Art Is Stuoid and I Am the Master of Stupidity

Marda with students of class 2C. | Photos: Tony Liong

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For Marda (32), a teacher at an elementary school in Lombok, being a teacher is both an opportunity as well as a claiming to be able to contribute to the development of students. Marda shared with RISE some of her experience nigh being a teacher and the qualities she believes every teacher must possess.

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It was 10:00 a.m. at an elementary school in West Lombok Regency, W Nusa Tenggara. The bong rang, and students who were playing at the school corridor and schoolyard rushed towards their classrooms, including students of class 2C. Their classroom was on the left side of the building. They then sat on their chairs and opened their textbooks in orderly manners.

Students of class 2C walked into the classroom after the bell rang.

The student accomplice for Course 2 has 3 classes: 2A, 2B, and 2C. Every day, the second graders share their classrooms with the get-go graders. The smaller class uses the classroom from seven:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., then followed by the 2d graders. That morning, 28 students in form 2C were gear up to learn.

Soon after that, familiar footsteps made the students turned their eyes towards the classroom door. "Good morning, Instructor!" the students exclaimed. "Proficient morn, Children," the woman wearing a headscarf replied as she entered the classroom.

Marda, the teacher, walked upwardly to her table in front of the form. She observed every student sitting neatly in small groups. Their faces, radiating with enthusiasm, are her source of ardour. They take been a office of her daily lives for the past twelvemonth. Marda not merely remembers the face of each of her student; she likewise knows each of their names and characters by heart.

Marda asked students who wanted to collect their savings to come to her desk.

As a teacher, Marda believes it is essential for her to recognise the character of each of her student. "Every pupil has a different character. Their level of agreement also varies," she explained. "For instance, there is a student who excels in math, but she lacks mastery in other subjects. Or, at that place is also a student who do not primary many subjects, merely he does well in art and culture. Information technology's not that the student is incompetent. They just need a trivial more time to learn; or, perhaps they need different educational activity method. We must not think of him or her as stupid because each kid has distinct strength."

More that, Marda understands that every student needs attention. "Some of them would try to go 1 by showing challenging behaviour, while the others would behave otherwise; existence quiet and obedient. We cannot compare ane child to another; the important thing is our method of budgeted the child. Nosotros first need to go shut to them, learn what their characters are. Only later on that can we decide how to deal with the child," Marda connected.

Improving Students' Passion for Learning

An obstacle Marda ofttimes encounters while teaching is the students' mood. Events or matters outside of school could bear upon their mood while learning in the form. Although they are more often than not like shooting fish in a barrel to cheer up, sometimes Marda has to take more approach to make them share their problems earlier they could talk over other things.

Once in a while, to make learning more fun, Marda would take the students to study outside the classroom. For example, on that twenty-four hours, she took the students to gather on the schoolyard to learn math using an unconventional method. Marda asked the students to make rows based on a specific group of numbers. They then enthusiastically followed her instructions.

Marda was teaching math by instructing her students to grade rows on the schoolyard. This is one of the creative learning methods that she sometimes used to refresh the learning atmosphere and then that students would be more excited to acquire.

Marda also emphasised the importance of students getting to know each other. That's why she applies a switch-the-seatmate system every i or two months so that the students would have different seatmates. Thanks to this system, stories arose and had helped her have more profound understandings of her students.

"Sometimes students object, saying they don't want to sit with this or that friend that they think is problem-maker. I would then inquire the child who likes to annoy his friends, why he does that. Ultimately, this procedure would make him open up up and reveal the reason for his activeness. Subsequently, we would tell him not to repeat such poor behaviour. All the same, children can besides come to their senses and be kind," said Marda.

In addition to having different seatmates periodically, students also experience changes in the seating arrangement. Marda would occasionally alter their seating; sometimes lined upward, another time in groups, at other times U-shaped. These seating changes happen every once a calendar month to refresh the learning atmosphere. "Thanks to this organisation, students can experience seating with each of their classmates alternately," she added.

A Dream Come True

For Marda, becoming a teacher is a childhood dream come up true. She had always admired the effigy of a teacher who she saw equally a smart person. She as well institute a instructor's daily instruction in front of the class and being noticed by the students as pleasing.

Marda's dream of becoming a instructor came truthful in July 2014 when she was officially an honorary instructor. On June 2015, she was assigned to the school where she at present teaches until finally being appointed equally a ceremonious retainer (PNS).

Marda said, her years of becoming a instructor has been filled with many memorable experiences. She recalled i that she remembers the most, told by a student'due south parent.

There was a student who was cheerful and liked to read. He was broadminded and knew things that fifty-fifty Marda was not familiar with. One twenty-four hour period, when visiting his grandmother in a metropolis in Coffee, he told his parents that he did non want to become back to Lombok. His parents had tried to persuade him for almost a week, but he insisted that he did not want to return to Lombok.

"His mother told me that when she said 'Don't you miss Ms Marda?' her son immediately inverse his mind and said that he wanted to go domicile to Lombok. Hearing that, I instantly cried. That may be the most unforgettable experience for me, knowing that a educatee could have such an impression of me," Marda reminisced.

That feel further realised Marda how much influence a instructor could take on his or her students, even on the things beyond learning.

Although school started at x:00 a.m., these three students had already arrived at schoolhouse more an 60 minutes earlier.

Moreover, Marda feels that the relationships among teachers and school staff at where she teaches now are very open and mutually supportive. That motivates her to want to go along improving equally a teacher. "I feel at abode and am needed hither," she said.

Marda feels that her greatest happiness in teaching comes from meeting her students, who have diverse characters and backgrounds. She hoped that she could go along to be their teacher, and so that she could aid fix them in facing the next stages in their lives, both at and outside of school. Marda likewise wished that after in life all of her students would become individuals who could contribute to their surroundings.

"No affair what their profession would be, whatever results might come, they have to exist able to contribute to society. Even if they can't contribute something large, even if they can't get a president, they could at least be useful to the people around them," Marda concluded.

A quote to motivate the students to be brave in improving their skills. It was displayed on the outer wall of course 2C.

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Source: https://rise.smeru.or.id/en/blog/teacher%E2%80%99s-story-%E2%80%9Cthere-no-such-thing-stupid-child%E2%80%9D

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