Reflections

I began my carrier in a new boarding school in 2003. It is my first experience teaching exam classes and I stayed at girls’ hostel as a warden. I graduated from National University of Malaysia with Bachelor’s Degree of Sciences Education (Major- Physics and minor- Mathematics).
At that time, I thought that my Physics, Mathematics and educational knowledge is adequate to teach my new students. Unfortunately, it is not enough to teach them because they are really hardworking, intelligent and motivated to learn new knowledge. Every day, I have to do content preparation for each class session. Before the lesson, I will prepare the answers for my students’ questions.
It is not easy to transfer the concrete knowledge from the text books to their brains in teaching and learning process. So as a teacher, I have to facilitate them with my clarity (clear explanation of concepts; comprehensibility; summarising of major premises; systematic presentation of material) using ICT tools. In the same time, I have to play my role as a teacher in connection with use of new technology. Day by day, I learn a lot of management, leadership, useful of ICT tools and PPSMI implementation during my day at school.
In boarding school, the measurement of success teaching and learning depends on the achievement in SPM or PMR examinations. The SBP sector and school administrator put a mission and aim to the teachers to achieve that goals. Such an example for Mathematics, the teacher should achieve 100% A1 for all candidates.
As the head of Mathematics committee, my team and I struggle to achieve that goal. We have 119 SPM 2005 candidates to teach and facilitate. We organise Mathematics clinics for weaker students, workshop and extra class during weekend. Alhamdullilah, all of our candidates got A1 in SPM 2005. The Director of School Division and Chief Director of MoE awarded my team and I an appreciation in the formal ceremonies.
The appreciation is a sweet memory and motivating me to be a good educator in the future. I still find myself constantly reflecting on what can be improved or modified in my teaching.