Final Reflection

I think I have learned many things from this Microteaching class. The prominent development that I've experienced is that I could build my class management and improve my speaking fluency. I've learned how to manage time and how to speak and explain the material clearly. I’ve also learned how to attract the students’ attention by giving interesting set induction, media, class activities, and material. And then, I’ve also learned how to give questions, reinforcements, and also plan teaching strategies. However, I still need to learn a lot to have a qualification to be a good teacher. Sometimes I felt not really confident with my way of managing the class and attracting the students’ attention, but when I was prepared with everything, I think my confidence increased. Therefore, I generally think that I’ve learned to become a better teacher…although there are still many things I need to improve.

Well, I’ve tried my best to help my friends to have the characteristics of a good teacher. For example, I wrote my honest comments to their performances on the small observation paper. My friends and I sometimes became “naughty and noisy” students so that my friends who performed as teachers could learn how to face and manage that kind of students. My friends also helped me by being noisy students so that I could try harder to manage them. I think I helped them honestly and sincerely enough…hope that they also felt and did the same way. :)

My friends’ comments are sometimes very different…maybe because they had different perspectives. But that’s okay…because I think they were honest enough…although probably there were some "surprising" comments that I didn’t predict before…hahahah. Overall I felt happy because they paid attention to me and my performance. Well, at last…I am not sure about my grade…but I think I want to get the best grade, which is an “A”…I lie if I don’t want that grade… :D I think I had done all my best in this class because I had made all of the works seriously…I gave my best shot in my teaching performances…I also made all the reflections every week (I also posted every reflection on time). And then, I attended most of the class…So, hopefully I would get the best grade that I deserve… :)

15th Reflection

Well...this is the last week of Microteaching class. On Tuesday, I became the observer of Dhimas, Beni, and Nimas. On Thursday, finally I did my final teaching practice. Thank You Jesus...I could do all my best...But I'm not satisfied yet...I have to keep learning because I still have many weaknesses... :D These are the feedback from my friends and my lecturer about my performance:

• Delis' comment: Overall Delis wrote that I had good set induction because of the pictures and she liked my pronunciation. However, I often took a look on my watch and the students' handout. She also wrote that I smiled too much. Well, thank you Delis...I agree that I forgot to bring my copy of handout...it's also because the number of the copies were exactly the same with the students... :) And next time I'll try not to smile too much... :p
  
• Fafa's comment: Fafa wrote that I explored the media so that it helped me to deliver materials. She also wrote that I was very patient and calm, and she thought it was good that I moved farther from the students to make them speak louder. The next point, Fafa thought that I was not confident enough whereas she thought I didn't have any reason to be not confident. (Yeap...I agree that I was not so confident, but probably at the beginning...because from the middle until the end of my teaching, the students could make me more relaxed since they were somehow "collaborative"...hahah.) But according to Fafa, the good thing was that I made myself as students' friends and it might have made them comfortable to study in the class. (Ameeen. :D) And then, Fafa wrote that the students' voice was louder than my voice when I talked. (Yeah...I think I should have spoken louder...)
• My lecturer's comment: Mr. Prast commented on my pictures in the beginning of the class. He thought that it was a good idea. :) However, he wrote that when I was explaining, some students were noisy and busy with themselves, so I should have been done something to deal with it. Next time, if I have chance, I'll try to teach better... :D
  

Okay...I think this is all my 15th reflection! I am thankful because the feedback from my lecturer and my friends makes me realized more about the things that I need to improve. I believe that people always have the whole life to learn! :)

14th Reflection

We've passed the 14th week of microteaching class...Thursday was holiday so we only had class on Tuesday. Hening, Rian, and Bayu performed on that day. I think three of them had improved, especially their class management and confidence...Hope that I can also show some improvement and perform better next Thursday! :) I got SKKD "Memahami manual penggunaan peralatan" (reading) for SMK class XII. I've searched the material and it was really really hard...but thank God I could find some from the internet...though I think they were too complicated for SMK that I needed to revise and edit the material. Now I'm making the lesson plan...I'm so nervous...not only because of the final test, but also because PPL is very neaaaarrrr...I think I'm not ready yet...but...I just hope that I can survive. Amen...

