LATEST WORKSHOP: PYP EXHIBITION: A COLLABORATION IN 21ST CENTURY

Hello!

I need to update this post since I keep thinking on copyright issue. Therefore, I stop link sharing to the presentation in prezi.
I will give you some screen shots from the presentation itself.

In November 24th, 2012, I conducted a workshop about PYP Exhibition for IB Dunia Conference at Sekolah Pelita Harapan Lippo Village. With the help of some teachers - Shanti, Roy and Mega -, I prepared the materials. Started from my idea on why not sharing with others working on the same thing: Primary Years Program Exhibition?

Why were there many teachers involved? It's because Shanti and Mega are the Year 6 teachers, while Roy is our ICT integrator. More over, they had done such a wonderful jobs integrating technology within the exhibition. PYP Exhibition itself is a culmination of all years students have walked upon their PYP journey.

Here are some pictures from our presentation. Thanks!


cheers,


Hugo

ARE WE WISE OR FATALIST TECHNOLOGY USERS?

ARE WE WISE OR FATALIST TECHNOLOGY USERS?

Hugo D Gunawan I

Language Advisor: Frances Hazle

“The technology development drives people into two mainstreams:

wise and fatalist users”.

It’s a common thing now in big cities in Indonesia, to see a 7-year-old children play with a sophisticated handheld. The words: pad, tab, touch screen, swipe, wifi, online and many other technological words, are often heard from our children’s conversation. The rapid changes of technology cannot be avoided. In line with the rapid changes of technology, the mid level society in Indonesia is massively growing. 

The phenomenon of positive growth of economics in Indonesia has been predicted. This phenomenon triggers some changes in many aspects such as life style, education and living cost. Life style is mostly related with technology changes. The closest example is the technology exploration on handheld. The handheld that we knew before was mostly for calling and texting. Unavoidably, the technology has had to touch up the handheld we use today.

The changes in our handheld consist of the colored screen, integrated camera, more capacity for text characters, multimedia service (MMS), integrated music player, touch screen, internet access,  etc. , you name it. It seems that the new products bring a lot of changes that users cannot resist having. The unbearable resistance to have the latest technology is triggered by the growth of social media that have been integrated to the Internet bundling within the handheld.

As most of us are in mid level society, the impact of this technology growth does exist. Our kids are whining to have the newest product from Apple or Samsung i.e. iPhone, iPad, and the MacBook series for Apple, and Galaxy series phone and Galaxy Tab as the iPad competitor. We cannot cover our ears when husband or wife also argue with each other about how important it is to have iPad to support their work.  At the end of the day, we should be honest with each other, is it for work or life style? Are we insisting on following the latest technology fad for recognition?

The technology development drives people into two mainstreams: wise and fatalist users. The reason behind our motivation in keeping up with the latest technology offered by all gadgets is questionable. Unfortunately, we can “pull our brake” while our kids cannot. It is not because our kids do not have self-control. It is mainly because they belong to this technology era and have not reached maturity in deciding what is best for them. They can stare at their gadgets for hours and try all applications while adults like us worry too much about spending more money to fix the gadgets supposing they are broken.

How can we keep up with what our kids know? To be honest, there’s no other way than dedicating our time to learn what they know from them directly. Most of us think that we are too busy to sit and learn the games that our kids are playing. Or worse, most of us think that we are too old to know such things. Even worse, most of us think that what they are playing are useless. The willingness is the key. The rest is time dedication and management.

“Getting involved in educating and nurturing within 21^st century education

is not only school responsibility but also parents’ ”

The best thing that we will get when we are spending time with our kids is a better family relationship. There are three things we will have. First, we will be able to justify and influence our kids in choosing and valuing the right games. Second, we will be able to facilitate our kids to think naturally. The last, we will be able to operate new things in our golden age!

The positive impacts are more dominating than the negative ones. Once again, we should sacrifice our time though.

