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DROP EVERYTHING AND READ!
This is a story from one of the schools in Probolinggo that is doing something new to encourage students to read. The school has been imitated by a number of surrounding schools..
It is difficult to encourage students to develop the habit of reading in the classroom. But there are many ways of doing it, and SD Ngepung, Probolinggo is one of the schools that has succeeded in increasing students' interest in reading. One of the methods used is by introducing silent reading.
At SD Ngepung this activity is known as DEAR (Drop Everything And Read). Silent reading is carried out every Tuesday to Saturday, before lessons start, from 06.15-06.30 a.m. Everyone in the school (principal, teachers, other staff and students) has to read quietly. No other activity is allowed except reading. The choice of book or other reading material is up to each person.
To encourage the student to read, they are asked to write summaries of the books they have read. Every one or two weeks the students' work is entered in a competition. The names of the writers of the best pieces of work are announced during the Monday flag raising ceremony. Besides having their work cited by the leader of the ceremony they also get prizes like, pencils, erasers, pens etc., the cost of which is not more than Rp. 1.000.
Regular silent reading has a very positive impact on students' interest in reading and adds to their knowledge and also their competency in a number of areas. Evidence of this includes improvements in essay writing, the improved oral ability and public speaking.
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PURBALINGGA: Primary Teacher Training for the District
Teacher Training a la MBE in Purbalingga
The Education Office in Purbalingga still had approximately Rp.50 million remaining from its 2005 district budget to support teacher training. Several non-MBE target schools in Purbalingga, asked if they could hold SBM, Community Participation and PAKEM training of the kind conducted by the MBE Program.
This proposal and the request by the principals of the non target schools to have the training as soon as possible encouraged Bpk Anwar, S. Sos, the Head of the Primary Schools Section of the Education Office to coordinate with his colleagues in the Purbalingga Education Office.
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Teaching simulation in the the Bahasa Indonesia and Science class
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As a result of his rapid coordination the Education Office agreed to conduct the training at district level from 20 - 22 October 2005 for the non-target schools and at the same time make an selection of district facilitators from candidates identified at the previous MBE training.
The trainers for this training were chosen from candidates for MBE facilitators from Purablingga district. The training material for the primary school teachers at district level was the MBE SBM, Community Participation and PAKEM package.
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The results were very satisfactory because the participants enthusiastically implemented the results of the training in their individual schools, even though the training was conducted during the fasting month.
Purbalingga Study Visit to Banyumas
The Purbalingga local facilitators have just finished their first Training of Trainers from 5 - 9 December 2005 in Banyumas district and have started to conduct in-house training in their respective schools. They have started to disseminate PAKEM learning methods among the teachers who have not yet received MBE training so that they can begin to implement it in their own classes.
The main obstacles faced by the facilitators are that they have difficulty providing real examples of the PAKEM learning processes, and there is a shortage of personnel to provide explanation and support for the teachers.
Because of this, on 12 December 2005 the facilitators and the Education Office made a coordinated effort to address this issue. With support from MBE there was an agreement to make a study visit to the closest MBE target schools in the Banyumas district.
On 14 December 2005 a total of 72 teachers, principals and school committee members representing 20 MBE partner schools took part in the study visit.
Ms. Esti (SD Galor 2), Ms. Windi (principal of SMP 2 Purbalingga) and Ms. Sri Sutarti (SMP 2 Purbalingga) listening to an explanation about PAKEM from a teacher at SMP 3 Ajibarang.
Teachers from MBE schools in Purbalingga observing lessons at SDN Bentul Banyumas.
Mr. Sismo, principal of SD Purbalingga Kidul 1 and other princi-pals looking at files of children's work at SDN Bentul Banyumas.
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During this study visit the participants were able to observe the processes and results of the MBE program. They came to understand the real benefits of the program and its appropriateness for their schools.
A number of the principals and school committee members felt that other teachers should go on their own study visits so that they could see for themselves the PAKEM learning processes in action.
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