Jumat, 04 Juni 2010

Nondirective Teaching: The Learner at the Center

Nondirective Teaching: The Learner at the Center

Process nondirective teaching .The hard part of figuring out how to teach is learning when to keep your mouth closed, which is most of the time
Illustration
Mary Ann is a compulsive worker who does an excellent job with literature assignments. However, she is reluctant to share those stories with other members of the class and declines to participate in any activities in the performing arts. The nondirective teaching is based on the work of Carl Rogers (1961 and 1971) and other advocates of nondirective counseling. Rogers extended to education his view of therapy as mode of learning. He believed that positive human relationship enable people to grow, and therefore that instruction should be based on concepts of human relations, not, subject matter. From the nondirective stance, the teacher’s role is that of a facilitator who has a counseling relationship with students and who guides their growth and development. The nondirective teacher is patient and does not sacrifice the long view by forcing immediate results.
Orientation to the model
The nondirective teaching model focuses on facilitating learning. The environment is organized to help students attain greater personal integration, effectiveness, and realistic self-appraisal. Students do not necessarily need to change, but the teacher’s goal is to help them understand their own needs and values so that they can effectively direct their own educational decisions . The teacher mirrors students’ thoughts and feelings. By using reflective comments, the teacher raises the students’ consciousness of their own perceptions and feelings, thus helping them clarify their ideas. Here, the teacher gives up the traditional decision-making role, choosing instead of the role of a facilitator who focuses on student feelings. If the students complains of poor grades. The teacher encourages the student to express the feelings that may surround his or her inability to concentrate, as feelings about self and others. Instead of resolve the problem simply by explaining the art of good study habits.
The nondirective atmosphere has four qualities.
First, the teachers shows warmth and responsiveness, expressing genuine interest in the student and responsiveness, expressing genuine interest in the student and accepting him or her as a person.
Second, it is characterized by permissiveness in regard to the expression of feeling; the teacher does not judge or moralize.
Third, the student is free to express feelings symbolically but is not free to control the teacher or to carry impulses to action.
Fourth, the relationship is free from any type of pressure or force .
A Growth Syndrome
A kind of “growth syndrome” emerges as the student (1) releases feelings, (2) develops insight, (3) action, (4) integration that leads to a new orientation . Problems inhibits the expression of feelings, which are the root of the problem of growth.
The difference
An intellectual response would be “start making an outline”,. An emphatic response would be “when I got stuck I often feel panicky. How do you feel? In the scenario, the students come to realize that the problem lies in her own fear, rather than the objective possibility of judgements by others. Ultimately , the test of personal insight is the presence of actions that motivate students toward new goals. At first, these positive actions may concern minor issues, but they create a sense of confidence and independence in the student. The teacher (in the illustration) then tries to create “safe space”.
The nondirective strategy usually looks to three sources of student problems:
Present feeling
Distorted perceptions
Alternatives that have been unexplored because of an emotional reaction to them.
Teacher Responses in Nondirective Teaching: Lead Taking
During discussion teacher has to do “lead-taking”
Nondirective lead taking responses are statements by the teacher that help start discussion, establish the direction, give students indication what to discuss.
Nondirective lead-taking remarks
What do you think of that?
Can you say more about that?
How do you react when that happens?
I see
Sequence of the Nondirective Episode, Phase one: defining the helping situation Teachers encourages free expression of feelings. Phase two: exploring the problem Student is encouraged to define problem, Teachers accepts and clarifies feelings. Phase three: developing insight Student discusses problem. Teachers supports student Phase four: planning and decision making Student plans initial decision making. Teacher clarifies possible decisions. Phase five: integration Students gains further insight and develops more positive actions. Teacher is supportive. Action outside the interview,
Student initiates positive action “open” classroom effect An open classroom typically has the following characteristics:
Its objectives include affective development, growth of student self concept, and student determination of learning needs. Its method of instruction are directed toward student flexibility of learning (group work on creativities).
3. Teacher’s role is that of facilitator, resource person, guide, and advisor.
4. The students determine what is important to learn. They are free to set their own educational objectives and select the method(s) for attaining their goals.
5. The evaluation than of teacher evaluation. Progress is measured qualitatively rather than quantitatively.

