Reflection on the lesson | Practice of Teaching

Nurul Farhana Mat Sundari G1926428

15th October 2020 ; Reflection on Introduction of Practice Teaching The first class started with me feeling awkward and scared of what will happen. I mean, this is the first semester that we had a full online class without any face to face class first. It is different from the last semester as we at least knew each other for about one month before MCO started. I am quite nervous also because I have my niece besides me all the time. But the class flow is good and Dr started with the introduction session and went through numbers of assignments we need to submit. These include teaching philosophy, weekly reflection, lesson plan, case study, discussion, article review and microteaching. No exam so the marks come from the assignments and assessments. As to the portfolio, it is needed as a collection of our works, it could help us in job seeking. The best part of the portfolio is the teaching philosophy,i think. It is like questioning dearself about why I choose this path. What made me change major after completing 4 years in a totally different course. Quite a challenge actually but a need in making myself clear of what to expect from myself. Next Dr share the learning outcomes of this course which is to identify various components of specific teaching skills to be applied, to interpret the characteristic of a good lesson that include Quranic teaching and prophetic teaching methods, to produce a realistic and suitable lesson plan and to practice and apply specific teaching skill correctly through microteaching.

But what is microteaching? Micro Teaching is a practice teaching skill but in a smaller size, that's why it is called microteaching. It is better actually if we can do microteaching in a face to face class, that way we can evaluate each other better, we can see each other's skill in teaching, the various expressions or even explanations , a lot more than if we do it online. But we have to look at this as a challenge in developing education. How education needs to be continued in any manners and any challenges.

Nurul Farhana Mat Sundari G1926428

22nd October 2020; Reflection on Lesson Plan Lesson plan is a teacher’s detailed description of the course of instruction for an individual lesson. I never knew the importance of lesson plans before this. It is actually like a full planning of how the whole teaching lesson is going to be. It is as important as making sure of having enough weapons before going into a war or battle. This also can make a teacher more confident and clear of what to aim in each lesson. So what to consider when writing a lesson plan? There are three things that we need to pay attention to. The first one is the audience. Know our students. It is like an added value for our classroom management. Know the ability and interest levels of the students, their background,attention spans and even their ability to work together in groups. Lesson plan also made it easier for us to track back the students prior knowledge and learning experience and move forward with it. The second one is the content. We need to know the content or curriculum guides and standard. The third one is to know the instructional materials. For example, technology to use, any software available, equipment and many other things.

Now what are the key components of a lesson plan? Starting with a profile, we can include basic information about the lesson. For example name of lesson, contributor, subject, grade level, instructional settings (small group or whole class), general description of lesson and standards. Next is the objectives. Objectives are vital as to determine what we want the students to learn and be able to do after the lesson. We need to focus on the concept or skill which we intend to teach. Moving on to the equipment, this includes computer and internet connection.

Assessment is at the end of the lesson, to test whether the students understand the lessons. To make it more interesting and interactive,we can propose quizzes, tests, oral discussion or even the question and answer sessions.

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5th November; Reflection on Writing Instructional Goals & Objectives Today's topic is the continuation to the previous class lesson, but deeper on how to write instructional goals and objectives for the lesson plan. There is actually a difference between goals and objectives. Goals are broad, generalized statements about what is to be learned. For example, students will be able to apply proper grammar to composition papers (example from the slides) Goals loosely define what is to be learned, but are too broad for designing instruction.

This is why we need objectives. We need more specific statements of what the learner must “do”. Objectives is a description of a performance you want learners to be able to exhibit before you consider them competent. A specific measurable objective, tell what the learner will be able to do upon successful completion of the lesson. But why are they so important that we have a whole class dedicated to learning this? It is because objectives provide some basic guidance for the selection of instructional content and procedures as well as help in evaluating the success of the instruction.

