Week 3: Starting with the Lessons

 Assalamualaikum everyone!

Last week has been the introduction week, where I first get to know students from each course and share with them what topics will be covered throughout the semester. This week, the actual lessons begin and the results of the SWOT analysis I had done based on the classes this week are as follows:

STRENGTH: The topics that I will be teaching for the courses in IKM are quite similar to what I taught during my years in KPM even though the courses here are different. Thus, having the experience teaching these topics is definitely helpful since I have already determined the suitable activities that could be carried out during the lesson, and all I have to do now is to try and adapt the activities to my current students' level of competency and comprehension.

WEAKNESS: I am afraid that my teaching style is not suiting the students' tastes. Students seem to be less enthusiastic as soon as they are asked to open their course modules. The drop in energy can CLEARLY be seen, where those who were quite talkative when we talked about their weekends at the start of the class, became quiet as soon as the actual lessons start. I get that language learning could be boring at times, but I guess my teaching style was not up to par with their interest. Even though I used the same type of activity during these classes as the ones I used while teaching KPM students, the IKM students' reactions and participation levels are different from what I saw back then. There is the possibility that my expectations of their reactions are influenced by the fact that I do have a slight tendency to compare and reflect upon my previous students in KPM, thus comparing them with my current students. This is a bad habit of mine, which I believe should be changed as soon as possible. I might need to do more than just reflect on myself to overcome this issue; I need to consult other teachers for some advice.

OPPORTUNITIES: I believe that being transferred to a college with a set of students with different interests, temperaments and competency levels is actually a blessing in disguise because upon arriving here, I realized that I have grown accustomed to the way Diploma students in KPM behaved back then, and this created a sense of comfort, which is actually not a good thing if I am aiming to become a good educator. I always believed that good teachers are those who can easily adapt to a variety of student types and be able to make all of them enjoy the learning process. However, being in KPM for two years, it seemed like I stopped growing and changing my teaching style due to the students being mostly similar types. Having new students means that I am facing a new challenge each day, in which will make me have to learn new teaching techniques.

THREAT: There are times when I get stuck during the process of lesson planning due to the fact that I'm not sure if the activities I choose would peak students' interests. It's a fear of mine that the students I teach feel bored when I'm in class or the fact that I could be someone who causes them to dislike the subjects I'm teaching. Having these kinds of fear has caused me to be insecure and doubtful of my actions at times, thus causing my ideas to be blocked (also known as 'creative block') and become unable to come up with new creative ideas.

In summary, I do understand that in the teaching and learning process, there will always be ups and downs. But that's also life. It is what it is. All we can do is to put up a brave front and just power through. Wish me luck!

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Signing off,

Nadia Aqila, getting a bit scared now.