13th Reflection

Well...I haven't performed to teach in the class for final test because I get the last turn (on June 9th)...so I've only become my friends' students and watched their performances...hahaha. On Tuesday, we only had Siwi and Riska because Mas JB didn't come. Well, both of them were fluent and very relaxed. Siwi gave clear instructions. However, she didn't give many chances for the students to speak a lot even though it was a speaking class. And her worksheet was too broad. But overall she could explain very clearly. The next was Riska. She had a unique strategy by giving some rewards (chocolates) for those who could answer her questions. It's good but I think it made the students had "insincere" motivation. And sometimes her voice was not loud enough. But she had a good class management.

On Thursday, we had Sely, Yosi, and Diah. Sely looked more confident than before (on her previous performance). I liked her material. But she still needed to learn how to explain more clearly and fluently. Yosi was very confident, as usual. She also had a good material. Maybe she just needed to speak more clearly. At last, we had Diah. Diah also looked confident. She had nice reinforcements. But I think her previous performance was more creative (I liked the activities). However, her recording was fun and interesting. Alright...I think this is all my reflection for this week. :)

12th Reflection

Last Tuesday we didn’t have class because it was still holiday. On Thursday, we only had two performers because Cahyo didn’t attend the class. The first performer was Rei. I like her induction because she often started with a game to relate to the lesson. The second performer was Pauline. I think she was very fluent. Her instructions were also clear. Both of them were relaxed and they could manage the class. Maybe they only need to pay attention to some expressions they used but overall they taught really well. :)

11th Reflection

Finally...I had done my microteaching for underclassmen on Monday! Sooo relieved! Thank God, it went quite smoothly too. I gave ice breaking and told the meaning of the ice breaking to the students. For warming up, I used a jazz chant. For main activity, I used PowerPoint presentation and also the “Living English Speech” book. I also gave worksheet for the students. Thank Goood, I could manage the time well (my friends and I were assigned to teach for about 100 minutes). I think the students were quite cooperative at that time, although they were actually known as “rebel” students. Sometimes I found it hard when I asked them but they didn’t answer directly. But thankfully there were a few of them who answered my questions. When I asked them to repeat me pronouncing some sentences (one by one, so that I could hear their voices clearly and give the personal feedback directly), most of them could do well, although a few of them could not really pronounce the sentences accurately. However, it seems like they enjoyed the lesson. The lecturer also gave positive feedback to me. I am so thankful. :D However, I should not be satisfied easily. There are many things that I still need to improve. I also need to learn more about giving reinforcement and how to “stimulate” the “quiet” students to be more active at class. But overall, I really enjoyed teaching pronunciation because probably it is one of my favorite subjects...and pronunciation in some cases is like music too... :D

Well...this week, my friends started their final test of microteaching. On Tuesday, we had Fafa, Delis, and Tia. Fafa taught listening. I think she spoke fluently enough. She also mastered her material well. Maybe her induction needed to be more interactive. Delis was very enthusiastic and she could manage the class well. Maybe her activity was too easy because the students didn’t try to create their own dialogue. Meanwhile, Tia could explain really well. Her induction was clear and she looked confident. I think she had improved a lot. Maybe she just needs to learn giving more interesting reinforcement. And somehow the design of her PowerPoint was too colorful. She needs to be more careful because it could attract the students’ concentration.

On Thursday, we had Carolin, Gilang, and Anggi. Carolin gave good induction. She also gave interesting activity (arranging jumbled sentences). But still, she needs to be more enthusiastic when speaking. She also needs to be more prepared in her material because when the students asked her some questions, she looked quiet confused. Gilang could manage the class well and he was enthusiastic when speaking. However, he needed to pay attention to his time management. Anggi gave really good reinforcement to the students. Her activities were also interesting. However, sometimes her instructions were not really clear. Well, but overall most of them had improved a lot. I think I am motivated to teach better. :)