Only knowing the importance is not enough, how to write good objectives? The use of verbs can change either too many interpretations or fewer interpretations. For example, to write, to recite, to identify, to sort, to solve, to construct, to compare and to contrast are few words that open to fewer interpretations compared to verbs like to know, to understand, to enjoy or to believe. It is quite abstract to be measured and valued. Using Bloom’ Taxonomy of cognitive behaviour also helps in developing good objectives. There are three types of objectives; cognitive, affective and psychomotor. It is easier to use the ABCD techniques that specify four main things ; audience, behaviour, condition and degree. This could help teachers in developing a reachable objective. I developed one in the class; after the demonstration given, the students should be able to cook using a deep frying method under 30seconds.

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19th November; Reflection on Set Induction Before the class started, Dr Madihah already gave links in our whatsapp group for today’s class. The topic is ​set induction​. Set induction is also called anticipatory set. This is like the steps taken by a teacher to begin a lesson or other classroom activity. It is important to have set induction as to introduce the topic and get the attention of the students so that they are more focused and interested in the day's lesson. We are given times to watch 3 different videos and get ready to evaluate the skills shown by the teachers from Brunei, Japan and Malaysia. Set induction is actually important to gain the attention of the students, as well as to establish a link between what students already know before and what is introduced, moving from old to new materials and linking the two. There are many ways to start a good set induction. For example, attention gaining methods. Perform or do something or do nothing or start talking in a low tune.

Even the eyes focused on students with disruptive behaviour can grab the attention of the students. Another way is to use the interest method. For example, ask a perplexing question like “if you are given a million , how are you going to use it?” or something like that. Make them think and wonder what is all about. Or we can show specimens, samples or real objects or even present a case study, show pictures or give a demonstration.

The next topic is Closure. If set induction is the opening, then there is also a closure needed in order to have a good lesson. Any lesson that is not closed does not have its full effects on the learners. Closure is concerned with the ways of closing the teaching and learning process.

For instructional closure, it can be reached when the lesson is completed and the teacher shows the link between past knowledge and the new knowledge. For cognitive closure, it is reached when the students have reached closure and have made the link between old and new knowledge and the last one is social closure. Social closure is the act of giving pupils a feeling of achievement after a lesson and encouraging them to continue to strive and make improvements.

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3rd December 2020; The Prophetic Teaching Methods & Stimulus Variation Skills Today’s class topic is The Prophetic Teaching methods. It is a method of teaching that have been used by our Prophet Muhammad pbuh. Dr Madihah has given us a link before class to get to know more about Prophetic teaching methods. According to A.S. Halawani (2014), there is a lot of methods that can be adopted for example including education by setting example, education through Q&A, giving speeches and sermons, giving short talks after Salah, education through raising questions, education through storytelling, education through setting parables, education through practical application, education through applied lessonning, education through accompanying the educator foursome time, and education without embarrassing the addressee.

There are also things that we need to be cautious of for example avoid anger or shouting, avoid embarrassing students, avoid talking too much and avoid overusing humour.

The second topic is stimulus variation skills. This skill is concerned with the changes or variations in teaching style to avoid boredom. It is important actually to learn the skills that can help us make the classroom become more lively and interactive. As the person who will have to explain and stand in front, variation deals with the approach of changing such stimulus to bring variety into the classroom and avoid boredom. This includes the teacher’s movement. For example writing on the board or conducting an experiment or anything that can tell the students our presents. The next one is the teacher's gestures, change in speech pattern, change in audio and vary methodology. This includes change in teaching methodology. For example combining use of demonstration, group work, individual projects or giving the students opportunities to read, write and speak. Sameness is the mother of disgust, variety is the cure- prove of how learning many methods and skills is a must for a teacher to grab the attention of the students, not just delivering without caring about how the mood of the students in the class.

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10th December 2020; Reflection on Techniques in Teaching; Expository & Exploratory The topic for today's class is ​Technique in Teaching​. Which include approach and method. Dr Madihah starts with the types of approach available, divided into two categories which are direct approach and experimental approach, expository and exploratory. Example for expository is; 1. Directive 2. Deductive 3. Demonstration While the example of Exploratory is; 1. Inductive 2. Inquiry 3. Discovery 4. Metacognitive 5. Reflective 6. Problem Solving The difference between the two is the way it approaches less or more delivery time and the students' involvement; either passive or active. The next topic is the introduction to Questioning skills​. Questioning is actually to get students engaged with the subjects and to add variety to the class. It also can stimulate critical thinking but of course, depending on the types of questioning. The 4 types of questioning are mastery, interpersonal, understanding and self expression. Dr asked us to watch a video and list down the types of questioning the teacher in the video use.

