WEEK 1: PRACTICUM STARTS! (4/9 - 9/9)

    Assalamualaikum and welcome to my weekly journal of practicum at Sekolah Kebangsaan Serdang. I chose this school as my practicum place since it is my younger brother's school and also near my mother's workplace. The distance between my home and the school takes around 30 - 35 minutes by car. My emotions were mixed due to the fact that I will be doing my practicum alone since the school that I have chosen is not picked by other batchmates.

First Day of Practicum

    On the first day of practicum, I arrived very early at the school which was around 6.45 a.m. I went straight to the office and waited there to meet with the headmaster of the school. While I was waiting in the office, I was greeted by the teachers coming to clock in. They were very polite and sociable with me which made me feel less nervous. Then, I was invited by the Guru Penolong Kanan Hal Ehwal Murid (GPK HEM) to join the morning assembly. 

First assembly as a practicum teacher.

    As soon as the assembly finished, I was invited to meet with the headmaster to complete my documents for practicum at this school. She showed a lot of support and encouraged me to learn from all the teachers here. I was assigned a mentor to oversee my practicum journey, who is Teacher Uma. She handles year 4 and year 3 English classes and a lot of the teachers at the school compliment her skills in teaching English. 

The headmaster with me in her office.

    I was given a timetable of the classes that I would be handling and the moment I looked at it, I felt very nervous yet curious about teaching them. My head was filled with thoughts of what am I going to teach them, will they understand what I taught in class or will they be interested in learning English with me but I put those thoughts aside and chose to look forward to what will happen in the classes.

    05/09/2023 marks my first official class that my mentor assigned me to teach. She provided me with instructions on how to conduct the task for the students in class 4 Kenanga. It was a very awkward situation when I entered the classroom. All the students asked about the whereabouts of my mentor. I told them that I was assigned by teacher Uma to teach them on Monday and Tuesday. I managed to complete the task that was given by my mentor which was to have the students write an email.

    On Wednesday, there was a co-curriculum activity conducted from 2.30 p.m. until 4.30 p.m. It was a uniform unit activity but it was the opposite of what I had in mind. I was assigned to TKRS which stands for Tunas Kadet Remaja Sekolah. I thought there would be activities related to TKRS but to my surprise, we played football and badminton. I observed the students with another teacher in the field. I also played badminton with some of the students.

    The following days in the week were similar to the day I had my first class. There were some new experiences that I had which were to relief a few classes ranging from year 2 until year 4. On Friday, I had my lesson plans checked by my mentor. There were a lot of adjustments made before submitting it to the headmaster. A lot of new things I learned from my mentor regarding the creation of a daily lesson plan. 

    Moving on to Saturday, the school had an event which is 'Gotong Royong Madani'. The school's PIBG also came to help with the activity. All the teachers were given their respective tasks and I was tasked with painting wall number 24 with my mentor. The colour of the wall was purple with yellow diamond shape in the middle of the wall. The event ended in the afternoon with all the walls painted new. It was very exciting and tiresome at the same time.

    To sum up, my first week ended with a BANG! I noticed that I still lack in my classroom management and teaching skills so I asked some teachers for tips about it and all of them were very supportive. I also searched on the internet for guides and tips on how to manage the classroom. All I can say is that trial and error is the best way to improve oneself. Alright, that's it for my weekly journey for week 1. See you next time. TATA.😄

SWOT ANALYSIS 

CO-CURRICULUM

1. STRENGTH

        - Contribution to the holistic development of students such as leadership and teamwork.

        - Can boost students' self-esteem and confidence.

2. WEAKNESS

        - Time constraints

        - The availability of qualified teachers or advisors to oversee activities.

3. OPPORTUNITIES

        - Skill development.

        - Establish clear evaluation criteria.

4. THREATS

        - Declining participation

        - External pressures from society or parents.