The Developing Intellect

The Developing Intellect

Can explain cognitive development from Piaget theory .
Illustration
Mr. Jones “let’s suppose that you’re responsible for the admission of students to colleges. As a group, let’s decide on the issues. Than each of you, as an admission officer, will prepare an argument about the issues”.
Check that Mr. Jones analyzes the stages of students’ moral/cognitive development
How do we adjust teaching to the intellectual development of our students?.
It focuses on what kinds if thinking characterizes us as infants and on what changes occur as we mature.
It also focuses on how we can influence the development of thinking and how we can match instruction to the developmental levels of our students.
Jean Piaget (1952)
Two strategies are used to apply developmental psychology of teaching:
One strategy matches the curriculum to the students’ level of development, which necessarily involves accurately assessing the student’s state of growth.
Another calls for instruction that accelerates intellectual development, making it occur more rapidly than if teaching did not take place.
Theory of Development: Intellectual Stages
Piaget believed that human beings develop increasingly more complex levels of thinking in definite stages. Each stage is characterized by the possession of certain concepts or intellectual structure which he refers as schemas. In life, students acquire experience. They assimilate this experience to their present patterns of behavior. Their present patterns become more inadequate and develop new schemas by accommodating new information . Accommodation is changing one’s structure to fit the new experiences that occur, In human state of development, there is state of equilibrium – the experiences assimilated are compatible with the schemas in operation. After a certain period the child has assimilated new experiences that cannot be handled by the existing schema.
3 Stages of Intellectual Development
Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)
Preoperational stage (2-7 years)
a. preconceptual thought (2-4 years)
b. intuitive thought (4-7 years)
Operational stage
a. Concrete operational thought (7-11 years)
b. Formal operational thought (11-16 years)
Sensorimotor thought
Sensorimotor thought refers to those behaviors which are preverbal and are not mediated by signs or symbols.
Case: when a toy is hidden from his view, he shows no searching movement, since he has no internal representation of the objective world when not perceiving it. Object permanence develops through repeated experiences with the world.
Preoperational stage
The sub stage of preconceptual thought marks the beginning of what Piaget calls conceptual intelligence. Adaptations are now beginning to be mediated by signs and symbols (word and images) – The symbolic function or imagery. The sub stage of intuitive thought marks between preconceptual thought and more concrete operation – relate to 3 glasses.
Operational Thought
In concrete operational thought, Piaget (1960) defines an operation as an internalized action and the feature of reversibility. In formal operational thought, the ability to make vertical separations by solving problems at a level which transcends concrete experience.
To sum up…
Intelligence is defined as operations for transforming data from the environment – logical structures or schemas
Development is associated with passage from one stage of operation to another
Development is a function of experience and maturation
Adjusting Learning Activities to Cognitive Development
“teaching is the creation of environment”
Students will initiate learning experiences that optimally match their cognitive structure, provided the opportunity exists in the environment, because students intuitively know what activities they need, if we reach too far above the students, learning is not possible.

3 types of knowledge
Physical
learning about nature or matter
Social
obtained through feedback from other people
Logical
concerned with mathematic and logic

Teacher’s role in physical and logical knowledge is to provide a setting in which students construct this knowledge for themselves through questioning and experimenting (boiled egg technique). Teachers can foster social knowledge by providing many opportunities for students to interact with others, Wadsworth (1978) outlines 3 roles of teachers: (1) organizer of learning, (2) assessor of children’s thinking, (3) initiator of group activities – games and discussion.