10th Reflection

Five of my friends had performed their teaching this week. They were Sely, Diah, Cahyo, Bayu, and Riska. I have learned many things from their performances. Sely gave us interesting induction by telling her fake story about Facebook. She also had nice PowerPoint presentation and song. But somehow she needed to explain more clearly because sometimes her explanation was confusing. Diah performed really well. I think she spoke clearly and loud enough. She also gave us interesting material and she looked really confident. Maybe she needed to be more enthusiastic and communicative because she didn't invite the students to speak a lot. On the other hand, Cahyo could attract the students' attention well. His performance also looked more "serious" than his previous performance in group teaching. However, he needed to explain more clearly. The last two performers were Bayu and Riska. Bayu didn't speak fluently enough and somehow he looked nervous. However, his material about procedure text was good and clear. Meanwhile, Riska looked confident and calm. I like the way she spoke because she looked relaxed and she could manage the students well. Maybe she needed to pay attention to the students' mistakes because when I didn't pronounce "procedure" correctly, she didn't correct it.

Well, speaking of my pronunciation microteaching, I didn't teach on last Monday because several days before we suddenly decided to arrange the material and the schedule. Detta wanted to teach "falling intonation" while I wanted to teach "rising intonation" so that Detta got the first week's turn and I got the second week's turn (that is going to be next Monday). When I was watching Detta's performance, I felt nervous because the students were not "calm and quiet" type of students. Therefore, I am now preparing a strategy to make them involved well in the lesson. How come? Not by bus, of course... :p I don't know...I hope tomorrow I can find the answer. Amen to that!

9th Reflection

Finally…I had done my class teaching! I am so thankful that it went quite smoothly. It was successful in some ways, such as when I used the video, the students got interested. I was also relaxed enough and could manage the class pretty well. I could also make the activities happen pretty similar to what I had planned in my lesson plan. I think the students had learned what they were intended to learn since they did the class activities well.

However, in some cases, there were many things that I need to improve. The pictures I used were probably a bit too difficult for grade X students. I was lucky because my students were very smart. Although the observers said that I looked relaxed, actually I was really nervous in facing the class. Therefore, I didn’t look enthusiastic enough. But thank God I didn’t laugh a lot at that time…hehehe. But like my lecturer’s feedback, some students were busy with themselves since they had finished their task. I must have thought about it. Maybe I should have given them other things to do…

Actually I am still confused on how to correct the pronunciation or grammar of the students when they were doing the monologue, because if I corrected all of their mistakes while they were speaking, their concentration might have been disturbed or maybe they would be reluctant to speak. Well, at first I had thought about giving them general feedback after they had finished speaking, but I forgot to do that. I am so regretful. :( The other thing I regret was I didn’t hear the bell that reminded me to end the class. That’s why, I didn’t make a proper set closure. I didn’t pay attention to the time. It was another problem that I regret so much. Maybe it was the limited time that made me forget to give the feedback for the students’ mistakes. :( However, I am satisfied because I gave the students chance to speak a lot.

I think I had made sufficient preparation for the lesson. I revised my lesson plan because I wanted to make the lesson more interesting by playing a video. It could invite the students’ response and attract their attention too. I am also thankful because my friends were very naughty at that time so that I could learn how to manage the class. Hopefully I can improve that skill. I think next time I should be more careful so that I won’t forget to do my plan. I can’t also just rely on the class’ bell and blame myself for not hearing the bell. I think I must pay attention to my time management. Well, hopefully I can do better on my next teaching practice at semester 2 pronunciation class. :)

8th Reflection

Whoaaa...tomorrow I will have my progress test performance at class! I am now revising my lesson plan because I want to change my material a bit. I will use a video to make the class more interactive (hopefully)...and the rest of the plan will be the same (I will still use the picture stories).

On last Tuesday, three of my friends had their teaching performance. I think all of them performed well enough. Delis was very enthusiastic and could make us interested in her teaching. Tia spoke clearly and she had an interesting Power Point presentation. Siwi showed us interesting video in her listening class. I enjoyed her performance a lot. And on last Thursday we didn't have class because it was Easter holiday.

Well, I don't know how they felt when they taught in front of the class at that time. Tomorrow I will be exactly like them and I will feel what they had experienced. Oh my! I am so afraid, but I hope I can perform well!

