Observation and Assistantship

Professional teachers are those who value time wherever and whenever. when this was the first day I went to class, before 7 o'clock we had gone to school, it happened that the school where we practicum was very close to dormitory, we were so excited that we were running like a race, hehehe ... maybe because this was the first time so enthusiastic , oh yeah i am not alone in dominican but with 2 of my friends from Indonesia namely Kandi who came from the same campus and Annisa from Lampung State University. Arriving at the school we were greeted with the sweet smile of the security guard, the tight security in this school requires everyone who goes in and out to write the attendance list such as name, interests, hours of entry and hours out.

Like people who are confused, at that time we did not know which class to enter because this school was quite large. Luckily I met my buddy Ivy, she helped us to direct us to our classrooms. August 15 2018 it turned out the school was carrying out the First Quarterly Assessment and I was entering Grade 3- Humility as long as my practice was guided by my cooperating teacher, Ms. Fruelda. She is a homeroom teacher at Grade3-Kindness. Actually there are several classes that we used for practice including Grade3 - Helpfulness, Grade3- Humility, Grade3-Honesty and Grade3- Kindness. When I entered class for the first time it was quite shocking, my mind was automatically imagined by schools in Indonesia. This class was really good with cheerful nuances, so it's suitable for kids, but the size is this small room for students who are pretty much around 40-50s very little space had given and the authenticity is that I used to handle 20-30 children but here I had new challenges.

The farther the worries began to disappear after seeing how funny and adorable they were, it feels like being angry didn't work. Because the whole class was having an exam, that time I hadn't had the opportunity to see my cooperating teacher teaching. But I had the opportunity to see how teachers here apply discipline when examining this exam was a science that was not less important to be a better teacher in the future.

The students took the exam very quietly and very few cheating, in general, in each class there were people who cheat but in this class there was almost nothing. They used their respective test covers to protect the test paper so that it would not be cheated hahaha suddenly remember my childhood using the book boundary to keep the answers turned out to be still applied today. In the classroom I sat in a corner and I was caught in the supervision of the exam. Hehehe tried to be the supervisor of the exam with this student. It felt like there was no burden, even though there were still many responsibilities. Sometimes in between watching the exam I chat with students in class.

Grade3-Humility students are very fun and I remember the most with my student named Nicha she is very sweet, she gave me a letter like a welcome greeting. My heart feels so touched that when I write this story I want it once again to go back there just to see the sweet smile, I hope I can meet again. This exam activity takes place around a week.

The activity was also enough to create the closeness of my students in grades 3- Humility so when this exam was finished I also had to go back to the actual class, Grade 3- Kindness, I just enjoyed it even though I had to re-adapt again hahaha. August 20 2018 I first saw my mentor teaching. In my opinion, she is a very good teacher because I saw her building a very assertive character so it was very good to build the character of children. Yes, so I next observed Grade 4, with science subjects, of course. As usual I almost forgot to tell you that the students here have a habit that I admire so much from the way they started learning and finished learning they always prayed very solemnly making my heart very touched by this difference.

Every time I and my cooperating teacher come in, students always immediately spontaneously stand up and pay their respects, before preparing the learning media, they attend to the students who are not present and the reasons and do not forget to review the previous learning. When entering the course the teacher explains in great detail, always nurtures students who are struggling to take part in learning and of course even with a very firm expression but she is very patient.

Learning is not necessarily filled with lectures that will certainly be boring, sometimes also need to be interspersed with games or laughter that melts the atmosphere when tense. Before ending the lesson, he must always give a message of what he has learned, before giving a quiz, the teacher invites students to conclude today's learning. Not forgetting the quiz given to students corrected together and to those who get the highest score or the best will get rewards in the form of praise. Unfortunately the time given for less than a month is lacking for me to see how learning is here, but so far the knowledge I have gained is very useful, the conclusion in my opinion that building children's character for the better as well as respecting each other can be more important than always put forward academic value.

I went through the following days in various classes, well at grade2, grade 3 and grade 5. Depending on the schedule of my cooperative teacher I taught but I was very happy because every new class I entered was always warmly welcomed. Different from Wednesday, usually my cooperating teacher did not have a schedule in class so I go to the library to help carry out assignments as a teacher, for example correcting student answers.

The first time I corrected the quiz results from 4 classes. Wow, it's an amazing experience because it had to be served with various kinds of children's writing, sometimes if I can't read it, I want to laugh at myself. Hehe, either because I didn't know the writing or didn't understand the language, my English language level is still basic.

The next day I tried to help put students' grades one by one into the value book. Actually if this one is not too new, because I have often helped my mother who happens to be a teacher also to include the value of her students. However, what was different that time was how to write names here that were different from my country haha but fortunately there were still absent numbers that make it easier for me to do that task. Even so, but there were still students who forget to write the absence number, as a result I had to sort from top to bottom to find the name of the challenging thing right? Worse yet there were also those who had not written their names and serial numbers, well maybe even if I couldn't read it hehehe.

The experience that I got while here is seeing how they respect each other, how students here love and help others, how they worship so fervently with their obedience, and how the teachers here treat their students, especially seeing my cooperating teacher when teaching. There are so many positive things I can take from Dominican School Manila. Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to learn to be a better teacher in the future with those who are experts in their fields!