Teaching Practice Journal SMJA

WEEK 15: 27 APRIL 2009

INTRODUCTION

Today is my final teaching practice in Sekolah Menengah SMJA. I had been doing this once a week for the past 15 weeks. I gain a lot of teaching experiences from my supervisor and watching other teachers how they teach. I had a wonderful time myself conducting classes and interacting with the students of Year 8 ‘A’ Computer Studies.

For today’s lesson, the students of Year 8 ‘A’ did a practical on spreadsheet project. This spreadsheet project will be the third project for the student. The students had completed their first project on Graphic Design and second project on Microsoft Word earlier this year. The upcoming fourth project will be on Microsoft PowerPoint after the school second term holiday.

The above four projects carries a total of 30% of the total subject mark. Another 30% will be based on normal class activities, homework and test. The final examination carries the last 40%.

Each student has to actively participating in their class work, homework, test and projects to achieve a good grade.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 7.30am – 8.30am

I reported to office at 7.30am. I first had a discussion with Hjh Nurul (Head of Department for Computer Studies) and teacher Suzielita Dewi on the lesson plan and class activities (how to supervise the students in their practical work for the third project).

Time: 8.30am – 10:00am

Students entered Computer Lab B. Siti Nur Amanina did not attend the class because she was participating in the Javelin event for SMJA Sports Day in Berakas Stadium.

Then I distributed the handout for the Spreadsheet project to the students (please refer to Appendix 1 for the Spreadsheet project sample). I went through the instruction with the students and explained the main aims are as follow:

• Student is able to create a new workbook, worksheet and data entry.
• Student must understand how to apply formula and function to calculate total, average and position.
• Student must be able to create charts for data interpretation.

Each student then took out the Mac Book and started their practical project.

As requested by teacher Suzielita Dewi, I am not allow to provide too much assistance to the students as this will lead to deduction of marks. So I provided minimum assistance and let the students solve the questions themselves.

Students are encouraged to refer to their Computer Studies text book for reference or explanation. This help to enhance self-regulated learning where students must be able to learn more than what their teacher has taught them earlier.

This encourages the students to be more independent learner rather than “spoon feeding”. By doing so, they will have better understanding and retention on that topic.

Figure 1 and 2 below shows students in Year 8 ‘A’ working on their project.

Figure 1: Practical on Spreadsheet project in progress

Figure 2: Practical on Spreadsheet project in progress

Students completed the practical work within 1 hour 15 minutes. Each of them saved their work into teacher Suzielita Dewi’s pen drive. This is to allow each student to continue their practical work in the next lesson.

CONCLUSION

First of all, I would like to thank teacher Hajah Nurul and teacher Suzielita Dewi for their support and guidance during my teaching practise at Sekolah Menengah SMJA for the past 15 weeks. Both of them had given me the opportunity to explore, to learn, to adapt in teaching. They shared some of their valuable teaching experiences with me and provided a few good teaching practices on how to teach effectively especially in a government school.

I really enjoyed my teaching practice in Sekolah Menengah SMJA especially in Computer studies Year 8 ‘A’. The teaching environment in a government school like Sekolah Menengah SMJA is totally a new experience for me. This is because I had being teaching in a private school same as my teaching practise for my first semester at Chung Hwa Middle School.

Although both schools had slightly different teaching and learning environment, the concept of a good teaching principles remains the same.

Also, I had more opportunity to teach at Sekolah Menengah SMJA. This has given me a lot of opportunities to learn how to prepare lesson plan, class activities for the student and to apply some good teaching practises in class.

To summarise what I learned during my 15 weeks of teaching practise in SMJA, I conclude that a good teacher should practice good teaching principles. I always highlighted this in my previous weekly report and thus the findings are as follows:

1)      Teacher should encourage interaction and collaboration between students.

2)      Teacher should use different teaching pedagogies to make the class interesting and student to learn or grasp material faster.

3)      Teacher to encourage students to be an independent learner. This is to let students to explore and solve question themselves rather than constant “spoon feeding”.

4)      Teacher to encourage students to ask questions and provide feedback to students.

5)      Teacher to encourage and motivate students to learn how to do presentation in front of their peers after each class activities.

6)      Teacher to encourage students to recall what was learned in their previous lesson. To help students in remembering knowledge (as in the first sequence in Bloom’s Taxonomy)

7)      Teacher to learn how to adapt to different teaching environment.

8)      Teacher must be patience in teaching. They should give more attention to slow learners so they are more interested in learning than rather turning away.

9)      Teacher to develop good communication skills with students

10)  Teacher to show empathy, patience, enthusiasm in imparting knowledge to students.

APPENDIX 1

A sample copy of Spreadsheet Project.

