RUN YOUR OWN RACE

Dear students,

To some of you, it seemed trepidation and anxiety of waiting for the outcome of all your efforts throughout this year bore fruits when you register considerable success especially for English paper in the just released result of PMR. Like Miss Farah said, 10 percent getting A is already an achievement, the feat that broke last year's 7%. Seemingly, both this year and last year's batch share their own record to register the highest percentage of A and the highest percentage of passing rate respectively. This year's batch by all means should owe last year's clearing track as they set the new dream that we i mean both students and teachers dared dream. And our dream to set another history proved to be a reality. Given the number of students for this year is less than 100, we might have fared better.Statistics may indicate some but not to all as countless other factors are to be taken into account. However, to lament by thinking what we might have otherwise done is not advisable as the present is always already a gift that is why people call it present. I do believe things happened according to God's grand design to show what we are capable of doing and not capable of.Grateful i am.

Nevertheless,the good news is this year's result initiated us to think like never before should we expect sort of different result.What we did this year is almost same or slightly different from that of last year that resulted in more or less the same outcome.And to think is what many people dread as doing routine is always a preferable option including me.We may set a routine for new routine as life without routine or discipline is haywire.Doing routine at all time is dull or boring.Unfortunately, doing the same thing over and over again believing that is the best thinkable option is detrimental as we deny the faculty of thought endowed by The Almighty requires us to stretch way beyond imagination like what great inventors did.

The first thing that should be a must to do next year if my motivation permits despite surrounded by scores of little napoleons is to remove goal post and run our own race.Our problem of not achieving the targeted result is not we don't have goals but our goal is too close that we can effortlessly score.The goal that does not demand our wildest imagination.Rarely we heard administrators or teachers alike talked about a new dream or a new clear cut picture of what the students look like or are to become or to behave. More often than not, we spent considerable amount of time to fill the must- fill -in-slot enshrined by the mighty bodies of either jheat or jpn or both that we tend to forget the core business our very own product we know full well residing within our very own vicinity running to and fro before eyes. We can hardly spend money allocated to students per head or fully utilize school utilities meant for students for fear factor and privatisation.It seems a waste of public fund if school heads fail to project the outcomes by laying out plans which are of most benefits to students.That is the damning reality that we should live in while at the same time have to join the race. Until or unless the school heads are not at loggerheads, though they appear not(good thing) but the whole world know they are,innocent students will remain as victims and situation will deteriorate over time. Blaming games and holier-than-thou attitudes permeated in some parties should be cleansed once and for all. I admit to the fact all is easier said than done. I rather highlight as this scenario will definitely put off any faint-hearted would be full-fledged educators.

Apart form removing the present goal post,another thing which is long overdue that school must do is to create a reading culture. We need to project activities that may promote reading to some extent students themselves are in awe of themselves for without realising it having read countless articles and books. Again, this is also another easier- said- than- done thing. Only, i am fortunate to have few like-minded teachers who dare dream, dare run own race.I hope I still enjoy running this year's race like i have been enjoying over the years during my teaching career. I should not liken this race like the one that includes Bolt ,Johnson and the like, enough if the race my mine keep improving over time.

The third and last thing, i should not sweat the small stuff as it might be the simple yet applicable ways to keep the little things from overtaking our life which is too great to fret over small stuff. May God shed us light to discern between small stuff and big stuff as we are at times in the dark about it.

Sir

GOOD JOB GUYS! PMR 2010

First of all, congratulations to all on your achievement in PMR. I am glad to know that 11 got A in English! I am pretty sure that is the best achievement in English suject so far in the history of SMAS as more than 10% scored A compared to last year (7%). You make us proud! And to those who don't, do not ever be devastated as you are already a winner through your numerous efforts like attending twilight classes, Serie-A etc. Remember that God loves to see our struggles, not the end result as He is the One who decides on that matter.

So, as the result is all there, all that we, teachers can do is to analyse it and reflect on what we can improve on for next year.

Lastly, before I stop, below is an article written 3 years ago by someone that I think worth-sharing.

A small stop in the journey
Comment by SOO EWE JIN
The Star Online
Friday December 28, 2007

The results for the PMR are out today. Sometimes we forget that the Form 3 students come from the length and breadth of the country.

Not every student will have the privilege of being ferried to the school in a nice car, accompanied by an equally anxious parent, to see how many As will show up on that slip of paper. Not every student will have the privilege of being featured in the newspapers or TV station jumping for joy. Or being interviewed about their study techniques or the rewards that await them.

The majority of the PMR students, if you put things in their proper perspective, will quietly collect their results and prepare for Form 4. Some may not even be able to collect their results because of the floods, but life still goes on.

The obsession with As is primarily an urban phenomenon. It used to be crucial only at the pre-university stage, but over the years has crept downwards so that even 12-year-old children sitting for the UPSR are subjected to unnecessary tension.

I am reminded today by what my Form 3 teacher advised all of us in her message in our class magazine.

She wrote:

Put in total dedication in your studies,
Pursue learning with real interest
It is such spirit which will carry you
Far deep into fields of knowledge
Be humble in your achievements
The truly great man is never puffed up
Rather he stands in awe
In realisation that there's still so much
To know which is beyond him
Never be discouraged by failure
Not all are born great
But many achieve greatness
Through sheer industry, determination and perseverance
School time is also the time to build up
Precious, meaningful, lasting relationships
Be interested in the world around you
Be intelligently informed
Don't develop into scientific recluses
Remember sports, music, literature and the arts
Have much to offer to help build you up into well-balanced individuals
Able to understand, know, enjoy, better
The world you are living in

This teacher has touched many lives. She has helped produce her fair share of multiple-A students but she also knew that the ordinary students without the As can go on to lead meaningful, rich lives, if they are well-rounded caring individuals who recognise that results are not the be-all and end-all of the school journey.

