Thursday, February 26, 2015

Teaching Load



"Oyis, dalam sehari, berapa jam ek ko kena mengajar?"


"Em.. dalam SEMINGGU, enam jam kot. Kalo kena ajar kelas Master, sembilan jam."


"ENAM JAM SEMINGGU??? Perghhh... kalo cikgu tu enam jam tu mengajar dalam sehari."


*memandang aku dengan keji*



I get this a lot.


I know what people are thinking. Enam jam seminggu, what am I doing with the rest of my time? Right?


SIGH.


I am pretty tired of trying to explain this. I know being a lecturer seems the most flexible work option, and it is. But, six hours of teaching does not equate to six hours of work. In order to obtain the materials for the six hours of teaching, I need to probably spend around 15 hours of prep work. Seriously. Like drawing out the notes, reading up materials, updating myself, drafting assignment questions, planning Student-Centred Learning activities, etc.. etc... Tu belum masuk bab marking, drafting exam questions dan sebagainya. 


I don't like to compare the workload with Guru, but since everybody is, here's the deal: Teachers dah ada kurikulum dia sendiri that they must follow, and some of the materials dah ready-made (buku aktiviti itself dah byk membantu), but to us lecturers, we have to start everything from scratch. Don't get me wrong, I love the opportunity to be creative - teach what you want to teach as long as it doesn't stray too far from the course content, teach how I like it, when I like it. But, with very loose structure, we tend to have to do the bulk of the work on our own. This is not to say yg kerja Guru ringan. No, kerja diorg dah melambak jg, dan makin berat dan maybe even underpay. I have my highest respect for Guru2. Takde isu di situ. The problem I have is with people yg mengeji my work. 


By the by, teaching is only 35% of my workload je ladies and gentleman. The rest is supervision and research. Supervision is tiring. Masalah student adalah masalah kita. Imagine kalo sorg student jumpa, tak pernah less than one hour. Ni meeting tiap2 minggu ni ok. So like me kalo ada 4 postgrad students yg I currently supervise (as main supervisor, belum lg cerita kalo kita jd co-supervisor), how many hours is that? To yg face-to-face la. But sebelum student tu dtg, I have to read up some journals, baca draft diorg, correct paper diorg, etc, etc... It probably takes 2-3 hour of background work dulu. It's basically like doing PhD all over again. Do you want to do my job?


Then yg undergrads pun ada Final Year Project diorg which I have to supervise jgk. Although minor je project diorg on the scheme of things, but they can be very clingy and unsure. Letih gak nak tolong. And again, each student about 30 minutes meet. Prep time before meet usually 30 minutes jgk. 


Then of course, meeting, bengkel, kursus, seminar yg kena tunjuk muka and also event2 wajib Uni. Waktu senggang tulis paper or journal. Or isi borang apply geran. Kalau dah ada geran, isi buku progress research. Oh lupa nak mention. Buat research. Sometimes that involves coding, sometimes kena semuka dgn org, kadang kena turun naik pejabat kerajaan pun ada, tgk la research apa.


I know kerja org lain pun byk jg. I am in no way saying kerja org lain senang. But to be perceived as kerja paling senang, boleh gi shopping sokmo waktu opis hour adalah statement yang mengundang pelempang agak tidak tepat. 


And anyway, if my job seems easy to you, then apply lah jadi lecturer. Tukar career. Bukan susah pun. Kena ada degree, Master and then complete PhD. Mudah je. Plus or minus 10 years belajar.Lps tu dah boleh mengajar 6 jam seminggu. Kan? 


PS: Malam2 sambung mengajar Aisyah plak. Minggu ni Ujian Bulanan dia, so mmg overtime. Lps makan malam sampai almost bedtime buat revision. Dalam gmbr kat atas dia pakai tudung sbb masuk rumah je terus siapkan kerja sekolah, tudung tak tanggal, baju tak salin, tgh2 org azan Maghrib tu jam2 tu jgk nak buat. Bila sekolah aliran agama, mmg workload dia byk. So many subjects to revise. Tapi budak2 kecik amaze me. Baca sekali dia dah ingat dah material (bukan Aisyah sahaja, but kids in general). Impressive. Hati suci la katakan bukan macam aku. 




Sunday, February 22, 2015

Study Time


Bila anak dh drjh 1, pembelaran dh jd lebih serius. Ni mentelaah bersama Aisyah. Esok dia start Ujian 1. Nervous plak rasanya huhu... Alhamdulillah dia cooperate nk study cuma from my part we probably could have revised more. Oh well... i have faith in her. Let's pray that Aisyah does well!



Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Kids and Kampung

Hari minggu yg lepas, kitaorg balik kampung. Budak2 mmg suka balik kg, tp lately x berpeluang sgt sbb Hubs outstation weekend dsb nya. So finally ada masa. Alhamdulillah parents-in-law semua sihat. Cucu2 yg lain x balik minggu tu (ramai tunggu cuti CNY nak balik lama sket kot), so budak2 ni dpt perhatian dan kasih sayang penuh, ecewah. 


Upload sket gambar budak2. Seronok diorg main dgn sepupu sepapat (kitaorg drove pegi Bakri rumah adik ipar). Yg adult seronok makan. Muar is food heaven. I feel privileged to claim Muar as my 'kampung-sabit' (i.e. pak sedara sabit). The food is at par with Kelantanese food (if cooked right and yg authentic lah, yg mee Bandung muar celup tp perisa sos tomato berlebihan adalah out --  kalo x pandai masak tolong jgn buka kedai, boleh? Tipah tertipu. Ni selalu berlaku kat KL). Anyway, when it's good, it's really good. This is a really high compliment from a Kelantanese gal through and through hehe... 