7th Reflection

Three of my friends performed their teaching on last Tuesday and I became the observer with Hening and Mr. Prast. The first turn was Pauline. She was very relaxed and very fluent in speaking. I think she performed really well, but maybe she should have been more enthusiastic because she didn't speak loudly enough. Meanwhile, Detta was really confident and she gave nice reinforcement to the students, but she needed to pay attention to her grammar in speaking and in her material. The last performance was Nimas. I think she spoke clearly and she talked with good pronunciation. But maybe the pictures she provided were not about recount text because there were complications on those texts.

Well, I didn't come to class on Thursday because I felt not really well. Anyway, I admit that I'm very worried about my progress test teaching performance. On last Monday, my friends and I also had an observation in Miss Adesti's pronunciation class and Miss Adesti informed us that we will start to teach the class on May 2nd, which is only one week after my progress test performance. Oh my God! I think I will be really busy in my Easter holiday...

6th Reflection

On last Tuesday, the class was divided into some groups consisting three or four students to discuss our lesson plans. These were fixed groups for the rest meetings of Microteaching class. My group members were Delis and Bayu. I think they had helped me by giving some comments on my lesson plan. My lecturer also helped me in dealing with my lesson plan's problem. And from all of the comments, I tried to revise my lesson plan, which was submitted on the next meeting (Thursday).

The first day of our progress test was also on Thursday. Caroline, Fafa, and Gilang were the performers. I think Carol looked more enthusiastic than her performances before, though maybe her recording was too fast for high school students. Fafa's performance was also good. She gave responses to the class' questions well and gave the class interesting game. Maybe she needed to increase her time management because in the end she looked in a hurry. On the other hand, Gilang mastered his material well. Maybe he could add some interesting activities or induction to motivate the students. I think the challenges for them were the "naughty" students...hahaha, but it was good because the students could really tested the teachers' ability, especially in managing the class. :D Overall, their performances improved significantly. :)

5th Reflection

On last Tuesday, two of my friends had their teaching practice in front of the class. They were Anggi and Tia. Gilang and me became the observer of Anggi in the observer room. At that room, there were computers, some tools to record the activity in the class, and headsets which we used to listen to the class' voice. And the class couldn't see us while conversely we could watch them.

I think Anggi performed really well and she was a really cheerful teacher. Maybe she often spoke with fillers like "OK"...and she also needs to increase her awareness of using some expressions when speaking. The activity she had was fun, but maybe the drawing part was not really necessary for the speaking class. On the other hand, Tia looked really calm in her performance. Maybe she needs to be more enthusiastic. However, the class activity was really interesting. The topic was "expressing politeness" and the game was like snake and ladders game. I loved that game; it was good to make the students use the expressions of politeness well. But maybe Tia didn't really give clear instructions so that we sometimes felt confused about what we should have done in the class.

On last Thursday, we had a lottery to decide our first progress test performance's turns. I got number 13 and it is supposed to be on April 26th. Our lecturer asked us to make a lesson plan and we should submit it on Tuesday (April 5th). My topic was pretty challenging (narrative - speaking). And now I am preparing for this progress test. I find it a bit hard to design the class activity and the material, but I'm doing my best (whoa, the deadline is tomorrow!). Good luck to me! :)

4th Reflection

In the latest week, I didn't have any teaching practice...I only watched my friends perform their group teaching in front of the class, they were Gilang and Siwi. I think my friends had their own teaching style and they really did their best.

Gilang had a good instruction skill so that we could understand his instructions well. He also mastered the material. However, the material was quite difficult and the exercise didn't really represent the aim of his topic (procedure text) because the students were focused on the difficult vocabularies. And in the end he was so hurried in explaining the material because of the limited time.

Meanwhile, Siwi was a very interactive and confident teacher. She also had a good questioning skill. However, maybe sometimes the students were not involved in her questions because she tended to give rhetorical questions (she answered her own questions). And sometimes her gestures also looked too polite, maybe because she tried to give her best to the students.


