Emi 643: My Teaching Philosophy and Creativity

Part A

My Philosophy of Teaching

I have been asked countless times as to why I choose to be a teacher. They were even more baffled when they realised that I used to be a straight-A student. Despite getting perfect grades in SPM is a norm nowadays, it was still of a rare occurrence during my time. “Why didn’t you choose to be a doctor or an engineer?” they will ask. I was always honest to them. I chose to be a teacher after my SPM exam because it was the only degree course available for a non-bumi and I was offered a full scholarship as well. Form 6 was a daunting and lonely path for me as my close friends had all furthered their studies overseas or in local colleges, a financial privilege that my parents could not afford for me. Therefore, I ‘sailed’ to Batu Lintang Teachers’ College for foundation years and then to National University (UKM) for my degree. It was during those years that I fell deeply in love with this profession.

On my first day as a teacher, I was filled with the sense of indescribable euphoria.  I could not stop myself from smiling sheepishly and greeting the students. I do not demand respect from my students as I always believe that respect is gained and not given. I was excited to impart my knowledge and my experience to the students. I was looking forward to meet the students and to get to know them individually. My colleagues shook their heads when they saw my passion and lamented, “Your ‘fire’ will burn out sooner or later.” However, in my six years at SMK Belaga, I was proud to prove them wrong as my feeling of happiness to educate my kids, never flame out in all those years. Despite experiencing poor school administration and occasionally low morale, entering a class never fails to brighten me up. Due to weak administration, I had a lot of freedom in my teaching. Therefore, I took the opportunity to test out different teaching methods with different classes. As years went by, I did mistakes but also some successes along the way and all those are my precious experiences that develop me to be a better teacher. My pride and love to my profession burns even brighter now. I know that I am blessed to be doing something that I love every day.

So, why do I love to be a teacher? I could have written an endless list of reasons to answer this question but to make it short, I love being a teacher because I enjoy interacting with the students and hopefully to leave a positive mark on them. In general or in cliché term, I love being able to make a difference. There is no other job in the whole wide world that gives me such power and exhilaration to influence young thinkers. Undoubtedly, I also love a teacher’s salary. As government continues to emphasis on national education, teachers all over the country are experiencing better welfare and privileges. This job is currently being sought after by many as opposed to several years back when a teacher’s job was not even highly regarded of. A teacher profession used to be for mediocre students while excellent students pursue other career paths. Now, top students are fighting with each other for an admission to teachers’ colleges. To be clear, I am happy with the salary but I am even happier that the profession is finally getting the respect it deserves.

I enjoy making a difference in my students’ lives. So how do I do this? First, I bring fun into the classroom. As an English teacher, language teaching gives me the opportunity to implement numerous language games and activities in the class. Second, I always respect the students. Regardless how weak a student is in language, I never degrade him or her. Third, I try to relate my teaching to important events. Students do not only learn the language aspects, but they get to learn other historical stories or current news.

First, I want students to learn English through the fun way. I am glad that in English language, there are an excessive amount of activities that I can choose from. I believe in student-centred approach in learning especially in language subjects. There are not much content materials to be taught in English language yearly but students do need constant practices to remember the things that have been taught to them. Failing to do so will cause some trouble in their future learning. Moreover, after sitting passively for hours in classroom for other subjects, students deserve to be rewarded with fun activities that ensure learning as well. Students are easily excited with new methods of teaching, especially when they are actively involved in learning. For example, in one literature lesson, I implemented gallery walk. Students were divided into groups and they were to discuss about the characteristics of characters in the short story. After discussing and writing their findings on a big piece of paper, each group visited the other groups to look at their work. While visiting, the group members discussed about the accuracy of the work. After that, teacher pasted all the papers on the whiteboard and the students discussed together on the points. When all had agreed to all the points, students copied the notes into their exercise books. This activity emphasizes on student-centred learning while teacher is merely a facilitator.

Next, let us not forget that students love games too. Competitive games with attractive prizes are a bonus but must be handled carefully so that unintended emotional harm does not happen especially to the losing groups. Few years back, I had the weakest Form 4 class. I reminded the students earlier to do some revision as I wanted to do a quiz with them. The next day, their class was the last double period - the dreaded period. It was hot, the fans were not working and students decided to doze off. I was sweating profusely after climbing three levels of stairs with all my teaching aids and when I entered the classroom, all the students were sleeping (the earlier period was a sit-in class). I was instantly angry, but somehow I knew that scolding them would not make things better. Therefore, instead of lashing out, I walked to them individually and gently woke each of them up to tell them to go to the washroom to wash their faces. My lesson started 20 minutes later but I was surprised that all the students were more alert and ready for my class. I realised then if I had scolded them for ten minutes, everybody would end with a lousy mood for the whole lesson. Controlling my temper instead had given me a better outcome with the students. In the beginning of the lesson, I divided them into groups and I started to ask questions. Each question was related to previous teaching. Every team that answered correctly received RM50 (fake notes, of course!) per person. As the students collected more money, they were getting more excited. After I ran out of money to give, I reshuffled the group once more. Then, the game truly started. I introduced to them “The Auction Game.” I put a box on a table and put an object into it, which the students cannot see. I told students the rules and explained the terms such as “Going once, going twice and sold to Mr. Ali.” I wrote the sentence that the students had to use during the auction such as, “I bid the box for RM300.” As the games started, everybody participated and even the quiet students took part. They laughed when the other team bade a box of pebbles. They cheered when their group bade a big bottle of Coca-cola. They groaned when their team bade several dead leaves. When the bell rang, we all stayed back and shared the food together. For a long time and hopefully for a lifetime, the students remembered the words ‘auction’ and ‘bid’.