Guest Lecturer Session

This session of Affective Education class was quiet different with the previous class. In this session, we had a joint class with students from CurDev (Curriculum Development) class from cohort 2011. We also had a guest lecturer from Sekolah Cikal. In this class, we discussed about the 2013 Curriculum (kurikulum 2013/ kurtilas) and its comparison with IB curriculum used in his school. Our guest lecturer is a teacher and expert in curriculum.

What I got from his explanation is mostly about the use of IB curriculum in his school, Sekolah Cikal. He said IB curriculum is more flexible because the students can choose the course that they like or they want to learn the most. He also shared his experienced on how his students can master beyond what he expects from them only by watching YouTube. One thought which I remember from him is that teachers will be substituted by YouTube in the near future if they do not improve themselves. He thought what the point of being teacher then if internet, especially YouTube could provide all the things students need, like tutorial, explanation, etc. He then compared the IB curriculum and 2013 Curriculum which are similar in flexibility for him. Both of the curriculums have clear rubrics of assessment so that the students know what level they must achieve.

His explanation was mostly about curriculum, how he compared the two of the curriculum. And he rarely talked about affective component. This was not meet my expectation because I firstly think that he was going to explain about how to develop a curriculum with affective element inside it, but then he mostly talked about curriculum. So, my suggestion for the next is it would be better if we are able to get guest lecturer which not only talk about one topic only, but also integrated with another topic, moreover in joint class like this.

Problem Solving

Do you have problem? Do you ever encounter a problem? Do you ever think that you will never be able to solve your problem? Do you think that the problem you have is bigger than anyone else? Or do you never think “problem” as a problem?

Well, all of people in this world of course have problem, not only one, but a lot. With family and work, their own health care system, self-management, physical difficulties, or social environment. And what people have to do is to solve the problem, so that they will not feel stress or anxious to think about their problem. But how to solve the problem? Nah, that is why I write this article.

Problem solving, which means the ability of someone to solve problem, is included in one of 21st century skill, in part of learning and innovation skill. Before we talk further about problem solving, let us discuss first about what problem is. Problem is a condition when expectation does not meet with the reality. There are some factors which can arise problems; goal, object, operation, and constrain. Problem itself is divided into two types, well defined problem and ill defined problem. Well defined problem is a problem which has one and only clear-cut solution, like mathematics, statistics, chemistry, etc. While ill defined problem is a problem which has multiple possible solutions, like solving problem between couple who just has a quarrelsome.

After knowing two kinds of problem, so how do we do to solve it? According to William and Carey (2007), there are six steps to solve problems; identify the problem, seek out information and goal, brainstorm, choose solution, describe the plan, also review and revise.

1. Identify the problem

When we want to solve a problem, firstly we have to know the root of it. You have to take a look deeply on the problem. Just imagine that you have to solve about arithmetic problem when you just learn about multiplication. It is kind of impossible, right? It is just the same when you have to solve a problem but you do not know what the real problem is. So what you have to do first is identify the problem, deeply.

2. Seek out information and goal

Next step is seeking for information on how to solve the problem and setting the goal to achieve.

3. Brainstorm

Re-think about the possible solution, and consider about the after-effect of each solution.

4. Choose solution

After considering positive and negative effects from each solution, it is the time to choose the most suitable solution which can solve the problem.

5. Describe the plan

After you choose the solution, you need to describe the plan you have made to solve the problem, for example whom the person who possibly help you to solve the problem.

6. Review and revise

The last step is reviewing and revising. After applying the solution, you have to review whether the solution is running well or not. When the solution is not working at all, what you have to do is revising the solution and take a look back to the first step.

As a conclusion, in our life, there must be a lot of problem we face. The important thing we have to think is how we are able to solve the problem well.

Resources

(http://www.med.umich.edu/painresearch/patients/Problem%20Solving.pdf)

(http://www.sfu.ca/psyc/faculty/spalek/Teaching/221/Chapter%2012s3.pdf)

(http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/carl_ltc/quantitative_writing/wellversusill)

Between Potential and Passion

Do you like drawing? Do you like singing? Or do you good at dancing? Do you think you have potential in dancing? Or you just fell passionate to dance? Do you get confused? So what is potential? And what is passion? Well, let me explain it to you one by one. Potential is the birth-gift thing God give to you, it is the ability for you to do the things, or we call it as “bakat” in Bahasa Indonesia. While passion is your personal interest to do the things, or in bahasa Indonesia we call it as “minat”.
Potential, as we all have known from the previous session, is related to Johari Window. This theory was proposed by two psychologist, Joseph Luft and Harry (Joe and Harry = Johari), in 1950, and it is used to understand self potential and awareness. This Johari Window has four parts in it; open area, blind area, unknown area, and hidden area.

1. Open area
Also known as  "free area" or "public area". It can also be called as the "area of free activity". In this area, information about the person, like behavior, attitude, feelings, emotion, knowledge, experience, skills, views, etc is well known by the person (the self') and known by the team (others). The aim in any team is to develop the 'open area' for every person, because when we work in this area with others we are at our most effective and productive, and the team is at its most productive too. For example I am good at dancing, I have followed some dance competition, and people already know that I am a dancer.

