UPSR: Tips for Teaching Section A in Paper 2 (1)

   With the implementation of KSSR, KBSR will soon be demolished. That is, in three years time. There are still three batches of pupils who must go through UPSR and fortunately(?) I am lucky enough to have been selected to teach Year 6 this year. Yayyy!! (pumps hand into the air while trying very hard to ignore how much it's shaking).

   Alhamdulillah, I've been blessed with the fact that my mentor in school (who also happens to be the PK HEM) is an expert on UPSR answering techniques for English. He has traveled quite extensively around Gua Musang to give talks to pupils and teachers alike, and from what I've seen (I've had the privilege of accompanying him once or twice) the teachers and pupils all like his method as it helps them to have a system for answering the questions.

   A day or two before, a friend asked if I could share some tips on how to teach pupils to answer Section A of Paper 2. I must tell you that I don't know much myself, but I have learned from a person I consider to be an expert on this matter. Insya-Allah, I hope to share what I've learnt from him with you in this blog, together with a few tips and tricks that I've managed to come up with as I teach my pupils. I hope this will help and benefit you! All the best!

NOTE: Please remember that different teachers will have different strategies or answering techniques. This is what my mentor taught me, and he has managed to help many pupils succeed in scoring for the exam, so I take that as a good sign.

   Introduction
   There are 3 sections in Paper 2. The first is Section A for which pupils must produce five sentences based on the picture given. For example, for the picture below, pupils can compose the five following sentences:

UPSR 2012

ADVANCED-AVERAGE PUPILS
1. There are many people doing various activities at the toy shop.
2. The man who sits on the bench is reading a newspaper.
3. The man who wears a collared-shirt is looking at some badminton rackets in the display area.
4. The woman who sports shoulder-length hair is looking at the baby in the pram while another woman who wears a head scarf is holding the handle of the pram.
5. The girl who wears a t-shirt and a pair of trousers is showing a doll to a man.

AVERAGE-WEAK PUPILS
1. This is a toy shop.
2. There are many toys in the toy shop.
3. A man is looking at the badminton rackets.
4. A/Another man is reading a newspaper.
5. A girl is holding a doll.

   There are many other possible answers or sentences that may be produced, but the ones I've provided are examples to help you see the possible sentence structures for the picture. Weak students may not be able to produce such sentences, so other options need to be explored. I shall provide step-by-step instructions that will help you to help your pupils to prepare themselves for answering Section A. I have decided to separate the steps into different posts so that it is easier for you to follow and understand them. (It also helps me prepare blog entries more easily as a long post would take a very long time to be composed.)

   Please follow the links below (will be updated gradually. Stay tuned!

Step 1
Step 2

School-Based Oral Assessment (SBOA) link

   I found a helpful blog post on School-Based Oral Assessment. It explains the types of models used for assessing pupils together with some examples. The post actually explains SBOA for secondary school, but I haven't found any links for primary school. Check out the post anyway, I think it's still helpful.

LINK: SCHOOL-BASED ORAL ASSESSMENT (SECONDARY SCHOOL)

   My own assessments are a bit of a mess, but as soon as I clear them up I'll try to share them with you (ughhh I hate making promises these days, I just ever get around to fulfilling them!)

Tarikh Bayaran Gaji Tahun 2012

   Awat ta tetiba rajin dok pos macam2 malam ni.

   Bear with me.

   Anyway, found this somewhere on the internet... hehe.

   I did a search on the net and found a download link to the original 'surat pekeliling' (I have no idea what the hanky panky smanky term for surat pekeliling is in English), so I feel safe saying this info is valid. As soon the correct date arrives, let's all go and line up at the nearest ATM, shall we? Hehe. Hey. Yes we do teach for the sake of Allah, but gaji is still gaji right? We teachers are human beings too!

   However, our school PT said the best he can do is to process my 'gaji' for April. If that includes all the wages I'm supposed to be getting starting from the day I reported for duty, it means a 3 1/2 months worth of wages.

   *faints in shock

My Famous Friend... hehe

That's her in the blue baju kurung

   My good friend Sarah was sort of mentioned in an online NST article recently. Sarah  is one of my Cohort 4 girlfriends, and we have a strange connection with each other... hehe. Anyway, her school, SK Pulai Perdana, was featured in an online NST article and they mentioned her as one of the English teachers there.

   You can read the article here:

Getting to Know You

   Tomorrow my school is having a Mini Larian which is sort of like a cross country. I'll write more about it later.

