Observation Days (January 24th-26th, 2018)

January 24th, 2018
This day, I started the observation to the PSU Integrated High School. The van picked us up at 8 am. to carry us to PSU Bayambang. We stopped at Mom Aida’s canteen to have our usual Bangus breakfast. After that, we headed to the PSU Integrated High School. There, I was informed that I will teach Grade 10 Biology, and 2 classes of Grade 11 Chemistry. I also introduced to my supervising instructors, Mr. Wilbert Rosario for Biology, and Ms. Jovelyn Bullo for Chemistry. Both of them are nice person and helped me to prepare for my next teaching session.

At 11 am. I started the observation for Grade 11 ICT Chemistry with Ms. Bullo. In the class, I was introduced to the students. The lesson for today is about Big Bang Theory and nuclear reactions. Ms. Bullo explained the lesson with both English and Filipino. All the students is active and responsive to the teacher. The students also talked to me, like greetings and some casual talking. The class is a 1-hour long and so I parted with Ms. Bullo and headed to the canteen to meet with my buddy and others. There, Tom gave me his lesson plan so I can use the format to my lesson plan. At canteen I ate some beefsteak with tomato sauce and boiled bihon. I also ordered a Pancit Canton, or a fried instant noodle, because I was missing the taste of instant noodle. The Pancit Canton was so tasty for me and I ate a whole portion of it alone.

After lunch, my buddy and the others Biology students asked me and the other Biology student-teacher to their class. The class is also functioning as a laboratory. There, we were introduced with all of 3^rd year Biology students. Then the lesson started with how to construct the lesson plan. We were asked several times by the teacher about the comparison between the Indonesian curriculum and theirs.  We’ve also been told that Phillipines just adopting the new K-12 Curriculum. The difference between Phillipines and Indonesian’s curriculum is the high school here is separated by 4 years of Junior High School, and 2 years of Senior High School, not 3-3 like in Indonesia. This curriculum is revised version of the former K-10 Curriculum, which didn’t include the Senior High School.

January 25th, 2018

Today is the 2^nd day of observation in the PSU Integrated High School. I had 3 observation sessions on my schedule. The first one start at 8 am. in the Grade 11 ABN for Chemistry. Because of the late arrival of the van, I and the others who had their observation on 8 am. skipped our breakfast. After the van dropped us out in front of the canteen, we directly walked to the school. There, Ms Bullo had waited for me and  we went together to the ABN classroom. In the classroom, there were many students who came let. At the end of the lesson, Ms. Bullo held a short quiz to the students with me as her assistant there.

After I finished with Grade 11 ABN, I went to the faculty room to meet with Mr. Rosario to start the observation in Grade 10 for Biology. But there, I couldn’t find him anywhere. Then the other teachers told me to go directly to Grade 10 classroom. There, I found him with the others Biology student-teacher. They are Windy from Pakuan University, Rere and Mita from Mulawarman University. Mr. Rosario introduced me to the class and started his lesson. The 10^th graders were so active and sometimes noisy. We saw Mr. Rosario had a hard time dealing with them, especially the boys.

Mr. Rosario’s class ended at 10 am. and we went back to the faculty room. There, I consulted with Ms. Bullo and Mr. Rosario about my lesson plan. I also talked a lot with them and other teachers, especially about tourism spot in Indonesia. At 11 am., I had another observation session in the Grade 11 ICT for Chemistry. I followed Ms. Bullo to the classroom. The students already became closer to me and greeted me. I also know some of their name, which are Kiyan and Reka. Kiyan is a quiet student and has a hard time using English, but he always asked me for explanation of the subject in class. Meanwhile, Reka is a bulky young boy who is a little mischievous and talkative. Same with the ABN class, Ms Bullo also held a short quiz there.


January 26th, 2018

As I asked before, today I had to submit my lesson plan to both Mr. Rosario and Ms. Bullo. Fortunately, I didn’t have any observation schedule for chemistry class because they are free on Friday. So, after I was transported to the PSU-Integrated High School, I gave my lesson plans to my supervisors. After that, I was waiting for my observation class ini Biology Grade 10 in Faculty Room. The class is held by Mr. Rosario with the topic of Nervous System. He presented his lesson with a video about the organization of nerveous system. The students looked enthusiastic and hooked up with the video on the screen. At the end of lesson, Mr. Rosario asked the students to write a summary about the video.

At around noon, I and the other male SEA-Teachers went to find a mosque because as moslems we are obliged to conduct Jumaah prayer. We were accompanied by Mr. Manzano and Mr. Maynard to find the mosque with the PSU’s van. Finally, we found a mosque in a Mindanao society nearby. There are many moslems there and the mosque filled quickly. When I heard the adzan for the first time again since awhile, unknowingly I shed a tear and had my feeling shaken. After the prayer, we talked and asked for some photos with them.

On the afternoon, I was asked to come back to the PSU-Integrated High School by Mr. Rosario. He wanted to discuss about my lesson plan. He said that I need to do some moderation between Phillipines’ format and Indonesian’s format for my lesson plan. He also said that my lesson plan must accomodates all 3 domain of learning, which are cognitive, affective, and psychomotoric. I finished the discussion at 5.15 pm. and the van had already left to the resort. I went back to the resort by using the tricycle and it was fun. When I arrived at the resort, I continued to work on my lesson plan together with the other SEA-Teacher in the restaurant while enjoying my dinner and the free Wi-Fi connection there.