Response to Less Teaching More Learning & PjBL (Project Based Learning)

Dear Mrs. AnikWulyani (sorry for being late),

I have just read the articles entitled “Less Teaching, More Learning” and “Project-Based Learning.” In my point of view, these articles tend to give information about the education in other countries. Therefore, we can compare it to Indonesian education which used to apply “More Teaching, Less Learning.” It was just like when I still became a student of Senior High School. I often heard the teachers’ explanation instead of doing presentations, projects, etc. Nothing wrong with the teachers at that time as they just did what the government ordered, just like the recent timeJ That is why, personally I agree with the concept of “Less Teaching, More Learning”. Here I give my reasons why I said so.

                Firstly, I think the concept of “Less Teaching, More Learning” has a close meaning with the words “Learning by Doing”. By doing something by the students themselves means there will be three steps of it, those are planning, doing, and evaluating. The students can feel, hear, see, smell, and remember even every step they have taken. If it succeeds, sometimes the students will feel that they once had the best experience in their life and it will become an unforgettable moment.

                Secondly, there are three kinds of learning styles such as auditory, visual, and kinesthetic styles. Auditory students can grasp easily anything related to sounds or voice. Visual students can grasp easily anything related to objects, pictures, drawing, and so on. Kinesthetic students can grasp easily when they share and discuss anything with others. So, it seems that “More Teaching, Less Learning” concept is only suitable with the students who have auditory styles. On the other hand, the other types of students will feel difficult to grasp the materials. They will feel bored or sleepy listening to the teachers’ explanation.

                However, there are some challenges that Indonesia will have faced if the concept of “Less Teaching, More Learning” and “Project-Based Learning” are implemented, such as minimum facilities and human resources. Just imagine if the students want to conduct some presentations but the school has no LCD or do some projects but they have no money for buying the stuff that they need. Teachers also take an important role here. They should be able to manage the class well when they are teaching because “Less Teaching, More Learning” does not mean the teachers do not do anything in the classroom. They should be a good facilitator for the students to grasp what they need in learning process.

                Fortunately, various innovations and improvements have been conducted by the Indonesia government since long time ago. It means that the government actually wants the education in Indonesia to be better and better. This high motivation becomes a good support to implement the new concepts of “Less Teaching, More Learning” and “Project-Based Learning” as we can see them in the government’s new product this year, Curriculum 2013. Designed by many education experts, Curriculum 2013 has implemented the learning process activities called 5M (Observing=mengamati, Questioning=menanya, Exploring=mengeksplorasi, Associating=mengasosiasi, and Communicating=mengomunikasikan) and it has been developed until next year. It also uses some learning approaches such as Project-Based Learning, Discovery Learning, Problem-Based Learning, etc within the learning process activities. Until next year, there will always be improvements, developments, and evaluations during the implementation of Curriculum 2013. I think there is a new hope that Indonesia education can be better than before.

Students Are the Master of Their Own Grader

In learning English, students have their own ways and methods. Some students think that they enjoy learning English through doing some exercises related to grammar or writing skills. Other students might think that by practicing English in terms of speaking will enhance their ability. On the other hand, the tests done in school will cover all skills which are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. That means students have to deal with this situation in class. As the consequences, students who realize that they are weak in one skill would feel insecure on how they should deal with the tests they do not really master at. There must be a solution for this.
 

Since the teachers will grade the students, they should do it wisely. Teachers should not just take the score from written tests but also from the students’ performance in class.  Some actively-speaking students should get some appreciation from the teacher because they often dare enough to speak up, while others do not. Although that speaker-kind-of student has weakness in writing, their performance in speaking should cover their English comprehension in so-called a “unique way”.
 

In Indonesia, the use of scoring rubric in class is getting popular. Especially in English subject, teachers should develop a fine and appropriate rubric which later students use to grade one another. This is quite fair since students will be assessed based on the students’ judgment and the teacher’s rubric as well. These two considerations in scoring will benefit students. First, students will know how well they are performing since there are some criteria that they should achieve based on the rubric. Second, students will experience how to score someone’s performance based on the rubric given.
 

This is the actual matter that we, the English teachers, should focus on. We should not let the students down just because they are weak in some skills. Moreover, we should enhance and facilitate their excellence to be even better. Of course we have to make them be sure that other skills are also important to master. It can be done by giving the material that they find it attractive. 

STUDENTS AS HUMAN BEING

by Agnes Endah Ayu Winarni

Being a teacher is just like experiencing a two-sided knife cutting through jelly pudding. It should be easy, isn't it? On one side a teacher should fulfill the school's demand, good academic records. On the other hand, a teacher should concern about the students' well-being, taking students' side.

         A very delicate situation is happening while a teacher is teaching in a classroom. The lesson is one thing, the readiness of the student is also important. I believe that teachers are good, kind, and patient people. Sometimes teachers just forget that students are not objects or topics. They are human. They have families, they have problems; small ones and big ones. They have expectancy and dreams, too, just like teachers. In order to meet the so called many aspects of teaching let alone educating, teachers have to make A-class preparation. Otherwise, we'll ruin it.

          Finished with the preparation, teachers have to teach well to carry out the A-class preparation. To check the competency retrieved by students from teachers, an examination is provided. In making the test unit used for examining, teachers compile the materials based on what teachers have shared with the students.