Learning From Presentations: Advance Organizers

Learning From Presentations: Advance Organizers

Advance organizers may contains many subordinate ideas that can be linked to particular characteristics or things, It serves as an “intellectual scaffolding” to structure the ideas and facts they encounter during the lesson
Take the example…
Kelly Young in introducing denotative and connotative language to students.
He begins by presenting things, actions, and suggest things. He then presents students with a set of short stories, read them, pick out words that have literal or referential meaning, develop lists of words, discuss it, and still developing it, orientation to the model proposed by David Ausubel.
His theory of meaningful verbal learning deals with three concerns:
How knowledge (curriculum content) is organized
How the mind works to process new information (learning)
How teachers can apply these ideas about curriculum and learning when they present new materials to students (instruction)
Goal and Assumptions
To help teachers organize and convey large amounts of information as meaningfully and efficiently as possible in his approach, the teacher is responsible for organizing and presenting what is to be learned. The learner’s primary role is to master ideas and information, whereas inductive approaches lead students to discover and rediscover concepts, the advance organizers provide concepts directly. Interestingly, Ausubel believes that students have to be active constructors of knowledge, but his route is to teach them the metalevel of the disciplines and the metacognitions of instructions, the advance organizer model is designed to strengthen students’ cognitive structures – their knowledge of a particular subject at any given time and how well organized, clear, and stable that knowledge. Ausubel maintains that a person’s existing cognitive structure is the foremost factor governing whether new material will be meaningful and how well it can be acquired and retained, Before we can present new material effectively, we must increase the stability and clarity our students’ structures. Relate to the example from the initial example (1) it is intended to provide the intellectual scaffolding that will enable the students to see objects more clearly Ausubel rejects the notion that learning through listening, watching, or reading is passive or non-meaningful. It can be, but it won’t be if the students’ mind are prepared to receive and process information.
What is meaningful? According to Ausubel, whether or not material is meaningful depends more on the preparation of the learner and on the organization of the material than it does the method of presentation. Organizing information: the structure of the discipline and cognitive structure. According to Ausubel there is a parallel between the subject matter is organized and the way people organize their minds, that is: at the top of each discipline are a number of very broad, abstract concepts that include the more concrete concepts at the lower stages of organization. Ausubel describes the mind as an information-processing and information-storing system. Ausubel maintains that new ideas can be usefully learned and retained only to extent that they can be related to already available concepts.
Implications for curriculum
Ausubel uses two principles, progressive differentiation and integrative reconciliation.
Progressive differentiation means that the most general ideas of the discipline are presented first, followed by a gradual increase in detail.
Integrative reconciliation simply means that new ideas should be consciously related to previously learned content. In other words, the sequence of the curriculum is organized so that each successive learning is carefully related to what has been presented before.


Implications for teaching
Advance organizers purpose to explain, integrate, and interrelate the material in the learning task with previously learned material (and also to help learners discriminate new materials with previously learned materials). The most effective organizers are those that use concepts that are already familiar to learners (illustrations and analogies). There are two types of advance organizers – expository and comparative.
Expository provide a basic concept at the highest level of abstraction and perhaps some lesser concepts. It represents the intellectual scaffold on which students will “hang” as they encounter it. It is helpful for unfamiliar material (e.g. basic concepts of economic after study of economic condition of a city).
Comparative organizers, on the other hand, are typically used with relatively familiar material. They are designed to discriminate between the old and new concepts in order to prevent confusion.

Partners in Learning

Partners in Learning

From Dyads to Group Investigation,Understand definition of role playing in education.
Scenario
Put students into a ‘cooperative set” by which I mean by an organization for cooperative learning – like dyads and triads.
It is easier for students to learn to work together when they are not mastering complex activities at the same time.
By having learning communities, we teach students to work together to gather and analyze information, build and test hypotheses, and to coach one another as they develop skills.
Purposes and assumptions
The synergy generates more motivation and competitive environments. The feeling of connectedness.
The member of cooperative groups learn from one another. Each learner has more helping hands than a structure that generates isolation.
Interacting with one another produces cognitive as well as social complexity (than solitary study) .
Avoid alienation and loneliness.
Increases self esteem through the feeling of being respected.
The role of individuals
Developing partnerships does not imply that individual effort is not required, each individual contributed ideas and studied the ideas of others
Recognize that all group members share the same goal.
Know that every person in your group matters and has voice.

Training for interdependence
In addition to practice and training for more efficient cooperative behavior, procedures for helping students become truly interdependent are available.
There are card games where success depends on “giving up” valuable cards to another player and communication games where success requires taking the position of another.