SPREADSHEET PROJECT FOR YEAR 8 ( 2009 ) INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS 1.        Students are required to complete the project within 2 weeks upon receiving this paper. Late submissions will not be accepted and names will be reported to the discipline headmistress for further actions. 2.        Students are required to hand it the softcopy and the hardcopy of this project. 3.        Usage of FUNCTIONS and FORMULAE will contribute a big portion of the total marks. PROBLEM STATEMENT The table below shows the results of the students in Form 1A during Test 1. NAME MAL ENG MAT SCI GEO HIS IRK COM ASRI BIN HJ KAMSAH 69 75 58 63 22 46 64 63 MD FAIZUL AZWAN BIN HJ DAMIT 79 65 77 77 14 48 64 39 MD HAZIQ HAZIZI BIN HJ DAUD 74 72 74 65 33 47 56 47 MD SYAFIQ BIN RASDAN 70 68 60 63 19 57 75 44 MD SYARIFUDDIN B HJ JAYA 77 51 56 87 25 24 43 40 MD YUSRAN BIN MD YUSDI 58 47 41 57 18 41 40 39 ANGELINE LING 59 50 35 38 29 50 50 44 ATIKAH BTE AZAMAN 72 43 53 33 24 56 65 40 DK NUR FHATIHAH BTE PG HJ SERI 80 54 69 54 17 57 76 50 DK SITI NUR FIRDAUS BTE PG ZAINI 75 45 35 54 34 48 88 50 HAFSAH BTE HJ SYAHMI 65 52 66 72 45 31 54 46 KHOO BEE GUAN 60 75 66 66 19 48 65 51 MARLINA BTE ABD RAHMAN 61 52 50 41 20 54 39 35 NORENA BTE MD IDHAM 72 59 72 66 21 51 61 59 NUR ADIBAH BTE HJ SERUDIN 81 74 88 86 39 64 64 46 NUR FA’IZAH BTE HJ MD REZA 72 58 37 54 17 58 61 63 SITI KHATIJAH BTE AZAMA 66 61 51 67 30 35 44 56 SITI ZALEHA BTE HJ FAIRUS 78 62 41 64 38 61 66 55 a)        Open a new workbook and named it as “Test 1″. b)       Create a worksheet, “1A”, to show the student’s results (as shown above) for all subjects. Show “total”, “average” and “position” for each student using appropriate formulae and function. Also show the total average for each of the subject. c)        On a new worksheet, named “Chart” , create two different charts ; a.        Showing the percentage of students who had passed and fail based on their average marks. b.        A chart that shows the percentage of passers and failures for all subject (Eg: 78% passers and 22% failures in PE). (Hint: Calculate (a) and (b) using appropriate functions before creating charts)

** THE END **

TP Report Week 15

Spreadsheet Project

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WEEK 14: 20 APRIL 2009

INTRODUCTION

This week teaching practice is the continuation of last week topic on “Spreadsheets operators”. In today’s lesson, the objective is to teach students how to use Microsoft Excel to calculate sum, average, minimum and maximum using function formula.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 7.30am – 8.30am

I reported to office at 7.30am. I submitted a copy of my lesson plan to teacher Suzielita Dewi. Then I discussed with Hjh Nurul (Head of Department for Computer Studies) and teacher Suzielita Dewi on today’s lesson.

Next I went to Computer Lab B and prepared myself for the class with Mac Book and projector.

Time: 8.30am – 10:00am

Students entered Computer Lab B. Then I instructed each student to take the Mac Book.

Before I started my lesson of the day, I recapped last week lesson on “Spreadsheets operators” by asking questions to each students. I invited each student to come forward to do a simple calculation to test their memory and understanding. All students participated and responded with the correct answers.

Next, I informed the students the objective of today’s lesson. I showed them how to use the function formula to calculate the sum, average, minimum and maximum. Then I requested each student to come forward to do simple example involving calculation.

Then I let the students to continue their practical Exercise 1 for about 30 minutes then Exercise 2 for about 15 minutes. For the remaining 30 minutes before break time, I showed students how to create a chart using Microsoft Excel.

Then I asked each of the students to practice on their own to create a chart using their existing data from practical Exercise 1. I guided some students who have difficulties on creating charts.

Please refer to Appendix 1 for samples of student’s practical Exercise 1.

CONCLUSION

I believe the students are paying attention and learning well. The reason is because they can provide correct answers to each practical exercise that I gave them which I believe they understand and remember what I taught them in the previous lesson as well as for today’s lesson.

Apart from that, by giving time for students to explore the learning themselves it can encourage them to self discovery learning. By doing so, they will have a better retention memory and enhanced their understanding.

APPENDIX 1

A copy of practical exercise 1 – Done by Siti Nur Amanina.

A copy of practical exercise 1 – Done by Soon Jian Jun.

Week 14 Lesson Plan_Spreadsheets_Sum,Ave,Min,Max

TP Report Week 14

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WEEK 13: 13 APRIL 2009

INTRODUCTION

This week teaching topic is “Spreadsheets operators”. The objective of this lesson is to guide students to use the operators to do basic calculation which is similar to what they learnt in Mathematics such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. At the end of the lesson, students would be able to do simple calculation using the operators.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 7.30am – 8.30am

Report to office at 7.30am. I handed teacher Suzielita Dewi a copy of my lesson plan and discuss with her on today’s lesson.

Time: 8.30am – 10:00am

Students entered Computer Lab B. Before I start the lesson, I collected student’s homework from last week lesson. Then I instruct each of them to take their own Mac Book.

I started off my lesson by recap what are the benefits of using spreadsheets and who are the people using it. All students participate actively.

Then, I showed them how to do simple calculation such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Next, I asked each student to come forward to try out on the calculation using the formulas. This is to test their understanding on the lesson.

I prepared three practical exercises for them mainly to let them practise more and be familiar with the uses of formula in calculation. Figure 1 below shows picture of students Year 8 ‘A’ doing their practical exercise on Mac Book.