The use of technology is also widely misused by our kids. The boredom, peer pressure and addiction are some reasons technology misuse. Rules have been introduced at home and school to minimize the tendency of misusing. The best part of anticipating this technology abuse should be coming from the users. At this point, basically, it is personal calling to know whether the users want to be wise users or fatalist users. Covering as the shield for personal calling will be the maturity. How do our kids get their maturity? They get their maturity from their families and environment. Remember, we raise our kids with the consideration that their maturity meets the age and is at the right time.

The wise users will consider cutting the word fun into two categories, which are fun to help, and fun to use. Fun to help, of course, the users know that the gadgets offer a lot of fun to help users open their mind. On the contrary, the fatalist users will think that the gadgets are fun to use. Addiction is going to be the result. To be wise or fatalist users, you do not need be kids, adults might do a similar thing. Therefore, the role of parents and teachers in building wise users is critical.

There are a lot of ways to guide users into becoming wise users. The technological gadgets are in trend putting educational games to help our kids to learn academically. Adults will need to make an effort to select and apply these educational games. At this point, educational games cannot always become an oasis to rely on. Addiction is another result for fatalist users. It is kind of funny to hear that the kids are addicted to educational games and cannot put their gadgets away.  Therefore, knowing the right time and the timing will be of great help. 

Getting involved in educating and nurturing within 21^st century education is not only school the responsibility but also the parents’. As it was mentioned in the beginning of the article, the impact of the economic growth is in symbiosis with almost all technological aspects in our lives. That is why it is important for us to know how technology is used in different perspectives among generations. Otherwise, we are going to raise fatalist technology users. To be honest, we don’t want to end up in such a situation, do we? Being parents and teachers in this technological generation is not an easy thing to do. As there’s no institution running educational session to prepare one as parents, we, as parents are required to be committed in paving the way for the success of our kids. In conclusion, I would like to quote what people often say,” no pain, no gain”.

Hugo D Gunawan I is currently Tunas Muda International School Secondary Coordinator and an IB Asia Pacific PYP Bilingual Workshop Leader. He also writes his ideas at http://guruhugo.blogspot.com

References:

·      Booklet Perkembangan Beberapa Indikator Utama Sosial-Ekonomi Indonesia Agustus 2012 Badan Pusat Statistik, ISSN: 2085.5664 Publication Number: 03230.1203

·      http://www.edutopia.org/blog/21st-century-learning-students-parents-suzie-boss

·      Boss, Suzie. Edutopia: A Parents Guide to 21^st Century Learning © 2012 The George Lucas Educational Foundation

GURU BERPRESTASI

"Ketika prestasi guru diterjemahkan dalam suatu penilaian 

maka peran agen perubahan itu gugur"

Beberapa kali saya membaca berita tentang guru berprestasi. Dalam benak saya, terlintas kekaguman setelah selesai membaca berita-berita tersebut. Kekuatan berita itu sungguh membuat saya terkesiap dan berkata pada diri saya sendiri,"Benar-benar hebat mereka ini."
Namun begitu, setelah mengalami pengendapan beberapa saat, saya mulai tergelitik oleh beberapa pertanyaan. Salah satunya adalah, apakah mereka yang tidak 'terjaring' dalam kategori berprestasi itu tidak berprestasi? Semoga saja tidak.

Salah satu peran guru dalam masyarakat adalah sebagai agen perubahan. Dengan pengajaran yang diberikan, para guru bisa memberikan visi menjadi misi pada anak-anak didik mereka. Sebuah tatanan masyarakat akan sangat timpang tanpa kehadiran guru yang memberikan pengajaran ilmu hidup, melengkapi apa yang generasi muda dapatkan dari rumah.

Saya secara pribadi lebih mengagumi para guru yang mau bekerja di pelosok negeri ini tanpa punya pretensi untuk dikenal. Beberapa kali saya mendapatkan profil para guru yang bekerja di pedalaman penjuru negeri ini selama bertahun-tahun. Saya sebagai pribadi dan sebagai seorang guru merasa malu untuk mengatakan bahwa saya adalah guru yang hebat dan berprestasi. Karena apa? Karena ketika prestasi guru diterjemahkan dalam suatu penilaian, maka nilai kita sebagai agen perubahan itu akan gugur dengan sendirinya. Selayaknya, penilaian guru berprestasi dilihat dari ketulusan pengabdian yang dilakukan dalam keterbatasan dan dilakukannya penilaian benar-benar tanpa satu panggung ujian pengumpulan berkas-berkas pendukung yang tinggal gaung.