Specialization
The specialists from all teams would gather together and study their assignment and become tutor for the original groups, responsible for summarizing information and presenting to them.
The group will divide responsibility for creating mnemonics for aspects of data or take responsibility for parts of information to be learned.
The famous one known as JIGSAW.
Motivation: from extrinsic to intrinsic?
When students cooperative over learning tasks, they become more interested in learning for its own sake rather than for external rewards.
Group Investigation
In Group investigation, students are organized into democratic problem solving-groups that attack academic problems and are taught democratic procedures and scientific methods of inquiry as they proceed.
It engages in solving a social or interpersonal problems.
Provide an experience-based learning situation .
The philosophical underpinnings
The role of education in improving the capacity of individuals to reflect on the ways they handle information and on their concepts, beliefs, values.
Knowledge is not conveyed to us merely through our sensory interaction with environment, but that we must operate on experience to produce knowledge.
Individual differences are the strength of a democracy, and negotiating among them is a major democratic activity.
Orientation to the model
Thelen (1960) rejects the normal classroom order that develops around the basic values of comfort of keeping the teacher happy.
The teacher’s task is to participate in the activities, develop the methods and rules.
Each inquiry starts with a stimulus situation to students.
Basic Concept
The two concepts of (1) inquiry and (2) knowledge are central to this model.
Inquiry is stimulated by confrontation with a problem, and knowledge results from the inquiry.
Students must thus be conscious of method so that they may collect data, associate and classify ideas recalling past experience, formulate and test hypotheses, study sequences and modify plans.
Activities or Inquiry?
The elements of inquiry: puzzlement, self-awareness, methodology, and reflection. Activities are potential channels for inquiry, but inquiry must emanate from the motivations and curiosity of students. Activities cease to be inquiry when the teacher is the sole source of the problem identification and the formulation of plans.
Knowledge?
The application of the universals and principles drawn from past experience to present experience.
“knowledge is unborn experience…knowledge lies in the basic alternative orientations and preposition through which new orientations can be built (Thelen, 1960, p.51)”.
Why should inquiry take place in groups?
Inquiry has emotional aspects – emotions rising from involvement and growing self awareness.
While learning situation is “one which involves the emotions of the learner”. The group is both an arena for personal needs (individuals with their anxieties, doubts, and private desires) and also an instrument for solving social problems.
The model of teaching
Syntax
The model begins by confronting the students with a stimulating problem. The confrontation may be confronted verbally or actual experience. If the students react, the teacher draws their attention to the differences in their reaction, As the students become interested in the differences, the teachers draws them toward formulating and structuring problems, students analyze the required roles, organize themselves, act, and report the results.
Phases in syntax
Students encounter puzzling situation, students explore reaction to the situation, students formulate study task and organize for study, independent and group study students analyze progress and process, recycle activity.


Principles of Reaction
The teacher’s role is one of counselor, consultant, and friendly critic. He or she must guide over three levels:
The problem-solving or task level (what is the problem? What are the factors involved?)
The group management (what information do we need now? How we can organize ourselves to get it?
The level of individual meaning (how do you feel about the conclusion?)

Cara Mengajar Murid Yang Baik Di Sekolah

Cara Mengajar Murid Yang Baik Di Sekolah

Tips Buat Guru Saat Mengajar Disekolah
Mengajar Banyak Murid
Sebentar lagi sekolah dimulai dan untuk para rekan-rekan pengajar harus mempersiapkan diri untuk mengajar kelas dengan jumlah murid yang bervariasi. Kelas yang terdiri dari beberapa murid saja akan lebih mudah untuk diatur, sedangkan apabila murid berjumlah banyak, seorangguru harus mempersiapkan strategi agar materi yang diajarkan dapat diterima dan dimengerti oleh seluruh murid.
Pada saat tahun ajaran baru dimulai, cobalah untuk menumbuhkan dan menciptakan suatu sikap belajar yang baik di antara guru dengan murid. Jelaskan pula beberapa aturan yang jelas dan dapat dimengerti oleh murid, seperti:
* Mereka harus belajar dalam suasana tenang.
Berikan pengertian bahwa suasana belajar dan mengajar yang tenang akan membantu guru untuk dapat mengajar dengan baik dan murid mengerti pelajaran yang diajarkan.
* Murid boleh berbicara, bicara dengan volume suara kecil; tidak menganggu proses belajar mengajar.
Berikan pengertian bahwa disaat guru menerangkan, murid hendaknya mendengarkan. Namun apabila keadaan mendesak dan murid harus berbicara dengan teman sebelahnya, sebaiknya dilakukan dengan berbicara pelan.
* Bagi murid yang sudah mengerjakan tugasnya, sibukkan mereka dengan membaca buku.
Saat murid sudah selesai mengerjakan tugas kelasnya, berikan tugas lain kepada mereka seperti membaca buku. Dengan demikian mereka tidak akan mengganggu murid lain yang belum selesai.
* Pergunakan suasana diluar kelas untuk menghindari kebosanan murid di dalam kelas.
Kegiatan ini dapat dilakukan sekali-sekali agar kegiatan belajar menjadi tidak monoton. Caranya ajak sebagian murid keluar kelas dan ajarlah mereka di udara terbuka sedangkan sebagian murid lainnya tetap ada di kelas. Setelah beberapa saat lakukan hal ini bergantian dengan kelompok yang ada didalam kelas. Cara ini sebaiknya dibantu dengan asisten pengajar sehingga murid tetap terkontrol.
* Manfaatkan belajar kelompok.
Buatlah beberapa kelompok yang terdiri dari 5 sampai 8 murid. Tunjuk seorang ketua dalam masing-masing kelompok untuk bertanggungjawab atas kelompoknya. Dengan demikian dapat membantuguru memonitor situasi belajar mengajar.
Semoga tips diatas membantu dan seluruh tim Dunia Belajar mengucapkan “Selamat memulai tahun ajaran baru!”