          On this stage teachers should be cautious with everything they plan and remember this. It is more important to prepare the students have high self-confidence in doing anything than to drill the students with material as much as water in the ocean.

          At this phase of life, I agree about the state of the students of being afraid of being tested. That's why there is a difference between having a test and performing a good competence. That's why teachers should tend to have correct classroom design (how to invite the students willingly to do things). A suitable classroom design will help teachers a lot in managing their classrooms.

          Please take a good look on the link below. Teachers all over the world need this kind of assurance in their lives. No matter how hard the material, no matter how much time and energy consumed, if we do it with heart and love, we can do it easily.
       
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/caring_teacher_student_relationship


Thank you for reading and concerning my writing.

Less Teaching More Learning

Students’ competence to grasp knowledge, skill, and behavior is a standard for teachers to give point or as a plan to manage their students. Therefore, they can focus in directing the process of teaching and learning as well as giving evaluation.

                Besides teaching, educator should be able to apply research in order to know their students competence by analyzing the results of the students’ tests. Based on the results, the teacher can determine which students should get some remedial and which one should continue to have another programs.

                Teacher should also be able to create such evaluations, which are proportionally focused on the students’ level of thinking scoop from low to high level. For high school level, applying evaluation to measure understanding should get more portion than application and analysis based on the characteristic of subject (Kurikulum 2004).

                A kind of tests that teacher should perform are multiple choice, structured essay, essay, short answer questions, matching, performance, and portfolio, a kinds of assignments (tagihan) are quiz, oral test, daily test, individual task, group task, block test, practical report or practicum, and practical examination.

                Based on the above fact that teacher, as an educator does not need much talk to give lecture in front of class, when the teacher is already prepared with his or her all-teaching preparations he or she just applying as what should be done. In this case, the teacher does as facilitator or evaluator in the teaching and learning activities. The orientation of the class activities is students’ center, but not teacher.

                In class activities, the students should do actively individual or in groups to attend the learning process. They are preparing the tasks their teacher given. They should be active to join the discussion under the teacher’s control. He or she reminds every student who does not take part in the discussion. This teaching model will make the learning participants grow more active. So less teaching and more learning are more appropriate way of teaching nowadays.

Self Introduction

Sorry for being late :)

Dear everybody,

Let me introduce myself. My full name is Muhammad Hamdan Fakhrudin. People usually call me Hamdan. I have lived in Malang since I was born on August 1, 1985. I have one father and one mother :)  I have also one elder sister and one younger brother. My hobbies are concerned with soccer and music. I used to love poetry but now I am used to loving my wife :) My favorite color is blue because I always feel good when I see it. My motto is the more you learn many things, the more you know everything. Therefore, since I was a student at senior high school 4 Malang (now it is the place where I have been working) I joined a lot of extracurricular activities. A few years later, when I was taking D3 and then S1 degree in UM, I joined The Community of English Department Students (Legato) at campus, The Youth Organization (Karang Taruna) and Mosque Teens (Remas) in the neighborhood. In working area, I still want to learn many things. In 2009, when I had just graduated, there was an offer to be a teacher in Percobaan 2 elementary school. Then I took the chance as somebody told me to start everything from the bottom. For the first year there, I taught the 1^st and 6^th grade students. It was so amazing and challenging, wasn’t it? In 2011, I decided to move from the elementary school and try another chance, teaching at senior high school 4 Malang. For the first year there, I was offered to be the staff of Wakakur and I took it. I have learned many things as there are always many things to do related to school academic  business. That I often went home at night and sat in front of the computer in hours made me very tired at that time. So, I talked to the principal to find the solution. And then he offered me to be the staff of Wakasis. I said I would take it and until now I feel comfortable with my position. I think I am not proud of what I have got in my life. I just feel thankful for the chances that God has given to me. I just feel that there are still many things to learn about, including my English skills. Well, I think that is it. Thank you :)

Week 1 November

Hi everyone!

Thank to those of you who posted their self-introductions in the blog in October. It would be great to hear from the rest of you in November. When working in online groups like this one, a little bit of personal information and a photo makes a big difference! It was very exciting to see the first blog entries with your reflections on the article about “Less Teaching, More Learning”. I can’t wait to see the rest of your introductory posts and comments on the readings soon!

Since you are now in the middle of the semester, it must be almost time for mid-term tests. This makes your next reading by Dave Dodgson very relevant, as it discusses the issue of how a test may be more of a hindrance rather than a help (http://www.davedodgson.com/2011/12/another-failure-for-exam-based-system.html).

In this article, Dave was talking about one of his students, *Sarah (not her real name). She was upset and told her parents that she did not want to do her English homework anymore. She believed that she was not doing well in her English class. Why did she feel that way? What did Dave do to overcome the situation? What did he learn from the incident? 
Note: Please read the full article in the link provided.

Sounds familiar, isn’t it? It will be great to have your thoughts and comments on this article. Please post them in the next two weeks. Once you have written your own blog post, please read other posts on the topic and continue the discussion by adding comments, or even creating another blog post. Let’s get blogging!

Please remember that your active participation in this blog will be used to issue a certificate of participation at the end of the study. You also go in the draw to win one of four autographed-books by Professor Paul Nation - a world-renowned TESOL schoolar. The first book will be drawn at the end of November.

Here are the prizes that you can win if you actively participate in the study:

Paul Nation's books

As usual, if you have any problems or questions, please do not hesitate to let me know!