Belajar Dari Film – Cin(t)a

oleh: nico

Cin(t)a, sebuah film yang bercerita tentang perbedaan dan cinta. Film ini berkisah tentang Cina, seorang pemuda Kristen keturunan Cina-Batak dan Annisa sseorang gadis muslim keturunan Jawa. Selain perbedaan agama dan suku, mereka juga berbeda dalam hal usia dan keadaan finansial.

Berawal dari pertemuan yang tak menyenangkan ketika Cina mengeluarkan teori tentang Annisa mengenai kecantikan yang  berbanding terbalik dengan kepandaian, juga tebakan cina bahwa IPK Annisa paling-paling cuma 2.1. Walau ternyata tebakan cina benar, mereka menjadi sahabat ketika secara tidak sengaja Cina merusak maket Annisa dan memperbaikinya secara diam-diam. Keduanya bersahabat tanpa memikirkan semua perbedaan yang ada pada diri mereka, bahkan mereka bertoleransi satu sama lain ketika Idul Fitri dan natal menjelang bersamaan.

Secara keseluruhan menurut saya film ini cukup bagus, walaupun ending dari film ini menggantung. Perbedaan agama seringkali menjadi penyulut konflik. Baik konflik dengan skala mini maupun skala besar seperti perang antar agama. Namun, perang tersebut tidak perlu terjadi jika perbedaan dapat diterima sebagai sebuah keragaman dalam hidup. Film ini menawarkan cinta sebagai solusi dari perbedaan-perbedaan yang ada. Hal ini terlihat ketika sang sutradara sesekali menyisipkan testimony dari pasangan beda agama yang bisa hidup akur atas nama cinta.

Pertanyaan yang dilempar oleh sutradara tentang, “Mengapa Tuhan menciptakan kita berbeda-beda jika Ia hanya ingin disembah dengan satu cara?” Membuat film ini semakin menangguhkan cinta sebagai solusi karena dengan cinta, yang berbeda bisa menjadi satu.

Pelajaran yang dapat dipetik dari film ini adalah, Tuhan menciptakan kehidupan dengan berbagai macam perbedaan dan juga persamaan sebagai “bumbu” dalam kehidupan tersebut. Jika dalam sebuah perbedaan ada yang merasa lebih baik atau superior dari yang lain, itulah awal mula dari sebuah pertikaian. Namun, jika perbedaan dapat disikapi secara baik dengan cinta dan toleransi, hidup ini akan lebih indah untuk dijalani.

Wallahu a’lam.

Catatan Kecil Relawan Merapi

oleh: nico

Rabu, (22/12/2010) tepat pukul 3.15 pagi kami tiba di terminal Jombor Daerah Istimewa Jogjakarta. Saat itu, kami dijemput oleh relawan Sampoerna Foundation Scholars Club (SFSC) Jogjakarta menggunakan kendaraan operasional yang berada disana. Ketika kami tiba di Posko Sariharjo, kami disambut oleh suara khas sang dalang yang tengah memandu petunjukan Wayang Kulit. Ya, sebuah pertunujukan semalam suntuk untuk menghibur para pengungsi merapi.

Para pengungsi ini berasal dari Kali Adem, sebuah dusun paling utara Desa kepuharjo, Kec. Cangkringan, Kab. Sleman. Kali Adem hanya berjarak sekitar 5 km dari puncak Merapi. Saat letusan pertama tanggal 26 Oktober 2010, Merapi telah menghancurkan dusun yang dihuni oleh 469 jiwa ini. Tak ada lagi yang tersisa untuk mereka, rumah, sapi dan semua yang mereka miliki habis diterjang awan panas. Semenjak itu, warga Kali Adem telah berpindah empat kali tempat pengungsian hingga akhirnya menetap di Balai Desa Sariharjo hingga saat ini.

Setelah lebih dari sebulan, warga Kali Adem telah terbiasa dengan suasana pengungsian. Setiap pagi mereka bangun tanpa dikomando untuk melakukan sholat shubuh di musholla balai desa. Setelah itu, beberapa warga ada yang menyiapkan sarapan pagi di dapur umum dan sebagian yang lain melakukan bersih-bersih lingkungan. Usai sarapan pagi, anak-anak usia sekolah mulai berangkat ke sekolah-sekolah sementara yang berada di dekat dengan pengungsian. Karena sapi perah milik warga telah hilang di telan awan panas, para bapak, mengikuti program pemerintah (Padat Karya) untuk mengisi hari-hari selama mereka mengungsi. Selain itu, SFSC Jogja juga menyelenggarakan kegiatan dan memfasilitasi organisasi lain yang ingin menyelenggarakan kegiatan untuk mengisi hari-hari para pengungsi, seperti Pengajian tiap malam jum’at, TPA untuk anak-anak, kegiatan seni Ebeg, Pemeriksaan kesehatan oleh Posyandu, Olahraga dan Senam Pagi bersama warga, dll. Hal ini ditujukan agar kondisi fisik dan mental warga pasca bencana tetap terjaga sehat wal’afiat.