Pendapat Anak Tentang Guru yang Baik

Pendapat Anak Tentang Guru yang Baik

Program Pendidikan dan Pengembangan Anak (MOE-UNICEF 2001-2005 China) mempromosikan lingkungan ramah anak untuk meningkatkan kualitas pendidikan dan memastikan semua anak usia sekolah dapat tumbuh dan belajar di lingkungan yang aman, ramah dan tidak diskriminatif. Guru adalah faktor kunci bagi pewujudan sekolah ramah anak (SRA) dengan cara membantu meningkatkan minat anak-anak dalam pembelajaran, partisipasi dan pengungkapan pendapat.
“Ibu guru Gao seperti ibu bagiku. Dia mendengar semua masalah dan keluh kesah kami serta membantu kami menyelesaikan masalah” Zhang Qi, siswa kelas 4

Akademi Ilmu Sains Beijing mengundang anak-anak China untuk mengungkapkan pendapat mereka tentang guru ideal. 4.000 lebih anak-anak dari seluruh China telah memberi tanggapan. Lewat kata-kata dan gambar, pesan anak-anak dengan jelas menggemakan semangat Konvensi PBB tentang Hak Anak. Mungkin inilah waktunya bagi orang dewasa untuk mulai mendengar anak-anak, mendengar apa kata mereka mengenai hal-hal yang mempengaruhi mereka.
“Guru Shan selalu melucu dalam kelas menulis kami dan membuat kami sangat tertarik dalam pelajaran itu. Tanpa saya sadari, saya jadi sangat suka menulis dan secara bertahap, saya mempelajari beberapa trik untuk menulis dengan baik.”
Shi Yujing, Kelas 5
Anak-anak di Cina, melalui tulisan dan gambar mereka, mengungkapkan bahwa mereka ingin para guru menghormati harga diri siswa, sensitif terhadap kondisi emosi mereka, memberi kebebasan mengekspresikan diri dan bersikap adil pada semua anak apapun latar belakang, gender, kemampuan, dan ciri-ciri individual lainnya. Sebagian besar anak memimpikan guru-guru yang penyayang dan perhatian!
Definisi guru yang baik selalu diuji para pendidik, administrasi pendidikan, dan para guru sendiri. Pemerintah, pakar dan orang-orang yang berkompeten serta masyarakat dan media memiliki haparapan-harapan mereka masing-masing. Akan tetapi, belum banyak orang tanya kepada anak-anak sebagai penerima layanan pendidikan apa pendapat mereka mengenai hal ini. Pada kenyataannya, anak-anak merupakan alasan munculnya profesi guru dan melalui mereka pulalah profesi ini mendapat nilai yang berharga. Buku yang berisi pendapat anak dalam cerita-cerita dan gambar-gambar dapat berguna bagi guru dan pelatih guru sebagai katalis refleksi diri. Buku tersebut juga dapat digunakan dalam kelompok-kelompok belajar untuk memotivasi dan membantu para guru bersama-sama merefleksikan diri dan mencari cara mencapai standar yang diinginkan anak-anak pada mereka. Sangat penting bahwa ungkapan jujur anak-anak menginspirasi dan memotivasi para guru un “Dia memperlakukan tiap siswa dengan setara. Dalam kebaikan hatinya, dia tidak pernah memihak. Sebagai murid, ini adalah hal yang paling berharga tentang guru… Dalam kelas guru Chen, kami merasa santai dan hidup (bersemangat). Dia selalu “tanpa sengaja” mengajukan pertanyaan atau membuat kesalahan agar kami dapat membetulkannya. Jika kami mengatakan sesuatu yang salah, tidak menyalahkan kami. Dia bahkan akan berkata sambil tersenyum: “Kesalahan Bagus! Kesalahan membantu kami menemukan masalah-masalah". Tidak seberapa lama kemudian, bahkan siswa yang paling pemalu mau mengangkat tangan dan menjawab pertanyaannya.” Tang Yiyi, kelas 4
Di Pakistan, sebuah ulasan mengenai “apa yang membuat seorang guru dinilai baik” juga dilakukan dengan bantuan Save the Children-UK (2001). Tidak hanya murid, tapi juga orangtua dan para guru juga ditanyai pendapat mereka tentang seorang guru yang baik. Ulasan itu menunjukkan bahwa guru yang baik merupakan hasil kombinasi sejumlah faktor, termasuk pendidikan dan pelatihan, kompetensi dan pengawasan serta dukungan kepala sekolah dan guru.
“Guru kami tahu nama tiap anak”Anak laki-laki dari Peshawar

