Teachers trained to act, think outside the box<\/p>\n
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
When teachers become caught up in routine and fail to think
\noutside the box, they should not be surprised if their students
\nalso lose interest in classroom activities.<\/p>\n
Getting creative in the classroom is the main objective for
\nteachers attending a two-week teacher's training course as part
\nof Sampoerna Foundation's School Quality Improvement Program
\n(SQIP).<\/p>\n
\"Students should feel they have ownership of the lessons to
\nget them to be more involved,\" educationist Thana Thaver from
\nSingapore's National Institute of Education (NIE) said.<\/p>\n
Thaver is one of the trainers employed by the foundation to
\nteach SQIP teachers how to promote effective and engaged learning
\nin the classroom.<\/p>\n
According to Satria Dharma, Sampoerna Foundation's education
\nconsultant, however, it is not that teachers are unaware their
\nmethod is boring students, but rather that they do not know how
\nto make lessons more interesting.<\/p>\n
\"Teachers were never introduced to new methodology in
\nteaching, and once they entered the classroom, there was never a
\nregular upgrading of their teaching ability,\" Satria, who is the
\nchairman for the Balikpapan Board of Education, said.<\/p>\n
SQIP was first launched in March of this year to provide
\nschools with high quality training for their teachers and
\nprincipals in order to improve the school's teaching and
\nmanagement quality.<\/p>\n
Beginning with three state high schools in Depok, Sekayu in
\nSouth Sumatra, and Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, it is expected
\nthat by 2010 some 33 state high schools across Indonesia will
\nhave participated in the program.<\/p>\n
The first five days of the training deal with pedagogy, while
\nthe next five days are reserved for improving the skills of
\nEnglish and mathematics teachers.<\/p>\n
\"The pedagogy module is aimed at understanding factors that
\ninfluence learning and academic achievement, identifying
\nstrengths and weaknesses in student's learning and study
\npractices and attitudes, and catering to the individual needs of
\nstudents,\" Thaver said.<\/p>\n
One way to increase student participation, she said, was to
\nelicit answers that encourage high-level thinking.<\/p>\n
\"Teachers must know how to ask questions, not only knowledge-
\nbased questions such as true or false, but also analysis
\nquestions, clarification questions, probing questions,\" Thaver
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
And making students feel they own the lesson, means teachers
\nshould always give high priority to student's suggestions and
\ninput within the lesson.<\/p>\n
As much as possible, Thaver tries to infuse the training
\nsessions directly with the methods she is teaching, so
\nparticipants can witness her theories in practice.<\/p>\n
\"The theories are nothing new, but it helps that they are
\ndirectly put into practice, so that in turn we can practice them
\nin our classrooms,\" Esther Siswanti, an English teacher at State
\nHigh School No. 2 in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, said.<\/p>\n
One of the challenges of the program, is, of course,
\nencouraging teachers to keep on using the knowledge gained in
\ntraining in their own classrooms, and not reverting back to their
\nold methods.<\/p>\n
\"We have to tickle teacher's conscience. Raise their awareness
\nso that if they go back to their old teaching methods, they will
\nfeel guilty,\" Thaver said.<\/p>\n
And while Esther's 48-student classroom in Balikpapan may not
\nbe ideal for activities that require much moving around, she was
\nexcited enough to want to immediately apply her
\nnewfound knowledge.<\/p>\n
\"It's just such a shame that I'm going to retire soon, when
\nwhat I want after this training is to continue practicing what's
\nbeen taught here,\" the 52-year-old woman said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/teachers-trained-to-act-think-outside-the-box-1447893297",
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