Figure 1: Practical exercise in progress

CONCLUSION

Today’s lesson finished well where the objectives of the lesson are met with students is able to use simple basic formula to do calculations.

Besides that, seating arrangement for Computer Lab B has been rearranged. Thus, with this new seating arrangement students are able to pay more attention while teacher is teaching in front as they are facing the whiteboard compared to their previous sitting arrangement.

Week 13 Lesson Plan_spreadsheets_operators

TP Report Week 13

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WEEK 12: 6 APRIL 2009

INTRODUCTION

My teaching topic for this week is “Introduction to Spreadsheets”. The objective is to introduce students to create a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel. This helps the students to understand the benefit of spreadsheets in real life. At the end of the lesson, students would be able to list out some usage of spreadsheets in their daily life and should be able to create worksheet and show ability to format data in cells and data entry.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 7.30am – 8.30am

Report to office at 7.30am. I handed teacher Suzielita Dewi a copy of my lesson plan and discuss with her on today’s lesson.

Time: 8.30am – 10:00am

Students entered Computer Lab B. Then students moved to the front near the interactive whiteboard. The reason to do so is to improve the student’s concentration and participation during lesson time.

I started off my lesson by asking students about spreadsheets, for instance questions such as what is the usage of spreadsheets, whether they know about spreadsheets, the advantages and benefits and etc.

Then I discussed with students about the benefit and usage of spreadsheets. Students participated actively by giving me all sorts of answers to my questions.

Then, I showed them how to open and create a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel. Basic functions that I taught them include:

• Rows and columns of data
• Active cell
• Cell address, cell reference area
• Range of cells
• Use of auto fills
• Data entry
• Formatting tools

Approximately around 9.00am, students started to do their practical exercise on Microsoft Excel using the Mac Book. At first many students find it difficult to use the software features and the formatting tool bar. Therefore, I need to guide them one by one through the screen projector.

Based on my observation, I found the used of Mac Book for each can actually encourage independent learning within students. The students tend to improve their learning skills by exploring the task given and problem solving by themselves. The main advantage I foresee here is that they will have better understanding and better retention memory of it.

Students that have completed their task handed it to me by saving it into a pen drive.

Before the class ended, I handed them worksheets for their homework and told them to hand it up to me next week. Please refer to Appendix 1.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, today’s lesson ended well where the objectives of the lesson are met with students is able to create a spreadsheet, data entry, format data and showing ability to use the auto fill functions.

Apart from that, students are showing a positive attitude towards today’s lesson. The reason is because students are aware that spreadsheets are very useful in daily life and will be helpful for them in their future undertakings. Despite having difficulties using the Mac Book, this did not stop students from learning. It actually encourages them to find the solution by asking me for help, asking their friends and also they discover it themselves.

APPENDIX 1

Week 12 Lesson Plan_Spreadsheets

TP Report Week 12

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WEEK 11: 30 MARCH 2009

INTRODUCTION

This is the first day of school after 10 days holiday break. Students received their test paper. For students in Year 8 ‘A’, there is only one student who failed the test. (Please refer to Appendix 1 for the sample test question paper.)

I personally believe the student failed the test is because she is poor in English language and lack of computer knowledge. Therefore there is a possibility that she misunderstood the question paper which caused her to fail the test.

I also believe this student should improve her computer term and her English vocabulary in order to cope with the class.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 7.30am – 8.30am

Report to office at 7.30am. Discuss with teacher Suzielita Dewi on the performance of each students in the recent test.

Time: 8.30am – 10:00am

Students entered Computer Lab B. After everyone had settled down, I returned the test paper to each student. As requested by teacher Suzielita Dewi, I instructed them to do self correction for their mistakes in the test. The students are allowed to refer to their books and notes for correction and answers.

Approximately after 45 minutes, all students completed their correction and submitted their paper to me. For the remaining time before break time, I made a quick introduction of Microsoft Excel and short survey by asking students whether they have learnt Microsoft Excel.

To my surprise, I found out that there is only one student in the class who know Microsoft Excel. His name is Soon Jian Jun and he had some basic prerequisites of Microsoft Excel such as creating spreadsheets, enter data, calculation using formulas (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). He said he learned Microsoft Excel when he was in his primary education at Chung Hwa Middle School. As for the rest of the students, they told me that they heard about Microsoft Excel but they do not know how to use it.

Then I moved on by giving the class a quick overview of Microsoft Excel, I explained the software functionality and features. I showed the class some basic terms such as what is a cell, range of cells, table, data entry, formulas and graphs.

The students are impressed with the software. They are amazed and interested to learn how to use the software. This is because they find it useful to make long calculation by simply applying formula such as “Sum” or “Multiplication”. Furthermore, it can represent data in graphical format such as pie, bar or line chart. Due to limited of time, I informed the students that I will conduct a full lesson on Microsoft Excel in their next lesson.

Time: 11.30am – 12:30pm

I observed PMV 4 class which was conducted by Teacher Boon Yen in Computer Lab A. Teacher Boon Yen teaches English for 13 students in PMV 4 and she integrates her English lessons using computers.

The class activity for the today was essay writing from their previous lesson. The title of the composition is ‘A short visit to Pusat Perhubungan Belia’. Students have to use Microsoft Words to type out the composition and submit in a floppy disk.

From my observation, students who are poor in typing skill find it hard to find the correct “key” or “letter” to type. However, they concentrated on their work and managed to complete their essay before the class finished. I feel that this in long run can really help the student to improve their typing skills.