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17th December 2020; Reflection on Questioning Skills Today’s learning topic is ​Questioning skills. As long as I remember, I have always been scared of asking questions as a kid to my teacher. I am not sure how it started but scared of asking stupid questions make me avoid asking in any situations. That is why learning the right skill in questioning actually helps both the teacher and students. In teaching lessons, one way to make the students more engaged with the subject is by questioning them. It also can help develop rapport between teacher and students. With the right questioning, it would help to stimulate critical thinking and add variety to the class. This is also one way to help teachers know students' current understanding about certain topics or lessons. As questioning is one way to make the class less bored and make students alert, a variety of methods are there; open/close questions, probing questions, leading questions, and inspiring questions. For open questions, make sure to demand as much information as possible as well as disguise what you are getting at, while close questions are used when we want to get precise answers, details and commitment. Use 5W1H; why, what, who, when, where and how.

Next, move on to probing questions, it most commonly used to find more details and in dire need of clarification. It also helps in preventing misunderstanding. Easier said than done, there are also ways to apply probing questions such as use open questions and using the word ‘exactly’ to add precision. As an example, we can ask “what do exactly mean by unlimited usage?” For leading questions, It adds precision and one way of leading the other side in a direction of your choice. It is like a good way for getting answers you want while allowing freedom of choice. How to apply it? First let's start with showing some personal preference and assume something as fact without questioning it. We can also give two preferred choices that benefit you and are not a choice at all. Ways to apply leading questions such as asking questions

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like “ I think it is a great presentation, don’t you think?” It is like we are leading and telling our thoughts on something to give the other the ideas of our stand. It is actually quite a good way to bring back the direction of the class to our desired lessons. Inspiring questions are used for motivational speech and coaching. Not to forget the basic questions that include calling on a student, or wait for a raised hand, or ask “anybody?” or “everybody?” The need of wait after asking is important to allow students to think and reflect more.

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24th December 2020; Reflection on explanation skills in Microteaching & Skill of Illustrating The class started with us learning about the ​Explanation skills in Microteaching​. Dr Madihah asks us what are the tips for a good explanation as an induction. Some say knowing the audience, clear explanations, and a lot more. Explanation is actually a simple skill, we learnt it throughout the years from communication among friends as well as teaching. The vital step is to use simple language so that everyone present would understand. It is important to arrange points or content logically.Hence, the audience or students will digest it more easily. There are a lot more skills in practice with explanation skills such as pause at appropriate moments, fluence in explanation, avoid long sentences, and using appropriate signs like drawing or objects that can help explaining better. The addition of proper links between sentences also unintentionally helps the students to understand better. Most of the time, we think of explanation as just explaining without considering the need of sequences or we need to have conclusions, but explanation is actually the act of leading from the unknown to the known as well as bridges the gap between a person’s knowledge or experience of a new phenomena. As a teacher, the skill of explaining is a must and there's a few steps that can be done to make sure the students have a better understanding for the lessons. For example, identifying which kinds of explanation required by the establishing cearly the major points, which lead to analysing the topics beforehand. Many of the teachers nowadays are learning to use more analogies, using models, using the board or even use handouts for note taking. It is like small things that help more.

The next topic we learn today is about the ​Skill of Illustrating with examples​. That involves describing an idea, concept, principle or generalization by using various types of examples. This can be considered as the art of judicious selection and proper presentation. This is where teachers can include constructive learning theory that can help cognitive growth of the

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students. ​Cognitive growth is the result of the constant interweaving of assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation occurs when we modify or change new information to fit into our schemas (what we already know). Accomodation is when we restructure or modify what we already know so that new information can fit in better. (from: Piaget's Theory of cognitive.)