The gift that counts

"Never mind the gift. Its the thought that counts". Never mind that. I'm counting in this gift I got when I was about to live independently- sort of.

It's a gift of love, reminder, and beautiful experience. Never have I gotten a gift as cool as this. 

Never have I been so surprised by a presentation of a gift. It was meaningful, it was deep, motivating and it was helpful. It is .....

a gas! Its been many months now and we finally said goodbye. You are one memory, experience and love-struggle relationship that I'll transfer into my long term memory.

May Allah bless those who have been showering one another with gifts.

Regards,

Sarah

Wisdom?

My journey at the creek. Not sure, -at the creek or -through the creek?
English? bzzz what a fail! Or shall I say 'not yet master the English grammar'. Ahaa. I have been reading about failure and Carol Dweck said "we don't fail, its just that we are not yet successful". Pretty much positive? I have to agree with her. I have that quote stuck in my mind and now I'm thinking, be positive-- and you'll cheer up and can become calmer.

A friend of mine adores my 'calmness'. I can be calm.

-but only with people who are the rushing kind of type-alwayswannagetthingsdoneASAP- She said I compliment her. On the other side of the calmness she THINKS I HAVE, I am not that calm kind of person because many of my loved ones are even calmer than I am! Hm, I guess my friend and I compliment each other. I keep her calm and she's my SARAH-GET-TO-WORK-NOW!

Ok..ok.. I should get to other things now! There's a mountain of clothing that needs to lie down in peace he he he.

Regards,
Sarah

Back to blogging

Yeaa theres finally a reason to push me to blog again! I always wanted to blog as I have so much to say and Twitter has such a limited number of words to do sharing. I'm always interested in sharing my thoughts with other people so we can all learn bit by bit here and there as thats what I do. I dont consider myself as a reader but I enjoy learning little things listening/ reading.

I have been listening to podcasts and funny that I FEEL smarter. I have a long way to go to consider myself as a smart person so FEELING smart is good enough for me (eyes rolling-durh) hihihi.

You know you are bored in the car switching radio stations one to another-pause the action to listen to a song then realizing that "ughh no interesting songs!" - then switch stations again and "aaa this is good". And as u are just about to focus, the DJ says "alright that is all the time we have with Mr. XXY. Will be back again tomorrow evening" - AAAAgh- plays the CD.

But yeah, do check out this page. It covers a lot of relevant issues and topics that I MISSED listening to it during Live session -_-

Just go to BFM podcast and search whatever topic you want to listen to. The page is really helpful as I can just enter the keyword and bamm the topics appear.

I hope you find the smartness in you (as I found mine) in myself, at least a little bit.. thanks to BFM Podcasts. Hihihi

Regards,
Sarah

Week 5 - (1) Wake up! Feeling down! Be motivated!

Ever felt that way? I'm sure we do face issues in our life that makes us feel that way everyday. You know you start thinking when people tell you "don't worry, you are not alone with your problems". If was living in a time which there was not any online community, I won't find it too easy to believe that "I am not alone". Especially not when I'm feeling down.

However, with the richness of ICT and the mass online community we live in today, we just got to believe that "we are NOT ALONE". Why? Just get online and you can talk/ chat/ read/ discuss about emotional issues- almost all of that facility is available online to help boost up our sad an sorrowfulness and even our negative thoughts. One of my favourite website to help me get on my feet back is this page that provide tips for life regarding self issues and even daily issues that that can be solved- in a blink of an eye (well sort of) ;) Happy or sad, lifehack shares the happy and motivating short stories which boosts my confidence and even laziness during times like completing assignments.

As helpful as it is for me as a teacher to get myself going for the day, I believe it will also be motivating for teachers who teaches special needs children. According to Vian's blog post of special needs students, it is widely proven that ICT enables them to join the mainstream life with the various functions available for them to produce their own outcomes. I'm sure they will feel less of feeling lonely and boost their self-esteem and self-confidence as they are able to share and contribute their skill with others. Interesting how it helps us in many ways to not feel alone! :)

Regards,
Sarah

Week 4 - (3) Curriculum & Assessment

I find it interesting when I first learn the links between curriculum, assessment and pedagogy (i'd like to refer the Curriculum & Assessment as --CA). Initially, I see curriculum as a one big umbrella with various subjects/ things to be taught to students within a time frame. Only now I realize that it is very important that the assessment created should be in line with what has been taught to be able to provide a reliable test for students.

The Standard National Preschool Curriculum (KSPK) document is now available online! (it is now easier for me to refer to it) when doing unit plans for the school. Anyways, going back to the link of CAP, it is shown that the curriculum designed is moving towards creating students to have critical thinking and creative thinking skills (besides the rest of the other holistic development). KSPK also includes the idea of constructing knowledge and transforming knowledge. The tables provided under each subjects highlights what students need to know and the expected outcome from them. Thumbs up to the curriculum makers for acknowledging this important point in the curriculum document so students can have a fair and reliable assessment as it determines the students level of learning in schools. Here is an interesting talk linking curriculum and assessment which enhances teachers to be most effective in their teachings as they will be very much aware of the learning outcomes that students need to achieve.

Regards,
Sarah

Week 4 - (2) Socializing on media?

Social Media? Familiar? Off course! Even those who don't have social media account knows about it. There are also people without social media accounts who knows very well of the content and how it is being used. See the power of majority? I won't label those people as outdated for not having social media accounts because having one doesn't determine your smartness or advances. And in fact, being online 24 hours also doesn't mean we are reading/ looking/ searching for proper/ quality information for the WHOLE time. See the time wasted online? In case you're wondering, here are some of the points of why some people are not attracted to having social media accounts. So, want to try and reduce our social media accounts? :D

On the other hand, socializing on media also means gossiping! More and more gossips! I won't deny it and its really unhealthy because-- number 1, it ain't nice to gossip about other people because most of the time, what we spread is not 100% true. And mind you, we are suppose to be extra careful to not spread the untruth. ( ok, we should now practice to avoid gossiping!) Imagine the available resources (pictures, videos, check-ins) online, our mouth and mind are just itchy to spread more and more unsure ideas. Regardless the proof; we should really be extra careful before we say something and avoid gossiping :) If you are very self-cautious of what people say to you, you might wanna check out social mention. It highlights to you people who have mentioned your name in either blogs or videos. Ahaaa but don't over do with it, you might hurt yourself. Take it the positive way ya!

Regards,
Sarah

Week 4 - (1) The bigger picture of Module 2

Approaching Model 2, we are always reminded that ICT is NOT ONLY about teaching the "how to". Teaching ICT should be about exposing various strategies of learning to students. For instance, we are to equip students with the knowledge of software and online applications available and get them to use it to produce outcomes. Exposing students to different learning strategies enable individuals to produce their work creatively and succesfully. As shared in this post, we educators are to remember to constantly adjust our teaching styles to suit different type of learners.

You're wondering what do I mean with the "how to?" teaching? I'd define the "how to" teaching as a way of teaching how to use the keyboard, use the mouse or the printer. My experience of learning ICT during primary school was about identifying, naming parts of computer and learning the correct way to use it. It was a good experience of learning about the computer at that time however we weren't exposed to using it for the purpose of learning other things. It was merely just to know about it. Due to that experience, I am now able to visual the idea of ICT that EDC3100 is trying to get to me which is to teach students to use ICT as a medium to further their learning and understandings. 

Regards,

Sarah