As for those students who submitted their work earlier, teacher Boon Yen then gave them a short brief introduction on how to insert table and date entry in Microsoft Words. These students actively participated in the question and answer method as shown in photo 1. Teacher Boon Yen told them that they will be learning data entry in their next lesson.

Photo 1: Teacher Bonn Yen showing PMV4 students how to use

Table in Microsoft Words in Computer Lab A

Apart from the above, I found out there is lack of control in the class. Some students are not paying attention to the teacher and they are constantly distracting their peers by playing or chatting with other another and even walking around.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I found out students who passed the test are students who always actively involved in class work.

As for the PMV classes, I believe the class teacher should be more strict to the students. She should restrict movement or talking in class so the class can be more manageable and students can concentrate on their class work.

Apart for this, I also believe the PMV should be given some easy but challenging tasks which involves class participation. For instance, the teacher can ask the student to work on a topic that they are interested. Then each student has to do short presentation in front of the class on the topic. This helps the student to concentrate on their task given and also provide an ideal way to build up interest in learning and class participation.

APPENDIX 1

A sample copy of Test 1 question paper.

TP Report Week 10 & 11

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WEEK 10: 23 MARCH 2009

No teaching practice. School closed for 1st Term School Holidays.

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WEEK 9: 16 MARCH 2009

INTRODUCTION

This week is the test week in Sekolah Menengah SMJA. This will be the first school term test before the 10 days school holiday break starting next week on the 20^th – 29^th March 2009.

The test paper for Computer Studies Year 7 and 8 are prepared by teacher Suzielita Dewi.

For Year 7, the topics are as follows:

• Introduction to computers
• Computer lab personal safety rules
• Basic principles of computers
• Parts of computer
• Computer system electrical connections
• Care for computer systems, storage media and simple health issues

Fro Year 8, the topics are as follow:

• Microsoft Word
• Computer viruses
• Information
• Health issues

There are 12 short-answers and other longer structured questions. Students need to finish the question paper in 1 hour.

I have also attached one of the sample projects for Microsoft Word done by Soon Jian Jun for reference. Please refer to Appendix 1.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 7.30am – 8.30am

Report to office at 7.30am. Discuss with teacher Suzielita Dewi on the test paper.

Time: 8.30am – 10:00am

Students entered Computer Lab B. After everyone had settled down, teacher Suzielita Dewi then requested me to assist her to collect last week revision homework from the students.

Then Students were given about 25 minutes to do their last minute revision for their test.

The examination starts at 9.00am. Students were reminded to double check their answers before submitting.

Two students completed their test in 30 minutes. They are Soon Jian Jun and Nur Amal Haziqah which followed by Siti Nur Amanina, Izzat and Siti Nurul Hikmah.

Photo 1 shows Year 8 ‘A’ students taking their examination in Computer Lab B.

Photo 1: Year 8 ‘A’ students in Computer Lab B (Test in progress)

By 9.45am, all students finished their test and handed it to me.

For the last 15 minutes towards the class break, I asked students to use the Lab Mac Book to go online. I instructed them to surf the internet to find their favourite or least favourite movie, music, actor/actresses online using http://www.google.com

Students were given 10 minutes to do the task. Then I invited each one of them to do a short presentation in front of the class.

Due to limited time, there are only 3 students who had the chance to do the presentation. Their responses are as follow:

Student Name	Topic of Interest	Student Remarks
Nur Amal Haziqah	Movie – Wild child	Dislike – Movie was boring
Soon Jian Jun	Song – Right Here Waiting by Richard Mark	Dislike – Song is too touching
Siti Nur Amanina	Movie Character: Mr. Bean	Like – He is funny

While students were presenting in front of the class, I use the keywords such “What, Who, Why” to question them. This is to enhance students to use their cognitive thinking skills when answering questions.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I believe it is important to initiate an activity by giving a captivating introduction to students. This is to provide a better understanding on the purpose of the activity.

By giving an interesting task to the student, we can help to motivate their interest to learn and perform in the activity. Thus, the activity that I had given to the students during the last 15 minutes is a good idea to build up student interest and a chance for them to practice how to do presentation in class.

APPENDIX:

A copy of Microsoft Word Project – Done by Soon Jian Jun, Year 8 ‘A’

TP Report Week 9

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WEEK 8: 9 MARCH 2009

Public Holiday – Prophet’s Muhammad Birthday

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WEEK 7: 28 FEBRUARY 2009 (SATURDAY)

INTRODUCTION

I went to Sekolah Menengah SMJA for my teaching practice today. This is because I am not available next week to attend my usual teaching practice on Monday. Therefore, I decided to bring forward my teaching practice on 2^nd March 2009 to the 28^th February 2009.

Currently there are about 10 classes for Year 7 and Year 8 in Sekolah Menengah SMJA. This includes the PMV classes for each level.

PMV (Program Menengah Vokasional) is a special class for lower academic students who failed twice in their PSR Examination.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 7.30am – 8.30am

Report to office at 7.30am. Discuss with Hjh Nurul (Head of Department for Computer Studies) about students aptitude in class.

Time: 8.30am – 10:00am

I observed PMV 2 for 3 periods from 8.30am – 10.00am by teacher Suzielita Dewi. The class was conducted in Computer lab A. Teacher Suzielita Dewi started off by settling down the students and asking one of the boys to recite the muslim prayer.

