REPORTS FROM THE DISTRICTS

A Different Kind of Soto

MTs Muhammadiyah, Batang under the leadership of Bapak Harto wanted to be different by making soto (soup) with a clever flavour. He started by getting ideas from some of the teachers and invited some of the parents to hear about his new formulation.

This would be soto maker then turned his ideas into reality by telling the students about them.The soto in question is not a kind of food but rather 'BRAIN SPORTS'. The soto depot is full of PAKEM-style questions which have been made up by the students and are continually renewed. The first children to arrive in school choose the questions they want. For example, class 2A makes questions for 2B and vice-versa. The students of class 2A visit class 2B to discuss the answers. Only if they can't find an answer do they ask for help from a teacher.

The students really enjoy it and unknowingly they are already doing independent active learning. Interestingly their interest in reading is increasing as they need to increase their knowledge so that they can make up more questions. Even though Pak Harto's Soto Depot is simple it's a great idea and is a favourite with the customers.

The Echo of MBE

Community participation in MI Kalipucang, Batang has risen since echoes of news about the MBE program reached it. This news was jumped upon by several members of the local community around MI Kalipucang who immediately held discussions and collected voluntary funds to repair the damaged school building. Several other local citizens gave physical assistance and some gave reading books to support PAKEM.
Monitoring by the local branch of the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA) in Batang has been very helpful in giving positive support.

Given the high degree of enthusiasm two classrooms have been finished in just two months and have been put into use and decorated with examples of children's work nicely displayed on the walls.

Parents Trained to Teach the three R's

At the beginning of the new school year almost all schools hold a meeting with the children's parents. At SD 1 Maronwetan, Probolinggo the school took the initiative of holding a meeting with class 1 parents about 'How parents can train their children in pre-reading, writing and number skills'. As Ibu Purwi Nuwantini, one of the class one teachers said, the meeting was really important so that parents can work at home to improve their children's performance. The teaching techniques shown to parents were the same as those used by teachers and consistent with the PAKEM and SBM strategies.

During the meeting they discussed:
(i) pre-reading, writing and number skills including developing simple story writing, so that the parents would be doing the same as the teachers;
(ii) developing children's confidence in their parents as teachers;
(iii) giving parents information about the children's learning at school;
(iv) implanting a lifelong learning culture in the children.
Well, who wants to copy SD 1 Maronwetan?

Cooperation with Hotel and Agrowisata

Wishing to raise young children's sports abilities, Dinas Pendidikan in Kota Batu took the initiative and invited a number of hotel managers and the manager of the Agrowisata company to participate in a program to support basic education.

The Head of Dinas Pendidikan of Kota Batu, Bpk. Drs. Kusnadi, SH, M.M, explained that at the moment a number of hotel and agricultural managers are already working with a number of schools. On certaindays the students are invited to use some of the hotel and agricultural facilities.

As a result the children are able to use swimming pools, sports fields and Agrowisata land to enhance their learning. "Now our students can learn to swim and make use of the hotel swimming pools and other hotel facilities really cheaply or sometimes for nothing. And the students can visit the agricultural areas around the town", explained the head of education proudly.

"Give the Children Feedback"

Now that the MBE program has been running for about a year, it is now being implemented in all its target schools. One of these is SDN Penundan, Gringsing, Batang. The teachers have been working in stages to adopt PAKEM approaches in their teaching.

Helped by the local trainers, the teachers have been trying to implement active, creative, joyful and effective learning, even though at the start this limited by their low level of understanding.

The class 1 teacher, for example, has been trying hard to use in her lessons a variety of learning resources available in or around the school. The children have been observing objects both within and outside the classroom. As one example, the children were asked to observe and identify drawing of objects in the class.

They drew the objects they saw to the best of their ability on a sheet of paper, then wrote the names of the objects (see the example of one child's work above).

The class one teacher reminded us of one important point, "Give the children feedback as soon as possible. If the teacher gives them feedback or commentary on their work, the children feel happy that their work is valued and, if they have made mistakes, they can put them right."