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Questions which Challenge Students
During lessons it is important that we ask our students challenging questions and provide them with tasks that are also challenge our students to think. When we were visiting SMPN 3 Gombong, we observed Bpk Gatot Suhardi while he was teaching a social science lesson (below). The lesson was interesting and really activated the students, as mentioned on page 8. The lesson was about Indonesia's Economic Exclusive Zone, and could be related to the recent incidents with Malaysia, where that country wants to explore for oil within the Indonesian territorial waters.
When Bpk Gatot asked the students to discuss the issue they were asked to express their feelings relating to "other countries stealing Indonesian resources". Actually, this question was not sufficiently challenging for students in grade 1. The answers generally would be something like, "We are angry". It is better if the questions are more open and challenging. Our suggestion at that time was that students could be asked:
A number of solutions that could be suggested by the students are:
Whenever teachers plan learning, it is important that they provide open ended questions that encourage the students to think and provide a number of alternative answers.
When Group Work, and When Individual?
In the MBE areas, we often see students performing their tasks in groups. But in a number of classes that we observed students performed all their tasks in groups. It needs to be remembered that not all tasks are suitable for group work.
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What often happens in groups, one student writing while the others just watch - better if they all write.
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The appropriate types of tasks for group work are generally problem solving and discussion tasks or tasks that require experimentation. But for report writing or writing a story the tasks are better performed on an individual basis - because all students have to learn the skills. When students write stories or reports in a group, usually one student does all the writing and the others just watch.
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Use Your Talented Teachers
Teachers in the MBE areas in both phases 1 and 2 districts have been trained several times, and in the field we have seen teachers who stand out when it comes to implementing PAKEM. These teachers need to be identified and used to help other teachers. There are several ways we can use these teachers:
The teachers can be invited as guest speakers at training sessions or at KKG / MGMP meetings. They should bring samples of student work, lesson materials, teaching aids, and explain the activities used to get these results.
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Other teachers can make study visits to their class or, what is often more effective, a period of on-the-job experience in the class (one full day or several days).
The teacher can provide examples of lesson scenarios that can be distributed through the cluster (KKG and MGMP).
There are a number of teachers who could be used in this way.
Ibu Eny Priyantuti, a teacher of grade 2 at SD Beji 1, Batu has made many PAKEM scenarios with appropriate worksheets. The best solution is to invite her to KKG activities to show the materials, and copy the materials for use by other teachers.
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(1.): Ibu Eny Priyantuti teaching about animals in grade 2, SD Beji 1, Batu
(2.): The children's work written on worksheets prepared by Ibu Eny.
(3.): A lesson scenario written by Ibu Eny, using the layout suggested by MBE. Activities are divided into (i) introduction, (ii) core activities, and (iii) conclusion.
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Another example is at SD Kaweron 2, Talun, Blitar. Ibu Sri Suwarni, a grade 6 teacher and local facilitator for Maths has been conducting activities that encourage student creativity. Students were asked to buy clothes from a price list ranging up to Rp.5 million with 15% discount.
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(1.): : Ibu Sri Suwarni grade 6 teacher at SD Kaweron, Talun, Blitar with a display of her children's work.
(2.): The children's work when they had to 'spend' Rp.5 million.
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