There are 19 students comprise of 2 girls and 17 boys. As mentioned in my introduction, the PMV students are students with low academic skills who failed twice in their PSR Examination. These students are allowed to enrol into Year 7 but in the PMV classes.

PMV students do not share the same curriculum or syllabus with the other regular Year 7 student. PMV students learn simple basic Malay Language, English, Art, Ugama studies and Computer Studies. PMV students do not take public examinations such as PMB or GCE O’Level. They have different type of examinations from the school and it is different from the regular Year 7 students.

PMV 2 students are not allowed to use the computer in lab B. This is because the teacher is not confident to let the students to operate the MacBook. Thus, PMV 2 students are only allowed to use Lab A with desktop computers.

For today’s lesson, Teacher Suzielita Dewi instructed the PMV 2 students to create a new folder on the desktop. The students are given the task to search the internet for pictures or graphics and save them into the folder. The pictures or graphics are limited to five.

There were about four computers that could not connect to the internet. Thus, teacher Suzielita Dewi has to insert network card to the computer to enable students to access to internet.

Based on my observation, PMV 2 students have behaviour problem. They are very noisy and uncontrollable. Some of them are not following task given by Teacher Suzielita Dewi. They are doing their personal task such as online chatting, searching online for musician bands and emailing. Photo 1 shows the class activity of PMV 2 student.

Photo 1: PMV 2 students in Computer Lab A (Class in progress)

Teacher Suzielita Dewi told me that it is very challenging for her to teach and control the PMV 2 students. She needs a lot of patience to deal with each of the students.

Time: 11.30am – 12:30pm

I observed another class PMV 4 which was conducted by Teacher Boon Yen in Computer Lab A. The class consists of 15 students. Teacher Boon Yen teaches English and she integrates her lessons plan with computers.

The class activity for today was to summarize English story using Microsoft Word. This is a good combination of using computers in teaching English lesson. I noticed that there were some students who have the difficulties in typing and recognizing the alphabet from the keyboard. I believe the idea to integrate the use of computers in English lesson can help PMV students to practice on their typing skills which will be very useful in their future employment.

From my observation, PMV 4 students are better and more manageable than PMV 2 students. This is probably due to the age factor where most of them are more mature at the age of 16 to 19.

CONCLUSION

I believe it is important to have a backup lesson plan in case the original lesson plan does not work out properly. For instance, what if the whole class cannot access to the internet on that particular day? What task can be given by the teacher as a backup plan to keep the students occupied?

For the PMV students, I believe it is recommended to give them more challenging but easy tasks to make them cope and gain interest in learning. Teacher must explain the lesson purposes for doing certain tasks. Teacher should continue to praise or give reward to students who complete their task. I hope this can help to motivate other students to do their task as well.

In conclusion, teachers who teach PMV students require a lot of patience, support and determination. Teachers need to have various pedagogies in their teaching. Although PMV students are those with low academic achievement, teacher should not give up on them. They should constantly focus new teaching method and motivate them to grasp their interest in learning.

TP Report Week 7 & 8

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WEEK 7: 23 FEBRUARY 2009

Public Holiday – Brunei 25th National Day

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WEEK 6: 16 FEBRUARY 2009

INTRODUCTION

As stated in my previous report, there are two computer laboratories in Sekolah Menengah SMJA; Computer Lab A and Computer Lab B. Computer Lab A is known as ICT lab and it is open for other subject teachers to use. Computer Lab B is reserved for teacher to conduct computer studies or lesson to student.

There is no computer technician in the school so the school ICT teachers are responsible to maintain Computer Lab A and B. I heard sometime there are staffs members from the Ministry of Education to conduct normal routine maintenance but this seldom happen.

I personally believe the school should have a computer technician to maintain the computer in both labs. This is because the school ICT teachers are busy with the daily academic teaching and may not have spare time to maintain the computer. Furthermore some of the faulty computers require major repair or part changed which is beyond the ICT teacher capability. Therefore it is important that a computer technician is available to ensure all computers are working fine in order for the schools or teachers to effectively use computer technology for teaching, learning, gather information and educational management.

My teaching topic for this week is “Health issues”. The objective is to expose students to health risks that are associated with using computers and ways to prevent it. At the end of the lesson, students would be able to list out some health problems caused by using computers and should be able to practise good habits to maintain good health which can lead to good working environment.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 7.30am – 8.30am

Report to the office around 7.30am and met teacher Suzielita Dewi.

I passed her a copy of my lesson plan and printed material for my teaching.

I arrived Computer Lab B and prepared myself for the class with the MacBook and projector. I downloaded four videos from Internet in advance for the lesson. This is to ensure smooth playing of my video clips without long delay in loading or searching.

Time: 8.30am – 10:00am

Students entered Computer Lab B.

I collected their homework assessment from last week. Then students moved to the front near the whiteboard. By doing so, I can get their get their full attention and involvement during lesson time.

As usual before I start my lesson of the day, I recap last week’s lesson by asking questions on last week topic; “Information: Using computers in supermarket”. All students participated and gave the correct answers. As per now, I believe the students are paying attention and learning well. They can provide correct answers to my questions which I believe they understand and remember what I taught them in last week’s lesson.

Next, I showed the students the content of today’s lesson so they are aware of the subject topic and content. (Please find attached copy of the lesson plan for the day and PowerPoint presentation).