Kedatangan kami ke Jogja, tentu bukanlah untuk rekreasi atau hanya sekedar senang-senang apa lagi menyusahkan. Selain menyampaikan bantuan yang telah terkumpul, kami pun turut melakukan kerja sosial seperti bersih-bersih lingkungan, pendistribusian bantuan sampai pembuatan Pos Bermain dan Belajar untuk anak-anak pengungsi. Sedangkan bantuan yang disampaikan dalam bentuk uang, panitia local (SFSC Jogja) akan menggunakannya untuk keperluan sehari-hari pengungsi. Selain itu, uang yang diterima akan dibelikan bingkisan untuk anak-anak pengungsi yang akan mengikuti sunatan massal tanggal 2 Januari 2011.

My learning model in a picture.

by: nico

Once in PETA class my lecture asked me and the entire of the class to draw a picture about the way we learn. I drew a picture that I think is the closest picture which is represent my way of learning.

This is my picture. This picture means that I learn from what I see and then I try to make the connection from my prior knowledge, common sense and my new information. Sometimes I also learn from my intuition, because I think I have sharp feeling (read: sensitive). In my picture above learning process is happen anywhere, means that learning is not only happened in classroom, but also outside the classroom.

My picture also showed the way I got the knowledge. I got it mostly from books, parents, friends, also from the environment. Even this model of learning is a Construction Model, which sees learning as Individual sense making. It does not mean that I do not need help from others. Because of this learning model concerned on construction of meaning through discussion, discovery, open-ended learning, and making connection.

The important thing of my learning model is the process. The process I get the information, the process of interpret my thought and than the process of making the conclusion.

Therefore, When you do your learning process. Just enjoy it and open to all possibilities, and then you will get more than what you expected.

I Feel it LIVE! The Next Level

by : nico

In the second week of my teaching experience program, I was no longer doing a classroom observation. It was the time to extract the information from last week observation into Lesson Plan. Developing a lesson plan is not as easy as I think before. There is so many think that I have to consider. My main purpose when develop a lesson plan is to make students engage into learning process. Besides that, I have to make the learning process not only fun but also meaningful.

Thursday, November 11 was the Show Time. Indah and I taught two of three-science class. We taught them by using lesson plan that we have been develop before. The first class that I taught is XI Science 2. This class ran well as we expected before. They said that they were happy with our teaching method. The second class was XI Science 1. This class was bit different from the first one, because this class was held on the last session. So the condition of the students, physical and psychologically were on the lowest state of it. Furthermore, ten of thirty-five students were going out of class to follow training at another school. Whew, I think it cannot be worst.

When I taught them, I use three-phase technique. The first phase was a review game to break the ice and recall what they have learned in previous meeting. When I built this game, I used a collaborative instruction to make they work as a team to won this group game competition. They like doing this activity so much, because I provided a little prize for the winner. This condition showed me, that to make them interest with the learning process we have to provide an activity that they like to do besides give them an extrinsic motivation like a reward for the winner.

The second phase was the “main course” of this learning process. I used direct instruction to deliver new material instead of review some material to them. Even I had used technology such power point, whereas this approach was something different from they used to. I still cannot generate questions from them. Even more, some students in XI Science 1 were yawning while I was doing a presentation. It was really made me hurt. But at that time, I took an improvisation. In the middle of my presentation I asked the students to played clap game and it worked out! They got their concentration back.

The third phase or the last phase of this learning process is the closure. I used collaborative instruction to check their understanding about the lesson. Most of them were excited with this part, because I allowed them to worked on their own but still under my control.

Overall, this first time teaching experience gave me so much knowledge about this profession because I feel it LIVE and there is nothing can be compared with. 

Technology at Observed School

by: nico

There are lots of terminologies about technology. One of it is technology is the set of tools, both hardware (physical) and software, that help us act and think better. Technology includes all the objects from pencil and paper to the latest electronic gadget. Electronic and computer technology help us share information and knowledge quickly and efficiently.

Nowadays, schools have been integrating technology into their education system. For instance is at State Senior High School in south Jakarta. This school has one language lab and one ICT lab. There are also some LCD Projector but not provided at every classes. There is also a Wi-Fi connection but still limited on some areas.

As I observed, the use of technology at this school is not maximum. For example is the use of Language laboratory. The teachers just use it only for improving students listening skill. This is not wrong, but the teacher only showed the students videos about people whom talking each other. It is not comparable if we compare the use of language lab with the price of the language lab itself.  Even if the teachers use audio-lingual method, it is still not effective because the teachers do not give drilling and practicing of grammatical exercise to the students as the main characteristic of audio-lingual method.