I've learned few things from my friends' performance and the feedback. I think I am motivated to perform better because of seeing my friends' performance. :)

3rd Reflection

On Thursday, I did my first group teaching. I got the third turn! Whoa...I felt really nervous, especially before I started teaching. However, I tried to control that feeling and gave it my best shot since I had prepared it wholeheartedly. :)

My teaching topic was "Describing Objects". I asked my friends to pretend as Grade X students in Senior High School (speaking class). I think my induction setting was not really interesting, since I only told the class that we could describe objects to other people using some characteristics, and then I asked them to answer what the characteristics are, based on the handouts given. What worked well was that I tried to involve them speak a lot (I used students-centered interaction style). I think my friends also understood my questions well because I tried to use simple English. I also used teaching media to do the class activity. In this case, I asked the class to form 3 groups and each of them received one random card. After that, they had to describe the object on the card and let the other friends in their group guess that mysterious object. I think they had fun with that game. :)

However, my lecturer said that I often smiled or laughed a lot when teaching. Actually, I was born with a bubbly or happy face...and my friends often say to me that my face always looks happy. Besides that, some of my friends (the boys) that sat at the back were really funny at that time, so I couldn't bear to laugh...But I think it's apparently important to reduce my tendency to laugh because as my lecturer said, my students might think that I'm not serious if I laugh too much. :D My friends (who had group teaching) and I also had the same problem; we didn't give any response to certain questions asked by the class. Maybe it was because we either didn't know the answer or thought that our friends who asked were just kidding...hehehe. Well, another important thing for me to note is that I need to pay attention to the SKKD which will be used by the school so that I can give the proper material to the students. Hopefully, I can learn from the feedback and improve my performance!

2nd Reflection

If I am asked the reason why I join microteaching class, I think besides the fact that it is a compulsory subject to graduate from PBI, this class is probably my destiny...hehehe. No matter I like it or not, I must join this class with positive mind and hopefully I can pass it well.

When I entered PBI, I didn't even realize the existence of this subject. And once after I knew about this class from my seniors and friends, I felt really worried. But lately I've realized that this class is important because I can learn many new things, for example from the feedback and comments given by my friends and my lecturer when the class had teaching practice. So, I guess I do want this. And maybe I'll try to enjoy this class. Why not? :)

Like what I said in the previous post, I am still not sure whether in the future I will be a teacher or not, because I've always dreamed to be a professional musician...and also a translator (because I have certain interest in this profession). However, I think I can get positive things or benefits from this class whatever I will be in the future. For example, I can learn how to handle the audience, especially making interactions with them. I can also learn the skills of public speaking, improving my confidence, how to be more creative, and many more. If I become a teacher, I will apply the knowledge that I gain from this class. :)

1st Reflection

I am now taking Microteaching course on this semester. By joining this class, PBI students are expected to learn how to teach English in a classroom teaching situation. This course is conducted in a lab which is comfortable and sophisticated, all at once. However, the atmosphere of the class is somehow a bit scary to me...hehehe. I hope this exaggerated feeling won't last long because I want to learn many things from this class and improve my teaching skills.

On the first week, my friends and I discussed the characteristics of a good teacher and learned about the general skills of teaching. Our first material was about opening a lesson and setting closure. All of us also had to do peers teaching. We needed to prepare a material to teach. My material was about degree of comparison. Actually, I felt pretty nervous because it was my first experience of doing such way of teaching. However, I tried to control myself and do my best.

After doing the peers teaching, me and my partner gave our written and oral feedback. My friend's feedback was similar to what I thought about my performance. What worked well was that I was able to answer questions and explain using good structure of language. However, what didn't work in the classroom was my enthusiasm because I was not enthusiastic enough. I was often focused on my material. Sometimes I tended to produce many fillers. I think I need to improve my confidence and be more prepared. Actually, I am still not sure whether I will be a teacher or not. I think it is challenging to be a teacher because a teacher needs to be a good model for his/her students. And now, my question is: how to deal with nervous feelings when explaining the material? Because I tend to speak with so many fillers...

On the second week, we learned about teacher's gestures when explaining material and how to create good questions. I think I have achieved some new important knowledge. The problem is, it is still hard for me to apply the knowledge into real actions. I also noticed that some of my friends were active and looked comfortable in the classroom, while some of us were still shy, especially when Mr. Prast asked some questions. Maybe slowly but sure we will increase our confidence. Like on the last meeting, we talked about how to deal with "silent students". I think it is important for teachers to stimulate and encourage their students to participate actively in the class. It is a tough job for teachers, but the discussion we had at that time was quite inspiring and motivating. Anyway, I hope I can do my best in my group teaching for the next meeting!