“Dia menjelaskan pelajaran di papan tulis. Jika seseorang tidak paham, dia akan mendudukan anak itu disebelahnya dan menjelaskan lagi pelajaran itu.”
Anak perempuan dari Kasur
“Dia menghormati anak-anak, dia selalu memanggil mereka ‘aap’” (‘aap’ ~ bentuk sopan ‘kamu’) Anak perempuan dari Lahore

“Guru kami selalu memperhatikan tiap anak ketika mengajar.”
Anak laki-laki dari Haripur
Guru yang mampu menangani hukuman dan manajemen kelas dalam cara yang positif sering disebut sebagai karakteristik guru yang baik. Manajemen kelas mengacu pada perilaku guru yang memfasilitasi belajar-mengajar. Manajemen kelas ini sangat penting terutama dalam penanganan kelas besar, pengajaran lebih dari 1 kelas secara simultan, berhubungan dengan anak-anak yang pandai, nakal, pemalu dan lemah. ‘Bagaimana guru yang baik itu’ menggunakan wawancara, diskusi kelompok, bermain peran dan gambar dalam mengumpulkan pendapat anak-anak tentang guru.
“Saya mengajar mata pelajaran yang berbeda-beda dengan cara yang berbeda-beda pula. Misalnya, saya mengajar bahasa Urdu seperti cerita. Pertama-tama, saya membaca lalu anak-anak memerankan pelajaran. Saya memberi tiap anak kesempatan membaca tiap hari, dan puisi-puisi dilagukan.”
Guru wanita Peshawar
Ulasan tersebut menunjukkan dengan jelas beberapa karakteristik guru yang baik. Guru yang baik pada dasarnya adalah manusia yang baik. Mereka memiliki kepribadian penyayang, baik, hangat, sabar, tegas, luwes dalam perilaku, bekerja keras, serta berkomitmen pada pekerjaan mereka. Pusat perhatian mereka bukanlah pada buku teks atau kurikulum, tetapi pada anak! Mereka sangat menyadari beragamnya cara anak-anak belajar, perbedaan antar anak-anak dan pentingnya metode beragam untuk mendorong siswa mampu belajar. Anak-anak yang belajar dengan guru semacam itu tidak perlu lagi mengeluarkan uang tambahan untuk mengikuti les sepulang sekolah.
tuk mengembangkan tingkat tanggapan guru pada kebutuhan siswa.