Plan Pembangunan Guru Baru

   Last week, I found myself at Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah (PPD) Gua Musang for a briefing on PPGB that I'd already attended on 16th January. It's a long story, but basically the briefing was ssupposed to be for KPLI teachers who were posted in October last year, and somehow missed being briefed about the programme.

   However, it was a good thing that I was there as I managed to gather some more input on what to do. When I was at the JPN briefing, I didn't hear much because the hall was buzzing with noise and excitement.

   Another good thing about the briefing was that I had the chance to meet up with a good friend (my IPG-IIUM classmate for 6 years!), B, who was also posted to a school in GM. It was fun listening to her describe what she's going through (her school is further in than mine- in fact she has to take a boat to get there, which takes about an hour o so!). I'm sure Allah will reward her for her work and patience. It's no easy matter, surviving in the place where she is now. She also happens to be the only female teacher at her small school i feel for her, and I hope we get to meet again soon since we're the only 2 from my class who go posted to GM.

   Back to PPGB. Apparently, PPGB (Plan Pembangunan Guru Baru) is a new programme which the developed to observe and keep track of the new teachers. There have been stories where new teachers had not written in his record book for 6 months or so, arrived at school late, and much more. The pilot programme was conducted in 2010, and was found to be successful, so they decided to launch it in 2011.

   The briefing was small, there were about 28 (I think) KPLI teachers and 3 'sesat, newly-posted-on-January-16th-and-not-supposed-to-be-there-because-they'd already-gone-to-the-briefing' teachers- me, B and her colleague from school, a preschool teacher.

   This is a brief account of what I gathered from the briefing:
 
1. You can find out more about PPGB by downloading the PPGB module from the link below. I couldn't connect to the link given to us during the briefing, so I did a search online and found these links at PPD Jeli's site. It's the same thing for all new teachers, so you can use the links to download the module:

PPD JELI: Plan Pembangunan Guru Baharu

DOWNLOAD LINK: MODULE CONTENTS

DOWNLOAD LINK: PPGB MODULE

   The documents are in Bahasa Melayu. You can right click on the 'DOWNLOAD LINKS' and click on 'save as' to straight away download the documents.


2. Basically, new teachers have to go through PPGB for 1 year. It's an important requirement for getting your post confirmed (syarat pengesahan jawatan). People from each PPD will observe the teachers in the schools within their district. I took this to mean that they'll start dropping surprise visits sometime soon. Scary! What's important is that you need to always be prepared.

3. New teachers have to prepare a portfolio. A thick-practicum-in-likeliness portfolio. Our office-in-charge En. Z who is from the Unit Latihan at JPN Kelantan took the liberty of taking photos of one of the (almost) best folio from last year, so that we'd have a good idea of what we're supposed to put in our folios. I think it's a valiant effort and most certainly helpful for us! You have to compile all the documents in a ring file, and that's your portfolio. Tada! Easy. Uh-huh.

4. Each new teacher must have a mentor of his or her own. The mentor must be a senior teacher- and senior here means that the teacher has been teaching for several years. New teachers, albeit ones who have only been in service for one or two years cannot be mentors. The mentor will be responsible for doing most of the observations on your teaching, as well guiding you throughout the year.

You MUST ask the school to prepare an APPOINTMENT LETTER for your mentor, and a copy of the letter must be faxed to the officer-in-charge as well as included in your portfolio. A sample of the letter required is included in the attachments section (bahagian lampiran di belakang) in the module.

5. Schools are advised to appoint a New Teachers Committee to make sure the programme runs smoothly. I need to find out more about this. I will get back to it when I have.

6. You have to be observed during teaching (dicerap), and it's advised that the observation is done at least once a month. The observation will probably be carried out by your mentor, but you can actually ask any senior teachers, including the PKs and the GB to do it.

7. You must keep your portfolios with you at all times (or anyway, make sure you bring it to school). You're not supposed to leave it at your PPD o JPN or school when PPGb is over. This is what the officer told us. This is because if people (as in BPG officers, I suppose) come and ask to see it, you can show it to them. You do have to hand it in to your GB at the end of the programme, so that he/she can evaluate it. The GB has to produce a written statement (in simple words: a letter) which states whether he/she is satisfied with your work and whether it is satisfactory for your post as a teacher to be confirmed.

8. You have to fill some form online. Here's the link:

LINK to E-PELAPORAN PPGB

   And that's it! Whew. I'm sorry for any odd sentences, I was struggling to find the best way to explain things. I hope it helps you somehow.

   Have a good weekend. I only have one day off tomorrow- Saturday's a school day to make up for the CNY holidays. Take care and be happy, whatever happens! :)