materials for them. For instance, the class of 5 Waja of mine were consisted of
mixed ability pupils that required me to design the activities that can cater all the different
needs in the classroom. All these aspects are vital in order to keep the pupils motivated to
learn during my class. In addition, I believed that collaborative work really important for the
mixed ability groups because the higher achieving pupils can help the low achieving pupils.
Allowing pupils to work together cooperatively promotes better learning especially in pairs
and even the shy pupils will usually participate and cooperate with one another (Charles,
2010). Besides, Vygotsky (1978) concurs that social interaction can enhance children’s
cognitive development. That was why classroom seating arrangement became a crucial part
in managing the pupils. For instance in the class of Year 5 Waja, I preferred the pupils to sit
in pairs because this type of seating arrangement is better to prepare them for exams. Besides,
it is easier for teachers to monitor each pupil’s progress when he is working on tasks when
they sit in pairs. As supported by Harmer (2007) in which the teacher has a clear view of all
the pupils and the pupils can all see the teacher when they sit in rows. In contrast, for the
class of Year 1 Wira, I preferred them to sit in groups in order to minimize behavioural issues
in the classroom and ensures peer learning among them. Sitting in groups can also help the
teacher to remember names of the pupils better.

Problem solver

In addition, the experiences of being a teacher enable me to be a problem solver in the

classroom. One of the obvious incidents that needed me to be a problem solver was when I
need to establish rules and routines in order to control the pupils. I did use verbal cue like
‘Eyes on me’ and the pupils would replied me with ‘Eyes on you’. Statements like these will
focus pupils’ attention on the teacher. In addition, non-verbal cues were also play vital role in
managing the classroom. Besides, when I saw a pupils who did not pay attention to my
lesson, I would point to my eyes and then to pupil’s eyes with two of my fingers. I also would
walk over to their desks, place my palm face-down and quietly tap the desk twice if they start
to misbehave. As implied by Leinhardt, Weidman and Hammond (1987), successful teachers
use the first days of school to establish and rehearse routines which permit instruction to
proceed fluidly and efficiently. Further, a problem solver teacher needs to be prepared all the
time to face any unplanned circumstances that might interrupt teaching and learning sessions.
For example sometimes I encountered a situation where some of the pupils finish the tasks
assigned before everybody else because the classroom was encompassed of mixed ability
pupils. Therefore, I had to prepare some extra worksheets or activities before hand in order to
keep the pupils on task and reduce the misbehaviour problems. One way of dealing with this
problem is for the teacher to carry around a selection of spare activities which can be done
quickly in order to keep the early-finishing pupils happy (Harmer, 2007).

How I have grown professionally?

I think I have grown professionally after the three months of practicum when I can
accept all the constructive criticism from the senior teachers and did all the tasks that had
been assigned to me. Moreover, these three months of practicum have taught me on how to
learn from the mistakes and try not to repeat the same mistakes in the future in order to
improve my teaching style. As for me, I got a mentor who is a head of the English Panel who
really helped me a lot to go through the practicum phase successfully. Furthermore, my
partner and I had a meeting with the English Panel once a week to talk about the ways to help
the pupils to improve their English. Through the meeting I also have learnt on how to plan
well ahead from the senior teachers. The senior teachers also gave some advices regarding on
varying teaching aids and strategies in order to make the lesson enjoyable. I was so glad for
having some helpful senior teachers who were not reluctant to share their experiences and
knowledge in order to help me with the teaching and learning session especially during the
observations. In addition, peer teaching was one of the great ways to improve my teaching
because my partner and I can exchange the ideas and identify my strength and weakness in
teaching. Further, reflections were the most important element in teaching in which I can
identify my own strengths and weaknesses and think for the solutions for every problem that
I encountered during the teaching and learning session. It cannot be denied that I learnt a lot
from the reflections and reflections made me aware of my own mistakes. The reflections also
enable me and my supervisor to see whether I did some improvement in the next lesson
compared to the previous ones or not. As mentioned by McGill (2013), in order to meet the
needs of an evolving audience, teachers, young and old, new and established should be given
the time to develop; to share and to train. Therefore, in the future, I have to keep on writing
the reflection after each lesson in order to identify my weaknesses and find the solution to
overcome the problems. I should also mingle and ask opinions form the senior teachers since
they have more experiences in dealing with the pupils and to show my respect towards them.

Conclusion

To sum up, after three months of practicum, I have understand the real meaning of
being a teacher where a teacher need to be a practitioner, an analyst and a problem solver in
the classroom in order to make the teaching and learning process run smoothly and
effectively. Moreover, the real life experiences in school really taught me on how to be more
professional when dealing with the people because teachers need to deal every single thing
professionally. Hence, I really hope that in the future, I can apply all the knowledge that I
have gained during the practicum phases in order to prepare me to be a great teacher who can
produce better future leaders.
References

Charles, C. M. (2010). Building classroom discipline (10th ed.). United States: Pearson
Education.
Harmer, J. (2007). How to teach English. England: Pearson Education Limited.
Leinhardt,G., Weidman, C. & Hammond, K. M. (1987). Introduction and integration of
classroom routines by expert teachers. Curriculum inquiry, 17 (2), 135-176. Retrieved
from
http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/stable/pdfplus/1179622.pdf?acceptTC=tru
e&acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true
McGill, R. M. (2013). Professional development for teachers: how can we take it to the next
level? Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-
blog/2013/jan/29/professional-development-teacher-training-needs
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cmabridge, MA: Harvard University Press.