Seasons greetings, everybody...

The critical thinking process can be really critical indeed. hehehe.
I experienced just the same thing, especially for the teaching of writing. I guess that's why we have pre-writing stage. Take it from the positive side,...developing critical thinking can be done by discussions, right? What follows is S-S interaction. But a hardwork it is!

From experience, I always know that I'll have an amusing time whenever I check my students' writing pieces, especially when it is about argumentative paragraph/essay. It is usually something in their way of thinking that disappoints me. Or amuses me, if you look at it from a different angle. Perhaps you guys have experienced the same thing.

Sometimes, the same thing happens when my class discuss a more difficult topic, like Street Art, Education, etc. Although my students are very enthusiastic in involving in the class discussion, their way of thinking (or giving arguments) is interesting.

My colleagues call it Lack of Critical Thinking.

Knowing the problem, I usually provide my class with background information about a particular topic, using many ways: cut out news from newspaper, pictures/posters, movies, songs, etc.. I find it relieving that the technique helps the students. Once they are given more input about the topic, their mind can think beyond boundaries. A little beyond, but that's okay.

Now, I've come to another problem...
When the students are given another -different- topic to study or/and to do as home assignment, they fall into the same problem again.
*sigh*

A new month,.indeed. However, let's just talk about the same topic last month. i was on TTD's road show for searching feedback on mentoring training to several branches. Lots of lots great stories from many branches but some are untold. Let's use this blog as an opportunity to share experience,ok? Why not start with "Learning from (a name of a branch). say,...learning from Kelapa Gading. gud idea, huh? if we have time,... hehehhehe.

I was having pre and post consultation with a candidate teacher when i started to wonder if those sessions can be considered as mentoring sessions.My personal opinion, they CAN be considered as mentoring sessions. My understanding comes form the fact that I did things that a mentor does. I actively listened to her opinion on the steps of teaching she was going to do. She also responded to my effort in making her to be more self-analytical.I tried to lead her into coming up with activities that would be more effective for her teaching. I presented experts' opinion on aspects of her teaching. And last but not least, I invited her to plan on future actions. We discussed the result of the actions. Those steps convinced me that I have conducted some mentoring sessions.
Any comments?

Mentoring is a big fuss these days.
DIKLAT had a "roadshow" to branches talking about it.
I heard success stories from branches like GUNSAH and PENGADEGAN.
Got anything to share?
I heard that it is very difficult to ask teachers to have the mentoring.
I was wondering if it were true.

Minal Aidin wal Faidzin,...
Happy lebaran to you all..

Wishing you all a happy Eid el Fitr!

AJ
New term, guys? got classes? or no?
Let's share the experience of teaching at new terms.
I want to start.
One thing that really impressed me is that i had to get many extra chairs for the students. it was a useful exercise fo me. hehhehe.
And it's Ramadhan,... longer breaks we cannot control. hehhehe.
So, what's your story?

Reading in elementary levels

I have heard some teachers complaining about the materials. Some think that they are too little. Some others go clueless because they are not interesting. Some even go to the extreme that they would use another reading material. Is it OK?
"YES" comes out of SOAR. I just hope that it is easy to find reading passages that include the target vocabularies and reading strategies. Not to mention we also have to pay attention to the length of teh passages themselves.
Sounds like a hard work (and a long one as well).
which one would you take, guys? going the extra miles for teh sake of students' interest or exploting and applying fun techniques for the materials that are on the book?
TYPE READING(space)A
or READING (space) B
:)

i am challanged particularly in the teaching listening lessons using our books. it is sad that not many know the ropes of teaching them.
i have to say that i was enlightened by TEFL A trainings and one of our great liatening trainer (if you read this, you knkow who you are) that listening strategies taugght are based on the questions presented on the lesson.
The implication is that when teaching listening, we must first go through the questions in order that we decide the strategies taught.
A challangeing job, huh? but as soon as you get there, you get everything. hehhehe
HAs anyone experience the same things as i do?
anw,. ...listening is a great excuse some teachers use to the lack of s-s interaction. how would you respond to that, guys?

The beginning of the month is coming....
A new topic is approaching....
Anybody has had any ideas what to talk about in September?

I've got some ideas to propose.... (based on feedback from teachers who (think they) are novice) Hehehehe. Here they are :
1. Receptive skills and the practice in the class room,
2. Productive skills and the practice in the classroom,
3. How to promote S-S interactions in the classroom (more on the technique perhaps, Mr Moderators?)


Got something else in mind?
Come on.... Let that idea flow....
Looking forward to your ideas ....

AJ
Fosterring ss-ss interaction requires more effort when we teach receptive skills. Don't you think so?

SS
More than 2000 years ago, Confucius wrote: Tell me, I will forget.
Teach me, I will remember.
Involve me, I will learn.
The first two lines obviously show the teacher's domination and controll resulting in students' passive learning. To this kind of teachers, teaching means transferring knowledge from the teacher who knows a lot of things to the students who do not know anything. Therefore, the teacher bombards the students with his explanation on various subjects hoping that the students would be able to absorb and understand them. There is no students' engagement and no S-S interaction; there is only T-S interaction. However, Confucius told us that students would learn little or nothing at all through telling, teaching and explaining things.
Therefore, in third line he suggested that students be involved in all meaningful learning activities/tasks that would maximize S-S interaction through which students would construct their own knowledge and own the learning process.

HRI (taken from a different blog)
Congrats to all of us FIESTA-ERS! Now we have a communication and sharing forum ON LINE. Would like to thank TTD for that. This is one step to becoming more Technology Savvy. Since I have been having trouble posting my comments...this is a try-out message. If I succeed this time, I will post my "real" (more academic) comments in my next posting. Have a great week end to all of you. Today is a special Saturday--07-07-07 (July 7, 2007). Make a special wish!!

Fostering student-student interaction is actually not a new trend and it has long been considered as one of the strategies to activate students' further involvement in the teaching process.

During my time as an AOO, teacher mentioned factors to justify their reasons for not being able to promote student-student interactions in the classroom. Here are some....


Firstly, some teachers would blame the materials. They'd consider the materials as lame, boring, unattractive and is not condusive for ss-ss interaction. Comments would involve something like, 'The activities are too controlled.' , 'It is impossible to modify the techniques in the book.', etc.


Then, another group of teachers complained about the characteristics of students in Indonesia. They'd say their conclusions such as, 'The students are not motivated.', 'They are not enthusiastic.' , 'They are shy.', 'etc.

Did you have the same experience? Share with us here.

AJ
I got the information from people in TTD that the beginning of the trend in ss-ss interaction in LIA went way back when ibu Hafilia did some video watching on some teachers teaching. She concluded that ss-ss interaction in those videos were not very high. This thing led to another. The result is as wecan see that there is a specific coloumn in our new lesson plan-type of interaction.
Anyway, i wonder if others feel that the ss-ss interaction in your classes are low.
Wana share?

AJ (Ali Aljufri) ID (Idwan Deshira)
Hi, everyone.
TTD has been receiving questions on whether or not this blog legal. hehehewee Therefore, we would like to apologize for the not-so-thorough introduction.
This site is 100% legal and is waiting for you.
One more thing,... since all of us were wvery occupied with the academic gathering last week, i believe that none of us had enough time to post anything. So, the topic STUDENT-STUDENT INTERACTION is still on. Have a nice blogging.