Teachers are faced with many challenges every day. Apart from the requirement to master the school subjects they teach, they also need to be skillful in transferring their knowledge.
By
LARASWATI ARIADNE ANWAR
·5 minutes read
Teachers are faced with many challenges every day. Apart from the requirement to master the school subjects they teach, they also need to be skillful in transferring their knowledge. In the face of students’ reluctance to be lectured, a number of teachers refuse to go by the book.
“Kids, do you know that chameleons change their colors to show their feelings?” asked Uswatun Hasanah, 38, of her 37 sixth-grade students at SD Rawajati 06 state elementary school in South Jakarta. Her students responded in unison, “Yes, we know, Ma’am!” Next, Uswatun wanted to find out whether her students could make the connection between the behaviors of chameleons and people.
One by one, her students gave various answers. One said changing colors too often meant a flip-flopping character without a clear stance on anything. Another said it was not good to treat other people based on our emotions. We must be polite to each other all the time, even if we are angry or feeling confused.
On that Wednesday (25/4/2018), Uswatun was teaching Indonesian Language to sixth-graders. The expressions she and her students used in comparing chameleons’ and people’s behavior were not in the textbook. Uswatun developed her own sets of questions to ignite her students’ imagination. She placed herself as a lecturer and a main source of knowledge. The textbook only served as a reference on what subjects she and her students discussed each day.
“The textbook is only a basic reference. We try to find other texts from the internet. Students then arrive to their own conclusions based on what they understand,” she explained.
“Kids today do not wish to be lectured. We need to be smart in formulating study materials to make them attractive,” she continued.
SD Rawajati 06 has yet to implement the 2013 Curriculum. Therefore, each school subject stands on its own. However, Uswatun makes her own formulation to integrate school subjects.
For instance, several tasks in the Indonesian Language class are related to staging short plays. Uswatun then requires her students to use certain themes, such as Indonesian independence history.
This is fun for students and requires them to read sources, including history textbooks, to understand the characters that they are playing. For instance, in order to properly portray Soekarno, Hatta or Sjahrir, students will need to read their biographies.
In performing the play, Uswatun told her students to include moral messages in line with Civic Education subjects.
Uswatun, who has been a teacher for 16 years, also often uses games to help her students better understand difficult subjects, such as Math. For instance, when teaching about multiplication in base five, Uswatun told her students to stand in line, hand-in-hand, and count loudly. Every fifth student in the line needs to shout “Boom!”
Using social media
Amin Mungamar, who teaches Information and Communication Technology at SMP 1 Kaliwungu state junior high school in Semarang regency, Central Java, also uses the internet in his classes. He manages a blog through which he discusses various lessons. He also has groups on Facebook, Instagram and Telegram to communicate with his students.
Amin regularly uploads blog posts about the latest study materials. Each blog post is connected to his other social media groups and all of his students are notified on every update. The students receive their homework from the social media groups and submit their answers by email. Subsequent discussions may be held in the social media groups.
“I do this so my students don’t resort to accessing strange content on social media. Teachers must think to prevent students from having time to browse irresponsible content on the internet,” Amin said.
Instead of telling students to find resources on their own on the internet, Amin said it would be better for teachers to provide them with positive content.
As an Information and Communications Technology teacher, Amin also spreads this mindset to other teachers at his school. He has also founded and managed the “One Teacher, One Blog” program at the Indonesian Teachers Guild (IGI).
Other than saving paper and time, uploading study materials and homework on blogs will accustom students to sort and pick proper and suitable content.
Services such as that offered by education technology startup Ruangguru.com provide knowledge-sharing space between teachers and students. The service offers thousands of study materials for every level of education and various curriculums, including the 2006 School-Based Curriculum (KTSP), the 2013 Curriculum and the Revised 2013 Curriculum.
Ruangguru.com founder Iman Usman said Indonesia had a wealth of brilliantly creative teachers. However, due to distance and time, their creativity has gone largely unnoticed. “Ruangguru.com provides a medium for these teachers to share their knowledge through videos,” he said.
A team from Ruangguru.com develops the study materials. Interviews are then conducted to find schools and afterschool teachers with skills and the capability to talk about the materials publicly.
“Apart from helping students, we hope the videos can inspire teachers to use creative ways in teaching their students,” Iman said.