Cara Mengajar yang Baik

Cara Mengajar yang Baik
Seperti apakah guru ideal itu? Setiap orang bisa menyodorkan daftar panjang berisi kriteria-kriteria untuk menjawab pertanyaan ini. Daftar tadi bisa jadi merujuk pada berbagai referensi—kesiapan materi, cara memperlakukan anak didik, tingkah laku, dan lain-lain—yang bisa jadi berbeda-beda bagi setiap orang.
Tapi, daripada pusing menyusun berbagai macam kriteria, mengapa tidak kita tanya saja anak-anak tentang guru yang baik menurut mereka? EENET Asia menurunkan sebuah laporan tentang guru ideal dalam pandangan anak-anak di China dan Pakistan, tetapi agaknya berlaku pula universal.
Simaklah beberapa komentar anak-anak di China.
Ibu guru Gao seperti ibu bagiku. Dia mendengar semua masalah dan keluh kesah kami serta membantu kami menyelesaikan masalah.
Guru Shan selalu melucu dalam kelas menulis kami dan membuat kami sangat tertarik dalam pelajaran itu. Tanpa saya sadari, saya jadi sangat suka menulis dan secara bertahap, saya mempelajari beberapa trik untuk menulis dengan baik.
Dia memperlakukan tiap siswa dengan setara. Dalam kebaikan hatinya, dia tidak pernah memihak. Sebagai murid, ini adalah hal yang paling berharga tentang guru… Dalam kelas guru Chen, kami merasa santai dan hidup (bersemangat). Dia selalu “tanpa sengaja” mengajukan pertanyaan atau membuat kesalahan agar kami dapat membetulkannya. Jika kami mengatakan sesuatu yang salah, tidak menyalahkan kami. Dia bahkan akan berkata sambil tersenyum: “Kesalahan Bagus! Kesalahan membantu kami menemukan masalah-masalah”. Tidak seberapa lama kemudian, bahkan siswa yang paling pemalu mau mengangkat tangan dan menjawab pertanyaannya.
Anak-anak di Pakistan berpendapat tentang guru yang baik:
Guru kami tahu nama tiap anak.
Dia menjelaskan pelajaran di papan tulis. Jika seseorang tidak paham, dia akan mendudukan anak itu disebelahnya dan menjelaskan lagi pelajaran itu.
Dia menghormati anak-anak, dia selalu memanggil mereka ‘aap’. (aap adalah bentuk sopan ‘kamu’ di Pakistan)
Guru kami selalu memperhatikan tiap anak ketika mengajar.
Paragraf terakhir pada tulisan tersebut agaknya mengena dan menggambarkan secara jelas bagaimana seharusnya seorang guru ideal:
Guru yang baik pada dasarnya adalah manusia yang baik. Mereka memiliki kepribadian penyayang, baik, hangat, sabar, tegas, luwes dalam perilaku, bekerja keras, serta berkomitmen pada pekerjaan mereka. Pusat perhatian mereka bukanlah pada buku teks atau kurikulum, tetapi pada anak! Mereka sangat menyadari beragamnya cara anak-anak belajar, perbedaan antar anak-anak dan pentingnya metode beragam untuk mendorong siswa mampu belajar. Anak-anak yang belajar dengan guru semacam itu tidak perlu lagi mengeluarkan uang tambahan untuk mengikuti les sepulang sekolah.

Syarat mengajar yang baik

10 persyaratan mengajar yang baik

Syarat mengajar yang baik

Pertama

Menurut Prof. Leblanc, mengajar yang baik merupakan gabungan dari kesenangan (passion) dan penalaran (reason). Mengajar yang baik bukan hanya tentang bagaimana memotivasi mahasiswa agar mau belajar tetapi mengajar mereka bagaimana belajar dengan baik sehingga apa yang dipelajari menjadi relevan, memiliki arti, dan dikenang dengan baik. Prof. Leblanc mengibaratkan bahwa memperlakukan mahasiswa (dalam hal mengajar dan mendidik) sama persis dengan bagaimana kita berbuat memperlakukan sesuatu (baik benda maupun binatang kesayangan). Dosen harus memperlihatkan suatu antusiasme dan kasih sayang dan kemudian membagikannya kepada mahasiswanya.

Beberapa indikator dari dampak mengajar yang baik adalah :
Apa yang diajarkan di dalam kelas menjadi stimulan bagi proses berikutnya dari studi mahasiswa, misalnya menjadi topik bahasan kuliah menjadi sumber inspirasi bagi riset mahasiswa tersebut. Cara dosen mengajar menjadi role model bagi para mahasiswanya.

Kedua

Mengajar yang baik harus menjadikan bahwa mahasiswa merupakan konsumen atau klien dari ilmu pengetahuan yang kita jual (penulis sendiri pernah menulis tentang paradigma baru pelayanan PT, bahwa mahasiswa sekarang adalah konsumen). Seorang dosen haruslah mengerjakan yang terbaik dalam bidangnya, membaca dari berbagai sumber, bukan hanya dalam bidangnya tetapi juga di luar bidang keahlian sendiri. Mengapa? Karena mengajar yang baik bukan hanya menyampaikan ilmu pengetahuan yang menjadi bidang garapan kita (karena itu informasinya bukan hanya dari buku teks dan jurnal ilmiah bidang kita) saja, tetapi juga tentang bagaimana keterkaitan bidang ilmu kita dalam hasanah ilmu lainnya dan bagaimana penerapannya di dunia nyata.

Ketiga

Adalah benar jika ada yang berpendapat bahwa semakin tinggi gelar kesarjanaan seseorang semakin fokus dan semakin dalam pengetahuannya dalam bidang keahliannya. Oleh karena itu, seorang doktor atau profesor seharusnya mempelajari lebih banyak bidang-bidang di luar kajiannya, karena sebagaimana dikemukakan di atas, prinsip kedua dari mengajar yang baik adalah menjembatani antara teori dan praktiknya di masyarakat.

