EDU 3234…

One hour of lecture every week that focused more on talks on practicum and position paper was exciting and informational. As usual, Dr Jaya proved to be an extraordinary lecturer by lessening our burden of struggling to read notes and memorizing them.

One more element that adds up to the fun of being in this class is the fact that there is no final exam for this paper!!! All efforts we are putting together to finish up our research paper and position paper is going to be worthwhile as when we don’t have to sit for yet another final exam.

The tutorials which were converted into movie watching session were inspiring moment for every future teacher who sat and watched those movies. Miss Amelia and Miss Alicia tried to come out with best quality movies with a nice sound system every single week. The effort that they took to give us the best was inspiring as well. I would like thank Dr Jaya, Miss Amelia, Miss Alicia and Miss Dzeelfa a lot for being there with me throughout EDU 3234.

Practicum oh practicum….why do you have to come?

I’m dreading every moment the topic of practicum pops up in class. Dy Jaya is trying his best to give tips on preparing ourselves for our practicum and Cik Pah is giving us inside stories of what might go wrong during practicum the whole semester. I am just absorbing all these information and will apply them during my practicum next semester.

When I think about my practicum, my thoughts will always review back the moments I was here at campus. All those sweet, memories with college mates and course mates are very much precious to me and I seriously don’t want it to end abruptly. If possible, I would like to go back in time to my first year and study all over again!!! Our practicum puts an end to everything sweet that has ever happened to me!!!

Arranged or love marriage???

Arranged or love marriage????... I wonder what kind of marriage I will have in the future. Readings that we have done privately and in class during discussion with Dr Jaya, points out that arranged and love marriages are equal in some ways. For instance, love marriage is good because the couples would have known each others’ habits and character before marriage which makes them prepared to give and take and be flexible whereas in arranged marriage, couples will have minimal expectations out of each other and that helps to make the marriage go smoothly.

In my opinion, a male and female should know their duties to each other as husband or wife and live up to it accordingly. The responsibilities that a married couple is going to face and carry must be given thorough thought before getting married. Marriage is not all about two individuals getting married but it is about a bunch of people (family members) with lots of expectations and working together with them. I just hope I will have a fairly good marriage no matter whether it’s arranged or love marriage.

Drowgames awards

It was disappointing to see not many people turn up for the awards after weeks of reminder. Naomi, Aruna, Sharon, Adeline and I was few people who came early for the event and what we saw upon our arrival was only five people including Miss Alicia and Miss Amelia. We was hoping that lots of people will come soon and true to that and some phone calls made, there was quite a number of people who came in late. Next time around, I would be happy if attendance is taken for events like this to make sure everyone comes on time.

The event went on smoothly. The part where Mr. Vahid won his trip to Indonesia for a conference and my friend Aruna winning the 35th place in Drowgames was a sweet surprise for me. The food prepared for us was also delicious but it was sad to see so much of leftovers. I really hoped that the leftovers could be sent to any charity home as their dinner.

Mr. Vahid and yummy yummy KFC Snack Box

Meeting Mr. Vahid in our classroom after a long time was more than pleasurable. We always used to have a very good time in Dr Jaya and Mr. Vahid’s classes but this time around, Mr. Vahid came in as our guest lecturer for the day to teach how to write argumentative and persuasive essays which is very important to write our position paper.

As usual, Mr. Vahid did his best to make us understand his presentation. I understood what he was talking about after giving it some thought as I felt the contents and scales were too technical for me. After interpreting his presentation on my own way, I believe that I have to make some minor changes to my position paper.

After Mr. Vahid’s lecture, we were treated with KFC Snack Box. Thanks to Dr Jaya, we always get a treat every time we had to work hard for his classes. All those threats make me feel that all the effort put in the semester is worthwhile.

Finding Forrester

I’m still finding what finding Forrester is all about… I have never watched such a boring movie in my life before!!! I am still trying to figure out why Sean Connery corrected Jamal’s paper in the first place.

