From Megamendung to ‘Workshop Ghost’

· 4 minutes read

Kartino, 45, a grade VII teacher at SMP 2 state junior high school in Cirebon was stuck in his room. Dozens of textbooks and novels were piled on his table marked "Mini Library". Circle-shaped cardboard , banners and a modified umbrella filled the table of the English teacher. These are various "tools" Kartino uses to teach.

There is a Jali MPO (teaching media made from teak) that has been used by Kartino since 2017. The media consists of banners with teak tree illustrations. Every tree branch is filled with countable and uncountable English words put into an envelope. After that, students discuss it.

"So, students no longer have to memorize the differences between the two words, but think and practice them," said Kartino who was a finalist in a national teacher learning innovation competition in 2017.

Besides creating Jali\'s MPO, Kartino also made L2D (leaflet, circle and description) English teaching media. L2D is made of circle-shaped cardboard that is covered with flannel cloth, like a dart board that is divided into six parts with five circles. Each circle is marked "place", "animal" and "people".

How does it work? Students throw a ball that has been given a glue to a circle. If it hits the animal column, students will have to describe an animal. If the answer is correct, a small light at the center of the circle connected to a battery will light up.

Kartino\'s latest work is called Megamendung (imitating a guessing umbrella). This media is made of used umbrellas that are modified with Megamendung batik motif, typical of Cirebon. The cloth is divided into eight sides that present eight groups.

Each four student group will receive an envelope with letters in it. The letter must be arranged into an English word. After that, the envelope will be inserted into the Megamendung umbrella. Nets under the umbrella keep the envelope from falling. Then, the umbrella is rotated.

Representatives from each group then take the envelope randomly and discuss the words in the envelope. The word is described in English and the other groups guess it.

For example, for the word "teacher", students must demonstrate the teacher\'s activities. "This is the way I develop high order thinking of skills [HOTS]," said Kartino, who received teacher training in Australia in 2013.

Kartino said the creation of various learning media was based on his own idea and suggestions from other teachers. He said he did not get special training. He also spent his own money to make the teaching media.

Although it was considered strange by other teachers, the method was considered effective. Najwa Regina, 12, a grade VII student at SMP 2 state junior high school in Cirebon, for example, was pleased with Kartino\'s teaching method because it went beyond memorization. "Other teachers usually ask students to memorize things," said Najwa.

Two-way communication

Meanwhile, Hari Purnomo, teacher of Pancasila and citizenship at SMK 1 state vocational high school in Sidoarjo, East Java, has adopted other teach methods. He uses the Quizizz and Classroom apps on his smartphone. He uses the two apps to build two-way communication with students so they do not become easily bored.

Instead of using test questions from student worksheets, Hari composes his own questions based on basic competencies so that the results will be better. Then, he uploads the questions to the app.

Meanwhile, Hamdani, who teaches an electronic control system at SMK 3, Batam, designed a learning model that not only requires students to improve comprehension but to also use the knowledge and create new machine models on their own.

Since 1998, while still teaching at SMK 1, Batam, he has pioneered a "Workshop Ghost" class. This is an extra class for students who want to deepen their knowledge. With this method, after graduating from the school, students are expected not only to be able to work as an operator but at least a junior technician.

"The Workshop Ghost is actually a full day of school. The idea came when I was involved as a trainer in an industrial workshop in Batam. I was so sad, because in the field of technology Indonesia is nothing compared to neighboring countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia," he said.

Kartino, Hari Purnomo and Hamdani are examples of teachers who go beyond teaching from text books and the standard curriculum. They took the initiative to develop their own teaching methods to improve students\' competencies. (ABDULLAH FIKRIASHRI/PANDU WIYOGA/RUNIK SRI ASTUTI)

Editor:

kompascetak