SMA Perguruan Cikini

(7 February - 17 March 2023)

Independent Teaching Journal and Reflection

This semester, I had the opportunity to do the School Experience Program at the Cikini High School again. With the same stage, namely Independent Teaching, I assist the mentor teacher in teaching five classes, namely class X-4, X-5, XI IPA 1, XI IPA 2, and XI IPS 1. This semester, I also get the same assignment as the semester beforehand, which is preparing lesson plans, learning activities, assignments, daily assessments and report cards. Then, I also had the opportunity to participate in all school activities such as flag ceremony, teacher on duty, supervising extracurriculars, being a supervisor for the twelfth grade exams, participating in religious activities, and attending Student Executive events such as Cancer day and Market day.

20221003_114045.mp4

The teaching and learning process that I did with the previous semester was not much different because this semester I also handled several of the same classes as X-4 and XI IPS 1. For teaching and learning activities, I still use discussion and integrated technology strategies or methods to support student learning in the classroom. Furthermore, I also tried using cooperative learning methods such as Jigsaw, Number Head Together (NHT), and Think Pair Share (TPS). However, this semester I faced a bigger challenge in teaching than the previous semester, where I had to teach two classes with varying student characteristics and different material capture processes. For example, when I teach class XI IPA 1 and XI IPA 2, they like my teaching strategy or method which focuses on integrating technology, discussion, Think Pair Share, and Jigsaw.

In addition, XI IPA 1 and XI IPA 2 students can receive material quickly and are able to be actively involved in all learning activities. Meanwhile, class XI IPS 1 prefers learning methods that focus on conventional learning and Number Head Together. In addition, XI IPS 1 students have a slower process of receiving material so that each of their classes will usually be left behind by one material before XI IPA 1 and XI IPA 2.

Same like the previous one, when I focus on discussion strategies or methods, only active students will be involved in the learning process, while passive students will just listen and not want to share their opinions. Thus, to overcome this issue, I try to open a writing discussion where students can express their opinions in speaking and writing. In addition, the drawback of the Number Head Together strategy that I have implemented in class is that there are some students who are passive who do not want to be involved in learning sessions so as a teacher I have to provide extra learning so that students are not left behind in their learning.

20230301_103132_001.mp4

20230215_110513.mp4

According to Brookfield (2005), discussions require students to be able to think critically about the topics they are discussing, where through discussions students can use logic to evaluate their positions and those of others. As students are expected to discuss material constructively and intelligently, a discussion is a learning method that helps students explore diverse perspectives, increases intellectual agility, shows respect for students' voices and experiences, develops collaborative learning habits, and helps students develop synthesis and integration skills.

In Biography text and Cause & Effect material, I used a discussion strategy or method. The discussion session started with me providing a YouTube video about the Biograph text of Queen Elizabeth and the Earthquake video for the material Cause and Effect. From these two videos, I want to know the opinions and new insights that students get after watching the videos. For the Cause and Effect material, I invite students to reflect on what causes an Earthquake to occur and what the consequences are for society. Moreover, for Biography texts, students are able to identify what influences Queen Elizabeth has had on her country.

My goal is to use the discussion strategy, which is to require students to think critically on the topics around them and to help students explore various points of view.

However, in the case of teaching and learning in my class, only a few students could be active and engage in meaningful discussions. While some other students were passive and did not get involved in the discussion session because of their lack of knowledge in English. Therefore, the discussion method or strategy that I use for teaching and learning activities does not involve all students, where only some of the students are able to develop strategic methods as material for exploring diverse perspectives and developing collaborative learning habits.

After identifying the positive and negative results of the previous method or strategy, an alternative strategy that I can use for classroom learning is to combine learning that focuses on integrating technology and conventional learning that adapts to fulfill students' needs. Then, applying several methods or strategies according to student characteristics, for example students XI IPA 1 and XI IPA 2 who are more inclined towards discussion strategies, Think Pair Share, and Jigsaw. Meanwhile, XI IPS 1 students are more comfortable in using learning methods that focus on Number Head Together.