This slow-paced movie (a boring one in that) did carry a heavy message. A recluse author passing down his experiences and manuscript must b a result of a special bond. The encouragement Sean Connery gave Jamal was out of ordinary and sounds more like discouragement rather than encouragement. Jamal, who seems to have a special bond with the author, worked hard on the guides given to him and came out with a very good term paper at his new elite school.

The communication between Jamal and his idol looks very rough and unstable but it survived the challenges. This is what we can call as special bond from birth. Their relationship is more like a relationship between a mother and her son, where outsiders cannot predict or understand the relationship.

Documentary…haiz!!!!!

Chalk is a documentary about teachers struggling in the education system. I hated this documentary just like my classmates who was sleeping throughout the movie session. I can’t really focus on the documentary as I was sleep deprived; result of staying awake the previous night.

From the bits that I watched and understood, I came to a conclusion that this documentary was all about teachers of various levels and subjects struggling to keep up with their personal and professional life. When I think about this, I realized how much a teacher puts at stake in order to educate students. All these efforts are simply for nothing at times.

Imagining how much my teachers would have lost in order to educate me makes me awestruck. The admiration that I had on them doubled instantly. Will I be able to give the same kind of commitment to my student and profession? That is a doubt but I can promise that I will try my best to give the best.

Research paper: what have I done so far…?

So far I have submitted the introduction section to Miss Dzeelfa and am waiting to get her feedback on it. While waiting, I started of with Authors’ Background and Cultural Background section. Since I am working on classic texts, it is a bit hard for me to get books and resources on 19th and 20th century. It is especially tough to get resources on adultery of the era and also on the causes. With the help of OPAC, I found few books that might help me more to understand the culture of 19th and 20th century.

I feel that the time limit that has been given to us (1 semester) restricts my interest to deliver an elaborate research paper. I would like to work on this topic deeper. I am sure that I won’t be satisfied with my outcome as I feel the “holes” and missed out parts will be a big turn off for my readers. Despite that, I will try my best to put together a good research paper with the time I have. I am really very happy that I got the chance to do this research paper.

how " adultery in 19th and 20th century" came about...

When Dr Jaya announced that I was appointed under Miss Dzeelfa to do my research paper, I was thrilled. This is because Miss Dzeelfa and I had a good understanding and passion on literature last semester. I felt as if I was blessed with a shower of luck to work with her again this semester. The most exciting thing is that we are going to work on literature. I made a promise to myself to come out with an excellent paper on Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.
The dream of working on Kate Chopin’s The Awakening alone was thrashed when I got to know that I have to use at least three literary texts in order to complete my research paper whereas Kate Chopin wrote only two novels throughout her life. Then I thought about working on Nora Roberts, but my heart kept on insisting me to work on The Awakening no matter what. This is when our meeting with Miss Dzeelfa was arranged.
We (Wendy, Adeline, Aruna and me) had a brief meeting with Miss Dzeelfa regarding our research paper; we discussed about what should be in our research paper and also on what do we have in mind to work on. When I was explaining to Miss Dzeelfa about my idea on doing the awakening, Miss Dzeelfa gave me a superb idea of discussing on adultery and why it happens in the novel. I improvised the idea to work on three novels from three authors and discuss about adultery in them. This is how I got the title of my research paper; ‘adultery in 19th and 20th century’.

Teacher needs adventure???

The Ron Clark Story is about Mr. Ron Clark who left his small town teaching job in order to get more thrilling adventurous teaching experience. He felt empty and unsatisfied teaching normal kids who scores well in his old school. Mr Clark quits his job and set a journey to New York to explore the world and serve new students.

This is when he got a job in a less reputable school in New York. Mr Clark was assigned to teach the worst class in the school and he accepted it. This specific class was struggling even to pass the basic skills test. Mr Clark took this situation as a challenge for himself and tries really very hard to make the students to study and pass the test. Did he succeeded in doing that?

Yes, he did succeed after going through lots of problems. He even recorded videotapes for his students when he was supposed to be home taking rest during his medical leave. Mr Clark made sure he did his best to educate and prepare the students for the test.

