SD Kutoharjo 03 - Let's Progress Together

Since the MBE program was introduced to SD Kutoharjo 03 Pati a year ago, there is clearly an atmosphere of optimism in local stakeholders, including the teachers and the principal who are trying to provide the best possible service to support their students' learning. As the principal, Ibu Sriyatun, said, she and the school committee want to make progress together in providing accessible learning for the students, which includes the implementation of SBM, PAKEM, and community participation.

To support SBM, for example, the school drew up a coordinated vision, mission, and school program. The principal periodically provides coordination and works together with the internal staff (teachers) and with external parties like the school committee and community.

Learning Sources

SD Kutoharjo 03 also has many ways of implementing PAKEM during learning activities by using various learning resources. There are libraries in every classroom which consist of various books and magazines, there are aqua bottles, toys, and they have made a garden with various plants which are also used during lessons.

Some Good Ideas

grade 1 and 2 children practice being little doc-tors by checking the hands and nails of students in grade 1 and 2 before they enter to the classroom (below).

In grades 4, 5 and 6 they ask a question to a friend before entering the classroom, and if the answer is wrong she/he must go to the back of the queue. Other practices include, prior to joining the queue to enter the classroom, the students come to school and read silently for 5 minutes. These three ideas came from a study visit to Probolinggo and support for the program is provided by the district facilitators. They are useful ideas for the teachers and the principal to use before formal lessons start.

We feel proud to be working with MBE. As an MBE target school, SD Kaweron 2, Talun sub-district, Blitar, has undertaken much restructuring.

Even though it was difficult to understand the MBE program, the school made study visits to other schools that have been implementing the MBE program. After learning about the MBE programs many changes took place, even though they were gradual. It started with changes in infrastructure and in the techniques or methods used to teach the children.

You can see this in the photos above and below which were taken when we conducted the program ENGLISH FUN FOR THE HOLIDAY, which was held during the holidays. It was attended by students from grade 3 to grade 6 and was supported by the principal, Bpk Teguh S. Pd along with the other teachers.

One way to interest students and to ensure they enjoy the English speaking activities can be seen in the photo 1. Students engaged in sport, and they learnt a number of new words (vocabulary). This is one way of making learning enjoyable.

In photo no. 2 the children were playing but it was not just a game. They were making a lists of names of objects in their surroundings and trying to describe them. To finish the program we conducted a contest which included cheering in English, short speeches in English and short dialogues in English.

Even though it was only between the classes it was great fun. These are a number of activities we carried out to support the MBE program by providing real stimuli for the students to learn more effectively.