Keempat

Pada prinsipnya, mengajar yang baik adalah kesediaan mendengarkan, mempertanyakan, menyikapi dengan responsif, dan memahami bahwa setiap individu mahasiswa dari setiap kelas adalah suatu pribadi yang unik dan berbeda. Yang sama dari setiap individu mahasiswa hanyalah dalam tujuan akhirnya, yaitu mendapatkan ilmu pengetahuan dan pendidikan yang berkualitas sehingga dapat bermanfaat dalam kehidupan mereka setelah lulus dari pendidikannya.

Menurut Prof. Leblanc, seorang pengajar (dosen) yang baik harus dapat mendorong mahasiswa mencapai keunggulan, dan secara bersamaan mahasiswa juga harus dapat menjelma menjadi seorang pribadi utuh, memiliki rasa hormat kepada sesama, dan selalu menjadi seorang profesional.

Dengan demikian, bukanlah sebuah sikap yang baik jika seorang dosen hanya berdiri di depan kelas, menyampaikan materi ajar secara ‘kering’, tanpa pernah menyisipkan soal etika dan moral, baik yang berkaitan dengan penerapan ilmu yang diajarkannya maupun etika dan moral secara umum.

Applied Linguistics

Applied Linguistics

Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, linguistics, psychology, anthropology, and sociology . Major branches of applied linguistics include bilingualism and multilingualism, computer-mediated communication (CMC), conversation analysis, contrastive linguistics, language assessment, literacies, discourse analysis, language pedagogy, second language acquisition, lexicography, language planning and policies, pragmatics, forensic linguistics, and translation.

The Role of A.L.: Stern’s Model Revisited
AL: Defined
The Macro View: the study of language and linguistics in relation to practical problems.
The Micro View: the study of second and foreign language learning and teaching.

Theoretical and applied linguistics.
Theoretical linguistics: general principles of the structure and functioning of languages.
Applied linguistics : the application of the ideas and methods of linguistics to practical problems which have something to do with language, esp. the analysis of second-language teaching.
Foreign language teaching
Problems related to teaching methods (textbooks, teachers).
Problems related to the addressees of teaching (learners) & teaching and learning processes.
How?
Acquiring of foreign language as:
acquisition (spontaneous, unconscious process comparable with the infant’s acquisition of mother tongue; universal grammar) vs. learning (a conscious process based on instruction).
The learner
The learner: age, intelligence, cognitive styles, learning styles, motivation, attitudes to learning.
Goals of foreign language teaching and learning
Performance of cognitive, interactive, textual functions.
Cognitive function: getting a grasp of the world (mapping, categorization).
Interactive function: getting a contact of other users of the same language (to appeal, to carry out intentions, to attain the goals).
Textual function: production of meaningful statements, forming of meaningful texts, comprehension.
The Big Picture
Globalisation, Liberalisation, Participation, Innovation, Education and training policy replaces industrial policy as the means by which governments seek to make regions economically competitive.
Widening participation
Widening participation policies adopted by successive British governments have been focused in two conflicting directions:
emancipatory and empowering for the individual: stimulate the growth of autonomous, entrepreneurial, IT-literate, multi-skilled individuals capable of creating and taking advantage of the opportunities inherent in a post fordist economy .
ensuring a supply of appropriately skilled workers for industry: create a compliant low-expectation labour force inured to the demands of flexibilisation in order to attract inward investment not on the basis of high skills available but on the basis of low costs.
Models of Teaching and Learning
The core of the teaching process is the arrangement of environments within which the students can interact and study how to learn (Dewey, 1916).
Model of learning = a learning environment. It is ranging from planning curriculums, courses, units, and designing instructional materials.

The social family: Building the learning community
When we work together we generate a collective energy that we call synergy.
Classroom management is a matter of developing cooperative relationships in the classroom.
Cooperative learning procedures facilitate learning across all curriculum areas and ages, improving self-esteem, social skill and solidarity, academic learning goals ranging from the acquisition of information and skill .
Role playing
Role playing leads students to understand social behavior, their role in social interactions, and ways of solving problems more effectively.
Mnemonics (memory assists)
Mnemonics are strategies for memorizing and assimilating information. Teachers can use mnemonics to guide their presentations of material (teaching and such a way that students can easily absorb the information).
Nondirective Teaching
Developed from counseling theory, the model emphasizes a partnership between students and teachers.
The teacher provides information about how much progress is being made and helps the students solve problems.
How to do nondirective teaching?
First, it is used as the basic model for the operation of entire educational programs, second , it is used in combination with other models to ensure that contact is made with the students, third, it is used when students are planning independent and cooperative study projects, fourth, it is used when counseling students.