"Penghargaan itu tidak selalu berkaitan dengan uang dan publisitas"

Secara pribadi, saya mengenang ketokohan para guru saya di masa lalu. Saya begitu mengagumi Ibu Wati, guru saya di kelas 1 SDN Kesdam IV Diponegoro yang begitu enerjik mengajar kami dalam jumlah besar. Saya mengagumi beliau yang dengan detil melihat kekurangan dan kelebihan kami. Saya juga mengagumi bagaimana beliau mengespresikan kesedihannya ketika memang ada satu atau dua siswanya yang harus tinggal kelas. Penghargaan setinggi-tingginya saya berikan kepada semua guru saya seperti Ibu Sri, Ibu Camelia Sitanggang, Ibu Esti, Bapak Soewardi yang mengajar kami semua di saat pertumbuhan penduduk Indonesia sedang dikendalikan. Bagaimana mereka mengajar di kelas? Buat saya pribadi, dengan segala keterbatasan dukungan alat ajar dan waktu, mereka sungguh inspiratif!

Maka buat saya pribadi, ketika penghargaan guru teladan diberikan dalam bentuk perlombaan, sama sekali tidak mengena. Ada hal yang harus kita ingat bahwa penghargaan itu tidak selalu berkaitan dengan uang dan publisitas, melainkan lebih dari itu. Penghargaan itu berkaitan dengan ketokohan, ketulusan dan kesaksian mereka yang merasakan keteladanan mereka.

Mungkin kebutuhan untuk menjaring mereka yang berprestasi bisa dijadikan suatu tolok ukur untuk institusi. Namun begitu, apakah itu mewakili kebenaran?
Pada akhirnya, saya lebih melihat pada bagaimana kita membuka mata fisik dan batin kita untuk melihat prestasi sebagai suatu pengejawantahan agen perubahan buat masyarakat. Banyak prestasi yang tidak terukur oleh Penelitian Tindakan Kelas, keaktifan organisasi, sertifikat yang didapat ataupun keterkenalan. Buat saya, ketulusan melayani mereka yang berada jauh dari jangkauan, keteladanan dalam keterbatasan, kesetiaan dalam pengabdian, ketiganya lebih berarti.


salam,


Hugo

PYP WORKSHOP LEADER (2)

Friday morning, September 6th 2012. Day Two.
Bilingual PYP & MYP Workshop Leader Refresher Course, Bali International School.

Day two.

One thing circling in my mind for day two was how we learned things more than the information or facts stage. Mostly, what we learned and wanted to learn coming to that stage: learning about facts. This kind of application had a tendency that the learning should be transdisciplinary becoming topical. As PYP teachers, how would we know that we were trapped in topical stage? By closely looking at the central idea we wrote in our planner.

One example that I tried to learn from the central idea I made some years ago.

"The way we use electricity has an impact on our lives and environment"

Reading the central idea, I learned that the central idea looked good but it was topical driven. It was shown from the word 'electricity'.  I really needed to make it like an "umbrella" for my conceptual understanding: a broader understanding.

Therefore, looking at the key concepts used: form, function and connection, I tried to move the topical into conceptual understanding.

"Understanding the use of technology impact our lives and environment".

Then later on, there will be some topics under this conceptual understanding which could be related to electricity use. Then how do we know that the students had grasped their conceptual understanding? The reflection of conceptual understanding could be seen from the students’ questions and actions.

I learned that we needed to drive the students from knowing as the know factual knowledge which was limited by time, place and situation; it should be into understanding the whole picture in order to get every discipline connected. Anyway, the students will not live their lives holding one subject only but they need skills to understand interconnected things.

I still learned some more things. That day, I told all participants "my brain is full" Indeed! I touched my head and it was hotter than any other body parts! Hahaha!

blessing,

Hugo