A teacher's search for adventure is potrayed nicely in this movie. Ron Clark's sense of achievement is something he deserves and motivational for teachers all around the world. I really would like to be a teacher like him in the future.

Is Precious really precious?

What mother will let her boyfriend to rape her own child? what kind of man will have the heart to rape his own daughter? why does a mother have to let her daughter to be raped in order to be with her boyfriend?...these are the questions that came up to my mind when i watched the movie "Precious".

Precious is a girl who has been allegedly raped since three years old by her mother's boyfriend who was also her father. her father fathered two of her children. how do we name this relationship? does the young ones have to call Precious's father dad or grandpa? isn't this ironic?

In my opinion, the Precious's mother should have left her boyfriend the first time he tried to rape her child. Precious's mother claims that her daughter is precious to her but why did she have to let her precious daughter to be raped in front of her eyes? i am sure the mother would have found a better man to be her soul mate if she left her boyfriend in the first place.

Spelling Bee that stings...

Akeelah and the bee is a very inspiring movie for students who have lost their hopes in learning and showing off their talents. Akeelah was very reluctant to participate in a spelling bee competition in her school level just because she thought she will be an outcast if she won the competition but this situation was easily handled by her school principle by forcing her into spelling bee competition or she would have to go for detention. Akeelah who skipped school often prior to her mother's knowledge, had to agree to this deal wit her principle. after winning the school competition, she moved forward to the district level competition and followed by national spelling bee competition. Akeelah was guided by a professor who failed to make a success out of his daughter.

From this movie, we can see that even a girl from problematic background can achieve success and be the best among all the privileged kids. this is the kind of hard work that Malaysian students should have in order to do well in their school. they should not only stick to doing their best in academics but also in competitions and extra-curricular activities.

Lean on Me

A downfall of a school because of politics interference in education system is evident in this movie... importance given to funds to run the school destroyed the standards of a well-reputed school. It did not only down-graded the school but in long term, the school was categorized as the most notorious place to be for students.

Politics in education will lead to negligence of students (welfare and education). A principle who tried to fight the system is condemned and imprisoned for trying to protect the school children in this movie.

As a teacher-trainee, i was inspired to give importance to my duty duty as a teacher and my students rather than fearing the political issues that tries to alter or disrupt my students' teaching and learning process. My students should not feel abandoned at any time and resort to social issues that gives them the recognition that schools fails to provide them with.

Bottom-line, it is well known that interference of politics in education brings to abolition to the education system of the country.

Fable Oh Fable...

Fable is a short story with a moral value and it is made interesting by adding in elements of myth and legend. Creating fable in a modern context and by people who do not have a gist of the real fable situation is quite challenging but i guess we did good in creating our own fable.

At first, we thought we have to re-do an existing fable with modern characters, but after we enter the class did we know that we have to create our own fable. Within the 45 minutes time that we got, Adeline, Kirubayini, Naomi and me brainstormed and came out with an idea of portraying a Malay proverb, "hujan batu di negara sendiri, hujan emas di negara orang, lebih baik negara sendiri", in our fable.

We used fishes to portray our message. These fishes were drawn by Kirubayini and the others helped to draw the colourful outlines and also to come with the dialogues with correct grammar. it was an enjoyable experience creating a fable of our own. I am looking forward to do more activities like this.

Mona Lisa Smile...

last week, i watched this wonderful movie about a teacher/lecturer teaching in a very conservative women college during Miss Amelia and Miss Alicia's tutorial class. in my opinion, this will be an inspiring movie for teachers to be brave and make the changes that they want to do in their classroom.

"Mona Lisa" is a great piece of art and the message that the eyes of Mona Lisa tried to convey is misery, unhappiness and pain but her smile is a genuine one. implying the idea in understanding this movie will be the smile that is forced to produce by women even though they are not happy and also their wish to live up to others expectations rather than for themselves.

i am looking forward to watching loads of inspiring movies in these tutorials in the future.