Week 3- Being a First Grader Teacher

School year has just begun. All students were in the class, excited. There were only two new students on the sight. The rest come from the same kindergarten, this school too.

I have been teaching here since 2011. That's what some people or even teachers here don't know about. Maybe because, I wasn't here along the days, only once  week. I first taught as religion and Arabic teacher, though I graduated from English Department. I know the basic in Arabic and Religion for kids, so I agreed to teach here. Months passed, and I come and leave to this school for several times. As sub at most of the time. Now, I feel privileged yet challenged to handle the grade 1 where most of students graduated from the same school. I have met those kids before, long when they were in Kindergarten 1, two years before when I was their class adviser for two months straight. Therefore, I thought it's not gonna be that hard to deal with. Alas... I was totally wrong.

I forgot the fact that this is their very early stage in adapting a new system from Kindergarten to elementary. That is not something unimportant to be concerned about.

They now, have abundant subjects to deal with. Don't ask me, I don't like this fact too. I hate the fact that education in most of developing countries tend to ignore that kids are kids. Beside getting so many subjects to master, they  still need their times to have fun. This is not my part to complain about, but to adapt it in my own way. And this is a point where I, as a teacher should elaborate and think hard how those "subjects" can be absorbed by the kids without causing "over-burdened" feelings or "harm". I mention "harm" in here, because I am one who believe that the most important phase in constructing students' academic skills begin when they are so young. Wrong turns in approaches and methods are just gonna lead those kids into the studying habits that no one seems to expect. Unfortunately, I saw it this week.

The first two weeks seemed to be okay, I thought I just need to have teacher-student conference after school with students who need more practice. Again, this is just not enough. 

This week, most of the subjects I reviewed should actually shows improvement, yet most of them found it is okay to memorize, but when it comes to writing. They messed up. I messed up. I wonder what makes those brilliant kids end up this way. But then I come to realize, they were taught to memorize before, not to understand. However, they show excellent penmanship and speaking skill. Yeah... they are way beyond great in speaking. I mean for the kids at their ages whose first language are not English.

Now, I feel like I have to start the very new, effective way in getting into their minds. And I do believe, building such good psychological relationships are so important. Kids need to feel comfortable first with their teachers. I have to make them like me first to get their attention. Once they like me, it's just that easy  for me to conduct any approach or method in teaching them. 

Last... I feel so sorry, terribly sorry for some of the kids that need more attention from their parents. Needless to say, they all come from different way in parenting. And that leads to something crucial. No matter how great I am as a teacher, it is a certainty that no goals will be achieved without parents' supports.

 pic from http://lifeinfirstgrade1.blogspot.com/

Setengah Jalan, Penuhnya cerita di 2013

Serasa  sudah lamaaaa sekali saya tidak mem.post satu pun tulisan. Dan saya adalah tipe yang suka mengumpulkan ide menulis atau draft yang kemudian dipublish sekalian.

Dimulai dari bulan Maret. Saat itu adalah saat saya kembali bangkit dari jatuh yang teramat jatuh akibat dua tamparan yang boleh dibilang sangat keras. Saya dikhianati oleh mimpi saya sendiri. Gagal untuk saat itu. Dua fakta sakit yang luar biasa buat saya, tapi toh sekarang saya jadi merasa lebih kuat karenanya. Ya, saya percaya seorang kuli bangunan tidak lah sekuat itu kalau dia tidak "terpaksa" bekerja keras banting-tulang setiap harinya. Keharusan dan proses yang membuatnya jadi kuat. Analogi yang sama yang selalu saya terapkan ke diri sendiri. Terus mencoba, lagi dan lagi. kita tidak tahu sejauh mana kita bisa berlari kalau mengambil langkah saja sudah enggan.

Beberapa bulan kebelakang, saya sangat bersyukur. Banyak teman-teman yang mendukung , menyemangati dan terus mendoakan "perjuangan" panjang ini. Sebagian besar adalah teman-teman seperjuangan. "Pemburu-pemburu" tangguh dan unik yang Tuhan jumpakan dengan saya dalam kesempatan yang tak pernah terbayang sebelumnya. Manusia-manusia luar biasa yang selama dua tahun terakhir terus menemani minggu terberat, tergila, terbosan, dan terindah dalam hidup saya. Namun, ada beberapa teman-teman yang baru saya kenal, lagi dalam Ijin Tuhan yang tak pernah terduga sebelumnya. IjinNya jugalah tersimpan banyak cerita dengan mereka. Luar biasa.

Akhir Maret merupakan pengalaman unik dan berharga sendiri bagi saya. Banyak hal baru yang saya lakukan untuk pertama kalinya. Petualangan, keputusan-keputusan berat, keteguhan-keteguhan hati, sampai penolakan-penolakan tegas yang sampai sekarang, saya pribadi terus bergelut agar Sang Pembolak-balik hati dengan Kasih sayangnya menyelamatkan saya dari jatuh yang teramat dalam.

Bulan-bulan terakhir jelas bukanlah bulan-bulan buruk dalam hidup saya. Kecuali awal Juli, saat saya lagi-lagi dikecewakan mimpi sendiri. Uh... memang perjuangan ini butuh nyali dan "kebebalan". Being persistence adalah kunci mencapai "mau".

MIMPI adalah Bahan bakar untuk terus hidup. Tanpa mimpi, tanpa tujuan, hidup hanyalah hidup yang beruujung mati. Tak berarti,...