Students are given chance to convey what they have already known of the topic or to share their personal experiences related to health issues and computers. I also asked questions such as whether they have encounters any health problem while using the computers. Two students responded and shared their story to the class.

In this week lesson on Health Issues, I included four short video clips which I downloaded from YouTube.com.

The title and the website of the video clips are as follow:

Item	Topic of Video Clip	Website / URL
1	Computer eye strain eye exercises	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W10j2fL0hy0&feature=related
2	Ease eyestrain (Workplace health tip)	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTQSACDVA3w
3	Computer and desk stretches	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uts1tLOfDfo&feature=related
4	Ergonomist’s office	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35SZ-M7mfhQ

I ended my teaching part by asking students to explain on the lesson they learnt today. I circulated out the lesson handout in PowerPoint presentation to the class for their references.

Student’s activity

This week’s activity, I prepared two questions. Students have to form two groups. First group named themselves as “Girl’s group”. The boy’s group is always the creative one who named themselves as “EVIL- Every Villain Is Lemon”.

The topic of discussion for Girl’s group is to list out as many safety precautions or guidelines in a computer room which is safe for pupils to use. For the boy’s group they have to gather information on health hazards caused by unused or old computer equipment.

Students list out their answers in Microsoft Word and later saved in into a pen drive and will be projected to the class when they do their presentation.

I used this group activity as the assessment for this week. The full score is 5 and all students achieved full marks for this group work.

Photos taken during student’s activity:

Photo 1: Girl’s group discussing and typing out their answers

Photo 2: Boy’s group in discussion

Photo 3: Girl’s group presenting their answers

Photo 4: Boy’s group doing their presentation

CONCLUSION

Today’ lesson ended well. I used the student-centered learning method by asking student to engage in group discussion. Students are able to use their cognitive thinking skills to find answers and it helps to enhance collaborative learning between students and teacher.

There is one thing that I observed during my lesson is that the student is very shy when they are doing their presentation in front of their classmate. I believe the best way to help them to overcome this fear is through constant practice to allow students to do presentation in front of their classmate. I hope this can help to their confident when doing presentation.

ATTACHMENT

Response questions from the students.

Girl’s group

Group name: girl’s groupName: Amal haziqah, Nurul hikmah and AmaninaQ. List out as many safety precautions or guidelines in a computer room which is safe for pupils to use. No food or drink because if you accidently spilt the food or drink on the computer it’ll break! No running around in the computer lab because if you accidently tripped over the wires it’ll cause the socket release in sudden! Don’t put to many plugs in the socket because it can explode! make sure the table is strong enough to put the computer Put the computer in a safe place so the computer would not fall make sure the computer lab is clean Put on a dust cover so that dust will not enter into the computer

Evil-Every Villain Is Lemon group

Group name: EVIL- Every Villain Is Lemon!Name: Izzat Amir bin Haji Abdul Kadir and Soon Jian JunQ. Collect information on health hazards caused by unused or old computer equipment. It can cause stress because you either have no money to buy a new one or don’t know where to throw away your old one. The keyboard maybe in a very bad position and germs may invade it, if you want to use it, it may cause health problems. If you don’t use the monitor for a long time, it will get dusty and you may get sick. The dust will get stuck in the cooling fan of the system unit. The dust on the screen may get stuck in your eyes. The untouchable parts may cause harm to you if you touch it. If you accidentally touch some of the wires it may be FATAL. Some of the materials made from some very dangerous parts may cause harm to you. The microchip is made out of harmful substance that will harm you.

Based on the above response answers, the girl’s and boy’s group got mostly correct answers. However, the question for the boy’s group is more difficult to answer. This is because information and answer are limited and the boy’s group may not understand some difficult terms and definition. I give both groups a good effort remark as they all did well in answering the question.

Week 6 Lesson Plan_Health Issues

Week 6 Presentation_Health Issues

TP Report Week 6

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WEEK 5: 9 FEBRUARY 2009

INTRODUCTION

This week topic is “Information: using computers in supermarket”. The objective is to teach the use of computers in supermarket and barcodes. At the end of the lesson, students must be able to explain the advantages of computers in supermarket. Students will also learn that data can be easily stored, organized, retrieved and processed using the computers.

As per my last week’s plan, I am supposed to ask students to do online class work after the lesson. However, I decided not to do it. This is because I want the student to form groups for discussion and presentation. I want to use “student centred learning approach” so students are encouraged to use their cognitive thinking skills for problem solving and hopefully this could build up their confidence by presenting their ideas to the class.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 7.30am – 8.30am

Report to the office around 7.30am and met teacher Suzielita Dewi.

I passed her a copy of my lesson plan, student’s assessment and printed material for my teaching material of the day.

I make my way to Computer Lab ‘B’ where I prepared myself for the class with the MacBook and projector.

Time: 8.30am – 10:00am

Student entered Computer Lab B.

I changed the students sitting by moving all of them to the front near the whiteboard. The reason is to get their full attention and participation during lesson time.

Before I started teaching, I recap last week’s lesson by asking questions on last week topic; “computer viruses”. All students participated and gave the correct answers. This shows that students understand and remember what they learnt in their last week’s lesson.

Next, I moved on by showing the students a short introduction of the content so everyone is aware of the topics covered. (Please find attached copy of the lesson plan for the day, PowerPoint presentation and homework assessment).

