TEACHING PRACTICE IN UPI

Before coming to UPI, there are two things (related to teaching) that have been boggling me for weeks. First is the subject matter and the second one is the language barrier. 

In the Philippines, the specialization I am studying, which is the subject social studies, is an integrated discipline of social sciences. The moment I arrived at UPI, I had no idea how they teach the subject. When I got to meet my cooperating teacher, Pak Angga, he gave me a subject orientation. Here in Indonesia, specifically Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia in Bandung, they do not teach Social Studies as one subject. Meaning to say, it is not integrated; Sociology is one subject, History is another subject, Economics is another, and Geography too. I was relieved, I must say! 

With regards to the language barrier, I was the most concerned. During our orientation in SMA Labschool with our cooperating teachers, they told us that Labschool classes comprise of three: regular, bilingual, and tauhid. In my case, I got to teach regular classes because Pak Angga teaches Sociologi in regular classes. Majority of my co-SEA Practice Teachers are English majors, so it is not much of a problem because they got to teach Bilingual Classes.  

My Teaching Schedule from Pak (Sir) Angga.

The ones with red checks are the classes I taught for two weeks. Pak Angga entrusted his Grade 11 and 12 classes - a total of 4 sections to me. The time schedule for each class is different; it is not consistent which gives me a challenging time creating a lesson plan.  

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF MY TEACHING PRACTICE ROUTINE

The things I prioritized in my practice teaching are establishing class routine and teaching approach. With that, I always start with the Preparation part which includes setting up, greetings, class structuring, and checking of attendance. Next would be the Motivation and/or Engaging Activities, then the Abstraction which is the lesson proper, and last would be the Assessment and Evaluation.

PREPARATION (5 to 7 minutes)

Aside from setting up my laptop, the school's projector, and projector white screen during the preparation, I check their attendance by calling their names and give a class energizer to set my students' mood and energy for the class. 

CLASS ENERGIZERS

MOTIVATION AND ENGAGING ACTIVITIES (10 minutes)

For the next part, I seldom include a motivation to know and work on their prior knowledge according to the topic. I do this by letting them watch a short video, let them analyze, and share what they understand. I also include an educational game related to the lesson.

ABSTRACTION (25 to 30 minutes) AND ASSESSMENT/ACTIVITY (25 minutes)

During the abstraction or the discussion of the lesson, I, however, did not have a difficult time getting their attention. I focused on keeping the classroom atmosphere engaged and interactive by being creative. By doing the art of questioning, I always ignite their minds and let them find the answers. Even if they are not so good with English, I complimented them so they do not lose heart whenever problems occur such as the language barrier. From time to time, I ensure that every class I teach learns and enjoys my class. I do that by simply asking if they can follow and verify it through assessments.

At the end of every lesson, I let them answer an activity--individual activity (concept map), pair and group activity (presentation and problem solving) for evaluation and assessment purposes.

ABSTRACTION

Click Me

Click Me

ASSESSMENTS

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My overall experience as a practice teacher in UPI is an unmatched feeling. A feeling of fear and excitement, fulfillment, happiness, sentiment, and most of all, LOVE. The unwavering support from our cooperating teachers especially mine, Pak Angga, helped me a lot by assuring me that everything is going well and that I am doing a very great job teaching. What else should I ask for rather than staying a bit longer in UPI?