2. Blind areaCan also be called as "blind spot". This blind area is area which is known by others in the group, but is unknown by the person him/herself. It could also be referred to as ignorance about oneself. Not an effective or productive space for individuals or groups. The aim is to reduce this area by seeking or soliciting feedback from others and thereby to increase the open area, i.e., to increase self-awareness. Others and the person itself take responsibility for reducing the blind area - in turn increasing the open area - by giving sensitive feedback and encouraging disclosure. For example, people say that it is possible for me to be a singer because they ever hear me sing. But still, I do not know that I cam sing well. That is why, people give courage to me that I am able to be good singer, and I will try to increase my awareness because of that.

3. Hidden areaOr it can be called as "avoided self/area" or "facade". It is the area where potential is known to ourselves but kept hidden from, and therefore unknown, to others. Represents information, feelings, etc, anything that a person knows about him/self, but which is not revealed or is kept hidden from others. Also include sensitivities, fears, hidden agendas, manipulative intentions, secrets - anything that a person knows but does not reveal.„ Relevant hidden information and feelings, etc, should be moved into the open area through the process of 'self-disclosure' and 'exposure process'. The example is I am able to use sign language, but not lot of people know that I am good at it, because I never show to people that I can do it. 

4. Unknown areaIt can be called as "hidden self"', "hidden area" or "avoided self/area". What is known to ourselves but kept hidden from, and therefore unknown, to others. Represents information, feelings, etc, anything that a person knows about him/self, but which is not revealed or is kept hidden from others. Also include sensitivities, fears, hidden agendas, manipulative intentions, secrets - anything that a person knows but does not reveal. To know our potential, we have to do trial and error. For example I want to know whether I have a potential to be a writer or not. Therefore, I try to make some writing to know whether I have capability on it or not.

Potential is supported by motivation, both internal and external motivation. External motivation can influence the potential, but the effect of internal motivation is bigger than external motivation. For example, I want to develop my potential in dancing by joining the dance competition. I have intrinsic motivation, that I could be the best dancer in that competition. My friends also give support to me and say that I am able to win the competition. This could be included as external motivation.
By knowing our potential well and having motivation to develop the potential, we will be able to be brighter than what we ever expect.
So in which part of window you are now?


Reference
https://www.usc.edu/hsc/ebnet/Cc/awareness/Johari%20windowexplain.pdf

Happiness and Education: a Review

Happiness is the best feeling people have in the world; they will feel happy in their life when they have felt about sad in their life. As stated in every religion that later every people will get the happiness in their next life, which means heaven, if they do the good things in their life. People have to do something first if they want to get happiness. But what is happiness?

Happiness for me is when I am able to make people I love become happy. It is also a feeling when you can be what you want to be, without any force from other people about what to do. Being happy can make people relax, and unconsciously, being happy can make people life longer. When people feel stress or under pressure in doing something in their life, they need some refreshment to renew their mind by doing something that can make they feel relax, like watching movie, joking with friends, or do the thing they loves to do. Sometimes, being happy does not mean to spend lot of money, you can also be happy by surrounding with the people you love because being happy is not about what you spent, but what you feel.

Happiness is also needed in education. Why? Education is mostly done in the school, and that is why school has become the second home for most of students. That is why it is important to make them feel happy and comfort in school, because when they do not feel comfort to stay in their “home” how could education process work well?

We Talk, We Work

The third meeting of Affective Education was talking about Developing Social Skills, Working Together, Collaboration, and Communication. There are five parts in developing social skills such as interaction, making conversation, building and maintaining friendship, empathy, and dealing with conflicts. In this writing, I am going to focus on communication. Everyone in this world needs to communicate each other. We, as human being, have to communicate each other because it is impossible for us to live by our self without help from other people, even from our birth we need someone to help us. In education context, communication means students ability to interact with others in a good way, Body language, facial expression, spoken words, are example of communication.

Communication, according to Johnson (1973, 1993) is any verbal or nonverbal behavior that is perceived by another person. It needs five basic elements which should be fulfilled; the sender, the receiver, the message, the channel and feedback. The sender is the person who send the message. The receiver is the person who receives the message from the sender. While the message means what the sender want to deliver to the receiver. A message can come in many different forms, such as an oral presentation, a written document, an advertisement or just a comment. The message travels from one point to another via a channel of communication. The channel sits between the sender and receiver, it is used to deliver the message, from the spoken word, television, an internet site, or something written like book, letter, or magazine. The last is feedback, it describe the receiver response towards sender's message. Communication will work effectively when the message intended by the sender is well received by the receiver and there is feedback from the receiver.

In conclusion, it is important to know how to communicate with each other well, because as human being communication is one of the ways to make us received by people.