In between each lesson, I allowed students to express what they have already known of the topic or to share their personal experiences related to that particular topic. I also asked questions such as whether they know or seen a Point-of Sale (POS) or barcode. The answers are mostly yes.

In my power point presentation, I included three short video clips which I downloaded from YouTube.com. The main purpose is to let the students understand how a POS terminal and barcode looks like.

The title and the website of the video clips are as follow:

1	Point of Sale Demonstration	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7V89cMwb2k
2	Restaurant POS	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKs8Z2-OKoY
3	Barcode scanner	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TqVtSeTCvw&feature=PlayList&p=337F894FE7E79FF5&playnext=1&index=25

I used a yoghurt container as an example to show the students how the barcode look like. I did not used chocolate wrapper as stated in my lesson plan.

Figure 1: Example of Barcode

I finished off the teaching part by asking students to explain on the lesson they learnt today.

I distributed out the lesson handout in PowerPoint presentation to the class for their references.

Homework assessment was given out to students and due next week.

For this week student’s activity, I asked students to form two groups. First group named themselves as “Girl’s group” which consist of only female students. The boy’s group named themselves as “Gig group”.

A piece of paper was given to each group. The topic of discussion was the disadvantages of using Point of Sale (POS) in supermarkets. The groups were given a few minutes to discuss among the member.

Next, I asked student from each group to come forward to present their ideas. Each student participated well and came out with several good answers.

I used this group activity as one of the assessment for this week. The full score is 4 and all students achieved full marks for this group discussion.

During the last remaining 10 minutes before break, I did a pop quiz with the class where I posed a question “Why the usage of computers is popular nowadays”. Students wrote down their answers in about 2-3 minutes and I discuss with them on their answers before allowing them to go for their break time.

CONCLUSION

Today’ lesson finished successfully. By changing students seat during lesson time was good as it helped students to pay more attention during class. I believe this will improve their learning in class as well. My relationship with the class is getting better as this is my second week teaching them. The students feel more relaxing and willingness to do class assessment.

Week 5_Lesson Plan_Information

Week 5_Homework_Assessment

Week 5_Presentation_Information

TP Report Week 5

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WEEK 4: 2 FEBRUARY 2009

INTRODUCTION

In the recent GCE O’Level 2008 result, there were 5 students from SM SMJA who took up Computer Studies. The passing rate is 100% with four students achieving C6 and one student with D7.

According to the Teacher Hjh Nurul Haziqah (HOD for Computer studies), Computer studies is not the favourite elective subject among students in SM SMJA. The main reason is due to the influence from their peers who took up a much easier elective subject such as Commerce.

For the student of Year 10 and 11, they have a few options to choose as elective beside Computer studies such as Principles of Accounts, English Literature, Commerce and Additional Mathematics. Computer studies is only being offered to student of Year 10 Science or Year 10 ‘A’ and ‘B’.

For the student of Year 7 and 8, they have two options to choose as elective which is either Computer Studies or Commerce. Students of Year 7 must achieved grade 1 or 2 for English and Mathematics in their PSR examinations to be eligible to take up Computer Studies.

For this academic year of 2009 in SM SMJA, there are a total of 11 students enrolled in Computer studies. There are five students from Year 8 ‘A’ and six students from Year 8 ‘B’.

The usage of Malay language in Computer Studies in SM SMJA is mainly to attract students attention so that they won’t get distracted away.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 7.30am – 8.30am

Report to the office around 7.30am and met teacher Suzielita Dewi.

I passed her a copy of my lesson plan, student classwork and printed material for my teaching material of the day.

Teacher Suzielita Dewi showed me the way to Computer Lab ‘B’ where I prepared myself for the class with the MacBook and projector.

Time: 8.30am – 10:00am

Student entered the Computer Lab B.

After everyone had settled down, I introduced myself to the class.

I informed the class that the subject covered on that day was “Computer Viruses”. I gave a short introduction of the content or forward planner to the class so everyone is aware of the topics covered. (Please find attached copy of the lesson plan for the day, Powerpoint presentation and classwork assessment).

In between each lesson, students were given 15 minutes for student activity. This is basically to allow the students to browse the Internet and search for information related to computer viruses. Each student was later given the chances to explain to the whole class on the information they had found on the Internet.

In my powerpoint presentation, I included two short movie clips which I downloaded from YouTube. These short movie clips are “How does computer virus works” and “How can antivirus software protect your computer”. My main reason for adding the movie clip is to allow my presentation to achieve a new delivery method to attract the class attention and their interest.

Classwork were later given to students and they need to complete it in about 15 minutes.

Handouts of the Powerpoint presentation were distributed to the class for their reference and notes on the class lesson.

I was given two sheets of record list for classwork and homework to enter their marks to be submitted to the MOE as a school based assessment.

For the following week assessment, I will create a blog where students will do their classwork online. I will also prepare hardcopy of the classwork in advance in case the student cannot access to the school computer network due to LAN breakdown or etc. So at least the student can do their classwork on paper.

So far there is only one student who did not submit her email address to me. I will assist her to create an email account next week.

Class Information

Teacher Suzielita Dewi observed my class from 8.30 to 9.30am.

According to teacher Suzielita Dewi, she will organise a Friday class for students to complete their overdue project which was due end of last month.