Another example is the use of LCD Projector. This school has five to six LCD projectors without screen. Nevertheless, unfortunately, not all the LCD is worked. Teachers use this kind of technology only for presenting the lesson (direct instruction) using power point. To use LCD Projector at this school, we need to queue in order to borrow the LCD projector from the deputy of school facilities and infrastructure. Besides that, we have to bring our own laptop because the school does not provide it to us.

If I were the teacher of this school, I will capitalize all of the technology that has been provided by the school. Firstly, I will integrate all the technology into my learning process especially in language learning. I will use technology to teach my students about listening, reading, speaking and writing as well. To teach my students all those language skill, I will maximize the use of ICT lab to get them the online media. In my opinion, through online media, we can teach them those skills with lots of variety of instruction. Therefore, the students will feel engage into the learning process because the process becomes different and interesting.

Secondly, I will invite the students to maximize the use of their cell phones. So far, they only use their cell phones only for electronic dictionary whereas some of them already use smart phones like Blackberry, Nokia Communicator, etc. I will make an outdoor activity but related to the lesson, for instance, I will ask the students to go to Mall or Tourism place, find some foreigners and get them interviewed. While they interviewed the foreigners, they can tape it by their cell phones at the same time. After that, they have to upload it into their class blog, so the others can see their work and give some feedback.  So they can integrate what they have learnt in class into their real life activities.

I Feel It, LIVE!

by: Nico

Every semester of my school journey, I have to complete a school observation credit. This semester is quite different from last semester, because this semester I have to do a real teacher’s work. The theme of this semester is Teaching and Research Experience. Actually, I felt worried in becoming teacher assistance because this is my first time doing a teacher’s work. In the other hand, I felt so excited, because I always learn something new every day.

This semester, I was assigned by the faculty member to have an experience in 43 State Senior High School. My master teacher is Ibu Selat Purba, S.Pd. She comes from Medan. She is one of senior teacher in this school. She has been teaching since this school was “born” at 1979, but she started to teach English at 1974.

At first I was worry when I know my master teacher is really senior. I thought she will be like the other senior teacher who does not want to be followed. But what? She surprised me! She is quite different. At first meeting, she told me that all what she want is sharing. She also said to me about her weakness. She believes that even we are still young; we have much more creative ideas than she had. I cannot believe it, she acknowledge me!

When I enter Ibu Purba’s classroom, XI Science 1, 2 and 3 and then started to observe. I am really understand, why the entire student in that classroom was not engage into the learning process. According to key behavior of effective teacher, Ibu Purba does not use that behavior at all. She only use text book as her main source. She also does not integrate technology into her classroom. She still use teacher (in this case is herself) as the center of teaching and learning process. When I asked her, whether she use Lesson Plan or not, she answered that she does not use it. She has lesson plan just for administrative things. She explained that LP only made her confused. So she teaches by using habitual activity which is so boring because it is repeated all the time.

If I had to teach class where Ibu Purba teaches, I will use more varieties approaches and methods to avoid student’s boredom. Grouping, games, debate also presentation are kind of approach that I will use to teach. Actually I and Indah already teach XI Science 3, because at that moment Ibu Purba has to go to hospital for her friend’s condolence. At that time we teach with small number of preparation, but I think we already done it well. Because all students likes our games, even though, debate, one of our methods was not so effective because students still afraid to use their English as well.

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence in Language Class

by: Nico

When I tried to find out, what are the most prominent Intelligences of mine based on Howard Gardner Theory, I was so shocked. Do you want to know why? It is because I am Logical-Mathematical person, which is very not related with my school major as an English Language student! This is weird; I mean as a Logical-Mathematical person whom worked best with number and analysis instead of being Language student whom need Verbal-Linguistic as their main Intelligence. A Verbal-Linguistic person worked best with language. They prefer to communicate with others through speaking and writing. It’s quite different, isn’t it?

How this is happen? Is there any association between mathematics and language arts? Or am I took a wrong major?

Lets find it out!

According to Gardner’s theory of intelligences, every people have their own plus and minus in their way of thinking. It is possible to someone having two or more prominent Intelligences. Besides that, Hannaford (1995) said that Intelligence is not just an inherited trait but also can be developed. So, In my case, even I am a Logical-Mathematical person; I am not bad in Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence, especially in speaking. I am very good on it. Therefore, I still can catch up with others in my language class. Even sometimes, it is challenging for me to write a paper.

So, don’t think that you are not be able to do something because you are not good at it, just accept it as a challenge! Nothing is Impossible.