To all students taking the PMR results today, by all means rejoice in your distinctions, but do not despair over your credits and passes.

Life is a journey, and the PMR is just a little stop along the way for you to pause and reflect, and to move on.

LIVE CURIOUS

If you are, you breath. If you breath, you talk. If you talk, you ask. If you ask, you think. If you think, you search. If you search, you experience. If you experience, you learn. If you learn, you grow. If you grow, you wish. If you wish, you find. If you find, you doubt. If you doubt, you question. If you question, you understand. If you understand, you know. If you know, you want to know more… And if you want to know more, you are alive…

ARE WE ALIVE ENOUGH?

LOFTY IDEAS WORTHY TO PONDER BEFORE NEW LUNAR CALENDAR

Dear students,

A day short before the looming of the new lunar calendar that marks 'the pilgrimage'.Attached herewith is an article worthy for reflection. We may agree or disagree,or agree to disagree, take a thing or two for self kaizen though. And we are free to choose the way we live ,wander,love, hate,learn, teach which is not to our amazement but not die. And die we and everyone must, and ironically we prepare the least for the surest of all.Interestingly it may, to lose hope is part of a premature death. It seems many especially teachers like me will have died many times before the final bell tolls. Dr Theva seemingly gives countless yet plausible reasons why we must reason our reasonable doubts to churn reasonable beings.

Sunday December 5, 2010

Learning evolution
COURTING CHANGES
By DR THEVA NITHY

Information is freely available, but students must know how to turn meaningless data into knowledge and wisdom.

IN Malaysia, the advocacy movement for new curriculums and standards remains in the rhetorical stages, and this is jeopardising the future and potential of the diverse talents of our learners.

They are becoming irrelevant even as they climb the educational ladder to greater heights of knowledge – knowledge that is already irrelevant as they “learn” it.

Outdated approaches to learning and knowing are taking us backward instead of forward.

A major part of the problem is that education systems are preparing students only for higher education, when they should actually be preparing students for higher education, life and the workplace – which together, constitute the real world.

There remains the old problem of there being no clear link between educational content in schools, with workplace skills and requirements.

The big question is, what is the vital component of intelligence? Is it the core content of knowledge, or is it the ways of knowing content?

Outdated core subjects

The traditional way of doing things in schools globally is to provide “core” subjects – which are based on skills required in the industrial age – that provide a fixed quantum of knowledge.

These are: languages, the sciences, math, accounting, commerce subjects, religion even, history (or rather, a version of it, based on the country’s agenda), geography, general knowledge (decided, of course, by the powers-that-be), with some music and the arts thrown in.

I would propose that no student in any country anywhere needs to be told about general knowledge, religion, morals, and personal histories. Students should not be made to memorise science and ways of doing math — which should be based upon understanding, but are more usually based on memory. They should also not be brainwashed into believing one-sided perspectives of history and geography.

One of the big objectives for me as far as a learner’s life is concerned, is that it should be full of “Eureka” moments, when all the learning and knowing he has been exposed to come together and he goes into high gear, ready to take on the world. Therefore it is important that educators understand how learning occurs for their students, so that every student will experience that moment.

In a world where information and knowledge is changing every second, we must educate students to know how to know, to know how to learn, and to know how to turn freely accessible data into wisdom.

Thus, every learner must come to be ingrained with the following attributes:

·independent enquirers who are able to make wise, fully-informed and real-time decisions, and the willingness to participate not just in lifelong learning, but also the creation of new knowledge;

·creative thinkers with a view of global dimensions and sustainable development;

·reflective learners who apply creativity, critical thinking, ethics and morals to constantly self-evaluate and self-correct;

·teachers of fellow students and their own teachers, as teaching represents the highest order of understanding meaning behind facts;

·effective, action-oriented participators in national and international events and issues;

·team workers who believe in community participation and service;

·self-managers who create healthy lifestyles for themselves, and have real acceptance and understanding of diversity in religion, race, culture and beliefs, with none advocating supremacy over another; and

·expert communicators in the global language, that will enable them to present, discuss, and debate ideas and thoughts.

The important dimensions that would contribute to the above would then be woven into the whole curriculum, and would then guide the creation of items that make up a learning environment.

The educating and learning environment would stimulate and demonstrate the development of the following:

·a clear division between the political and educational systems;

·new ways of thinking and knowing based on new knowledge and technologies that are constantly evolving;

·programmes of professional development that help educators and administrators cope with and master new ways of knowing, and the ability to facilitate learner’s autonomy, purpose and mastery;

·revolutionary approaches to content knowledge mastery that exist to provide learners stepping stones to thinking and knowing, and the mastery of which is not the expected final outcome;

·brand new content that mirror the workings and demands of the real world, and not compartmentalised, subject-based curricula that are the norm now;

·acceptable and measurable ways to collect evidence of students’ relevant knowledge, skills and understanding; and

·inclusive, individually stimulating environments (classrooms) that cater to the creation of a thinker and a knower.

The learning environment of a proposed ideal field of interaction is represented by the triangle in the diagram above (see pic). The diagram shows the Evolution of Knowing – from meaningless data to wise, informed decision-making. A³ Knowledge is Anytime and Anywhere Access to Knowledge.

> Dr Theva Nithy is a senior lecturer at the School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Through this column and through the Engage Programme – Education for Sustainable Global Futures – USM has started, he and his colleagues hope to help transform the landscapes of Malaysian education systems. He can be contacted at theva@usm.my.