Due to Chinese New Year holiday on Monday 26^th January, students who missed the class on that day were unable to complete their Microsoft Word project.

Photos taken during class:

Photo 1: Students attempting to answer the classwork questions.

(From left to Right: Siti Nur Amanina, Siti Nurul Hikmah and Nur Amal Haziqah)

Photo 2: Students attempting to answer the classwork questions.

(From left to Right: Soon Jian Jun and Izzat)

CONCLUSION

Students are learning well. However, most students are very passive except for one student who is always active in the class.

I will try a new approach by preparing a different type of class activity in my next lesson so all students will have to present something.

During lesson closure, question and answer method was used to find out how much students understand the lesson. The feedback was good as most students are able to give the correct answers.

Student classwork had been graded. Two out of five students answered all the questions correctly. Three students got one or two mistakes on question 3.  The student gave wrong examples of computer virus and computer worm.

Week 4 Lesson Plan_Computer Viruses

Week 4 Classwork_Computer Viruses

Week 4 Presentation_Computer Viruses

TP Report Week 3 & 4

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WEEK 3: 26 JANUARY 2009

Public Holiday – Chinese New Year

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WEEK 2: 19 JANUARY 2009

INTRODUCTION

Sekolah Menengah SMJA has two computer labs. Lab A is for desktop PC and Lab B is for MacBook. Both labs are subsidised by Ministry of Education (MOE). There are a total of 40 MacBook in SM SMJA; 20 units are in Lab B and 20 units are in the resources room.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 7.30am – 8.30am

Reported to the office. I was being informed to look for my cooperating teacher who I met teacher Suzielita Dewi.

Time: 8.30am – 11:00am

I observed Year 8 ‘A’ for 3 periods from 8.30am – 10.00am by teacher Suzielita Dewi. There are only 5 students taking up computer studies whereas the rest of the class is choosing Commerce studies as option.

Teacher Suzielita Dewi started off by explaining to the students how to use the MacBook and the description of their project. Under the new SPN 21, the student has to complete a project report on selected topic as part of the school assessment. Topics available are restaurant menus, report about England, endangered animals and reports on movies showing in cinema. Each student of Year 8 ‘A’ has to complete 4 projects such as:

• Project 1: Graphic Design – how to use Microsoft Paint (This was completed in previous year).
• Project 2: How to use Microsoft Word
• Project 3: How to use Microsoft Excel
• Project 4: How to use Microsoft Power point

In today’s class activities, the student will start their second project. At first the students searched for information in the internet. Then teacher Suzielita Dewi also provided a few examples of brochures and leaflets so the students will get some ideas about the use of font, layout design, colour and so on. Teacher Suzielita also showed the student how to change the font size, colour and layout design when using Microsoft word.

This second project is due in 2 weeks and student is allowed to come back on Friday to complete the project.

Time: 11:30am – 12:30pm

I observed another class conducted by teacher Hjh Nurul Haziqah (HOD for Computer studies) for Year 9 ‘A’ which has a total of 12 students.

Teacher Hjh Nurul Haziqah began the class by revising back what was covered in the previous lesson/week. Question and answer method was used to find out how much the student understand previous week lesson.

Teacher Hjh Nurul Haziqah then proceeds by teaching the topic of “Introduction to Database”. She gave a real life example so the student can understand the terms and concept in learning Database.

For the last 15 minutes, students were given class work based on what was being covered earlier and students can discuss with one another for answers.

CONCLUSION

Both students in class Year 8 ‘A’ and Year ’9′ are very attentive. They show the willingness and interest to learn as most of them are actively involved with the teacher and the class work. The student pay great attention and their willingness to ask question whenever they do not understand.

TP Report Week 1 & 2

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WEEK 1: 12 JANUARY 2009

INTRODUCTION

For this second semester in UBD, I decided to change my teaching practice to a government school at Sekolah Menengah SMJA. This is because I want a new teaching environment. I want to learn about the teaching method of government school.

LESSON DETAILS

Time: 8:00am – 10.00am

First day of school in UBD. I was being informed around 10.30am that I need to report to SMJA for my teaching practices.

Time: 11:30am – 12:15pm

I reported to SMJA for my teaching practice around 11:30am. At first I looked for the school Principal but she was not available at that time. So I reported to the school Deputy Principal which I was being asked to look for the Head of Department for Computer studies, Cikgu Hajah Nurul Haziqah.

After introducing myself and my purpose to Cikgu Hjh Nurul Haziqah, I was being assigned to teach student of Year 8 ‘A’ for the period of 3 months on every Monday.

The school provided me an example of lesson plan as a guideline which I have to prepare each week for each class. The school also provided me the scheme of work for my teaching practice start on 12^th January 2009 till 25^th April 2009.

CONCLUSION

I was being asked to start my teaching practice next week on 19^th January 2009.

Tp Instructions given by SM SMJA

Timetable

Scheme Of Work

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INTRODUCTION

During my first semester in UBD, I did my teaching practice in private school at Chung Hwa Middle School from September 2008 to November 2008. At that time, the school is using a powerful software call NetSupport School to manage the classroom operation. This software is a class leading training software solution, providing teachers with the ability to instruct, monitor and interact with their students either individually or to the overall class.

The teacher can centrally instruct the student to perform a task on their computer. The teacher can monitor the student’s performance by monitoring application and web usage.

For more information on the software, please go to http://www.netsupportschool.com/

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