EDU 3217; Last remarks

Time passes so fast. It’s already the last blog for this course. Learning drama by analyzing it has been an interesting thing. We have never thought that we would have so much fun in learning this course with Dr.Edwin. He can be really strict at times but we did have fun listening to all his remarks and comments.

Where else we had the chance of watching a play? Many of us have never watched a play before in our lives, so watching it with the whole class was an enjoyable and an unforgettable experience for us.
We had micro teaching in other courses but only had simulated teaching for this course. It’s bit relaxing, enjoying and completely a different experience altogether for us. We had fun and learned our mistakes at the same time. I am sure the whole class would never forget this experience in our lifetime.

Besides that, the plays that we learned for this course, taught us a lot of values and lessons. For example, in King Lear by William Shakespeare, we learned how one’s fate can change without even realizing it. Whatever we have today, may not last with us. Reading this play alone was tough but with Dr.Edwin’s help and guidance, we managed to comprehend and analyze this play subtly.

Lastly, but not the least, drama can be fun and interesting. We had the wrong perception of it as we did not know how to analyse it all this while. This has been an interesting and knowledgeable course for us.

Simulated Teaching; Sustaining The Student’s Interest

After I presented well for my set induction, now it’s the pre-reading and while-reading stage. As for the pre-reading and while-reading activities, we are given the privileges to choose one of the literary elements. So, I have decided to do on the characterization of the play ‘The Ring Doesn’t Fit’ by Tan Kee Aun. At first, I was bit confused when Mr.Harold Poong told us that we need to use different approaches in preparing these activities. I’ve no idea at all on how to use different approaches in these activities. After several inputs from Mr.Harold Poong and Dr. Edwin, I draft it out few activities and showed it to Dr.Edwin for his suggestions and comments. Basically, it was a positive note from him.

After I got the ‘green light’ from him, once again I had a great chance in confirming these activities. I was selected to present my pre-reading and while-reading activity on the second meeting once more. I had a chance in observing my colleagues presentation first. But, this time, I only did few amendments to the activities and quickly proceed to the presentation stage.

Overall, it was great experience for us. We are now able to master the simulated teaching for the short stories and drama. Once again, I would like to thank Dr.Edwin for embarking this kind of activities for the teacher trainee like us. It somehow prepares us to encounter all the possibilities that we might face especially in preparing the lessons for the students.

Simulated Teaching; A New Approach

All hell broke loose when I first got to know that we need to do simulated teaching as part of this course. A lot of things puzzled in our mind especially the expectations of our new lecturer for tutorial session, Mr. Harold Poong. Mr. Harold Poong is the one who is going to evaluate us for simulated teaching. At first, I had some difficulties in finding appropriate activities for set induction, pre-reading and while-reading. This is because previously, we only did simulated teaching for short stories. As for the short stories, I didn’t even crack my head in preparing the activities.

Hence, as for this time, I planned to do my simulated teaching on the play ‘The Ring Doesn’t Fit’ by Tan Kee Aun. Basically, this play revolves upon the subject love and marriage. So, I prepared the exercises according to whatever prior knowledge that I had. I was informed by my tutor that I will be presenting my set induction on the second meeting. So, I had some chance in making some amendments to the power point slides and my presentation skills so that it can cater Mr. Harold Poong’s expectations. In my power point slides, I showed set of pictures of people in love and marriage. Moreover, I also prepared some nice quotes regarding love and marriage according to the pictures. Students have to identify what are the two issues that were brought forward in the power point slides and after glancing through the quotes, they have to define marriage and love in their own words.

Basically, these are the activities that I’ve prepared for my set induction. I think I present it well due to the response that I had from my colleagues. Most of my colleagues told me that my set induction was really interesting and it entices their interest. I was so happy and was really looking forward to do my best for my pre-reading and while-reading activities.