A Review on Online Learning

OLC4TPD (Online Learning Community for Teacher Professional Development) is one of the website which provide online learning made by some expertise in education to gain knowledge and share each other. This website is a recommended website especially for teachers and students because it not only provides some courses we could join, but also some article related to the topic which is discussed. Some courses which are provided in this website are Reflective Practice, Koala Bear Project, Teaching and Learning, Curriculum, Leadership, Assessment, Social Learning, Teacher Portfolio, Students Portfolio, and Teaching Bahasa Indonesia. This website is not only visited by teachers or students, but also professors and researchers who are gaining data for their thesis. Here, they can gain comments from viewers by posting some articles or cases to be solved.

Using online learning is not the new thing for me. In Faculty of Education, we have moodle which provide us the material and task in online ways. We can access the material shared by others and we can share our materials. We can add a discussion forum and talk about the latest issue happening in education. Joining an online learning forum like OCL4TPD brings lot of benefits. Besides getting some information and gaining knowledge, you can also expand your network of friendship because there will be a lot of people joining this online forum, so it is possible for you to get lot of friends.

OCL4TPD is also talks about Affective Education. Confronting this 21st Century, we need some skills which can improve and develop us to be a better person, and luckily, this website provide it. Good and bad side is always stay in every single thing in this world, include in this website. There are some good and bad of using this website. It is true that this website provides lot of information which is needed, but the display of this website is boring and old fashioned. It will be fun if this website is not only providing article or some videos, but also linked with another social media, like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

This All About Our Self

The second meeting of Affective Education was talking about self – awareness, self – esteem, self – confidence, and self – management of emotion. In this session we were asked to know our self better. So all of thing in this session was about our self. First we were asked about how we aware of our self, how we aware of something changed from us. The example was Ms. Caecil gave us a piece of wood to be put in our shoes and stand with it. It firstly felt strange, I mean there was something else in your shoes which can affect the way you walked or stand. So what could we do? Just shouting and keep complaining that there was something on our shoes? No. What we have to do was take the shoes off, take the wood and wear your shoes again. So what was the purpose of this? Well, just think that it was done to increase our self – awareness. How come? Well, somehow we were not really aware of our self. Somehow we just keep doing things without thinking the effect. Somehow we do not care with our health. Somehow we just do not be grateful and thankful for everything God gives to us. Somehow we just start loving our self when we start to sick. Yeahh, somehow.

These examples show how well we aware to our self, and it shows that we do not aware with our self. Well, self – awareness is not

only about physical self – awareness, but also about academic and social self – awareness. So how well do I know yourself? Whom the person knows you the best? Well, the person knows me the best is of course my self. Why? Because I am the one who know what are the best things for my life. I am the one who could define what I want to do, and what I do not. I am the one who know what i want to be and what I did not. I am the one who knows my self the best. Yes, I am. Not the others. I know what I am good at and what I am not good at. I know my strengthen and my weakness. I know that I am good at singing and dancing, I know that I am able to make a good writing, I know that I can deal with children but I am not good at public speaking. I enjoy listening to music and reading a novel on my own bedroom. I enjoy writing a fiction story. I enjoy sitting in the corner of the class rather than in the front row. But I do not enjoy speaking or having conversation with a lot of people. I do not enjoy to be a center of attention.

“So what do you like the most from yourself?” Well, thing I like the most from myself is everything! I like everything from myself. I do believe that everything from myself is the best thing God gives to me. So when you asked what I do like the most from myself is of course my self. Well, it might be a little bit arrogant, but when you do not start loving yourself, who else will love yourself? :D

The three adjectives which describe me well are quiet, sensitive, and expressive. I actually am a quiet person. I do not really like to talk to people in face to face. Well, you might think I am a bit clumsy. Yes, I am. I do not really know how to start the conversation, and well, I just love to be silent. I am also a bit sensitive with feeling. does not really mean I love crying or easy to be touched, but I am sensitive with people changes of feeling. I know when someone get angry of something, I know when someone in love, and I know when someone hate another person, I know it. I am sensitive of that. I am also an expressive person. It is hard for me to hide my feeling, for example when I get mad, I might show an anger face; or I might be embarrassed when I meet someone I admire. I easily show my true expression, and I cannot be a poker face. I cannot, at all. That is why somehow I need a self management of emotion. I need to control how I show my facial expression because not all of people can accept how I show my facial expression.

Talking about future and goal are something really interesting. If you ask me what is the goal of my life, I will answer that I just want to make my mother happy. I just want to make my dearest person feel the happiness. “But don’t you want to earn lot of money?” Of course I want it too. Making a lot of money is happiness, but making people around you happy is a super happiness. That is a quote from Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel prize winner. And I just realize that those words are true! What is the purpose of making money when you cannot make people around you happy? What is the purpose of making money when you have no one to share with? Nothing, right? So when you ask me what my goal is, I just want to make my dearest people happy. But it will be different when the question is what you want to achieve or do in your life. What I want to do in my life is making an educational foundation for children, especially for those who have disabilities. I want to make a school for them, I want to accommodate their needs. Besides that, I want to get my master degree and be a lecturer in one state university in Indonesia. I also want to be an entertainer, since I am good enough at singing and dancing. I can make a dance class, maybe. Well, it will not be easy for me to achieve that. I know it will be hard for a twenty years old girl to do that. But since I already pictured what I want to achieve, I am sure that slowly, all of my dreams will come true.