Civics; civil conduct, consciousness and duty

Dare to make the difference

TEACHER TALK
By NITHYA SIDHHU

Teachers tend to focus on the negative when confronted with an issue, but sometimes they just have to be innovative in finding a solution.

AS A teacher, the most important thing I must do is to connect with my students.To me, this connection between teacher and student is very important as it underlines the relationship I have with my students.

It is like the the wires of the TV — when you don’t connect them or when you connect them the wrong way, you will get neither the picture nor the reception.

This year, I was asked to teach Civics to several Form Three classes.

As part of the syllabus, the students were expected to do a community service project (projek khidmat masyarakat) for which they would be allocated 20% of their mid-year examination marks.

Since Civics is a non-examination subject, naturally there were students who pleaded with me to allow them to do their Living Skills homework, their Geography projects or Mathematics during the Civics period. One student even told me that I shouldn’t be wasting my time teaching the subject!

It all boils down to attitude of course. To him and his classmates, Civics was just a “filler” subject on the time table.

As the teacher assigned to teach them Civics, I knew that I would be held accountable.

It was my duty to make sure that they understood phrases like “civil conduct”, “civic duty” and “civic-consciousness”.

They began to realise the significance of these words only after I explained them. To be honest, given their attitude, I could have really taken it easy.

I could have asked my students to complete their homework during the Civics lesson and they in turn would have accepted my gift of time with two grateful hands.

However my personal challenge was to change their mindset about the subject. The community service project, for instance, had to be done.

I didn’t want my students to do a project just to fulfill an academic requirement. I wanted them to understand what they had to do and why. 


“In life, we have to serve and sometimes put the needs of others before our own,” I told them.

Civic duty

“Take teachers for example, since they work for the government, they are part of the civil service and therefore civil servants.”

“In our job as teachers, we have a civic duty to perform – the most important of which is to teach the children of this nation with responsibility and integrity.

“We have to be accountable for our actions as well.”

This was the way I taught Civics. I talked to them about local and world leaders, about the cultures of others, thinking skills, about hard work and the sacrifices they make, and about being aware of others who were less fortunate than us.

I talked about the importance of service, why it was necessary and what it could do for our souls, if we chose to serve well.

In the good classes, students quickly understood what was required of them and got cracking.

I explained the project clearly and I told them the format of the report that was expected of them.

In these classes, I even communicated the urgency of them finishing their projects as early as possible, so that they would have the rest of the year to focus on their examination subjects.

In the weak classes, it was entirely different. Not only were they apathetic towards the subject, they chose to disregard it openly.

They also had language problems and no writing skills.

How was I to expect them to understand what a community project was, show interest in it, and then write about the project paper using the proper format?

Community service

However, I found a way out. I decided to make them work on projects during school hours like cleaning up the school compound, helping at the library where they rearranged books, while some helped to sweep the surau (prayer room).

Once they were done, I used the small group teaching style.

With each group, I would probe and question ( a method known as the Flander’s method) until I knew they had understood what community service was, and why it was part of our civic responsibility.

By providing a guided writing format, I helped each group write out their report on the project.

Yes, the words were often mine and yes, they couldn’t spell many words. But I coached them until my mouth was dry. Their reports were brief but I was satisfied and so were they.

In my experience, teachers sometimes choose to focus on the negative when they are working with academically-challenged students.

“I can’t help this lot. They’re hopeless. They don’t want to learn. They can’t even read,” are some of the comments I have heard.

The truth is don’t blame your students if they are not able to perform up to your expectations.

Before you condemn them, talk to them and find out what their problems are. Are their problems related to learning or other issues?

Then, get creative and help them.

As the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca observed, “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”

Dare to listen to your students and you will dare to make the difference.

(Source : http://thestar.com.my/)

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Fikrah:-


Pendekatan bersepadu dalam memberi didikan secara 'lively approach' (berasaskan kehidupan sebenar) adalah lebih relevan dan dekat dengan murid. Murid harus merasa mereka adalah sebahagian dalam masyarakat. Bentuk hubungan yang intim dalam konteks mendengar dan mengambil berat pengkisahan mereka. 


... kerana sekolah adalah tempat untuk memanusiakan manusia!