Zayd is totally Mummy's boy. He inherits my bushy eyebrows and jari montok2 pegang donut bergula tu adalah jari jemari dia ok, bukan aku. But mine are also like that. Unlike Kakak Aisyah. Dia jari runcing sket even from baby. Tu menuras Ayah dia. 


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

New Year, New Beginnings

Aren't we blessed to be Malaysians? So many new years to celebrate! Tahun Baru Masihi, Tahun Baru Hijri, and soon, Tahun Baru Cina. The new semester will also begin right after CNY, which means I have less than a week before it starts getting busier once more. Oh no!!!


Glad that this new semester will bring something new to me as well. I will be teaching a new course I always have taught new courses EVERY semesterm (I just seem to be getting a new one each time), but this semester I will be a taught a different field, away from audio processing, away from creative design. It's Human-Computer Interaction. Not totally off, as in my PhD there were certain HCI elements included, especially in the listening test involving human listeners as participants, so I am excited. Oh, I always get excited about teaching, although like I've previously written before, sometimes being enthusiastic in teaching is just not worth the time and effort. But I tend to forget that every semester, at my own expense, unfortunately :P




Ok, enough with the depressing talk. Here's some more uplifting new beginnings. Went to visit a colleague of mine who had just delivered a baby boy. Ohhhh.... how precious. I, of course, went goo goo gah gah over babies. I do love babies but my husband reckons I have very little patience with them (not everything he thinks is right though, mind you). Anyway, I left Ida's house and baby Muhammad Ammar Al-Fateh feeling like I want to take home one too... hehee... *dasar x sedar diri*


But so sweet kan? kan? kan?







Thursday, February 12, 2015

Cerita Sekolah

Aisyah skang dah darjah 1. I don't think I wrote about her school lg kan kat blog ni? Well, she started mcm anak2 murid yg lain jg, lewat seminggu sbb kes banjir hari tu kan (altho sekolah dia x affected). Hubs and I decided to send her to a private Islamic school, not far from where we live. The fee is just right, and we are in love with the curriculum. It starts from 8.15 a.m. sampai 5.15 p.m. We always knew kalo dah sekolah nak hantar Aisyah sekolah rendah dan sekolah agama belah ptg, but now bila dah combo pakej mcm ni, Alhamdulillah lg baik la sbb it saves traveling time from one school to the other, and x payah pikir nak pick up tghari or transit. In fact, makan kat sekolah diberi 3 square meals (breakfast, lunch and tea), so really, I cannot complain. Cuma biasa la, tang facility it's not exactly like international school level, but... kalo compare dgn sekolah rendah biasa mcm x kurg mana pun. So we are happy.


Ramai jg yg bertanya why we decided to send Aisyah bukan dkt sekolah kebangsaan? No, ni bkn kes rebel. But we think it is more practical and convenient kalo arrangement dia mcm ni. Kurikulum follow yg sama KSSR from Kementerian (buku sekolah, buku aktiviti, penilaian, etc), yg agama plak follow silibus JAIS, so the kids don't miss much. Diorg ada jg sit for UPSR, ada UPKK, and the taklimat awal tahun hari tu we found out that pass rate sekolah dia 100%, so not bad at all la kan.


We also love the small-sized classroom (maximum 25 org per class. Tahun 1 ada 6 kelas). Ada jg yg tanya kenapa x masukkan Aisyah ke sekolah Islam yg lain (ada a few choices where we live, and some lebih gah drpd others). Aisyah sat for several of them and Alhamdulillah lulus dan dpt tmpt for all that she went in for, so mmg susah nak buat keputusan mulanya. Yg kelakarnya siap ada org yg semacam x puas hati dgn pilihan ni pun ada jg, quite offended yg kami x masuk sekolah yg satu lg hmmm...


But we stuck to our decision lah. Sekolah yg ni paling hampir dgn idea or modus operandi di UK dulu. Buku tinggal kat locker sekolah (no heavy bags, no unnecessary homework), makan kat dewan makan pre-paid already (no pushing, queue-cutting, kena tipu makcik kantin, no handling of money, etc), belajar straight from morning to late afternoon, cannot leave the compound sampai parents dtg amik dkt pintu building (bkn bole lari sebarangan once dah tamat waktu persekolahan. Of course, after 5.30 diorg start caj lewat, but pay as you collect so x terasa sgt). And did I tell you start pkl 8.15 pg? Seswaiiiii sgt utk kes2 org mcm aku nih hahaha.... manjang lewat keluar rumah. Now kitaorg leisurely keluar rumah at 7.30 and arrive at 8 a.m. uols. Imagine sekolah kebangsaan? 7.30 dah start kelas dah amik nama wooo... pengsan anak aku hari2 lewat :P


Ada sket jg elemen protective parenting di sini. I think sek rendah mmg kena tough it out lebih la nak survive. Dgn cikgu garang, kerja rumah byk, disiplin ketat x leh lewat etc, survival sbb students ramai, survive di kantin, waktu pick up etc. Tp I know Aisyah and she has a gentile soul, so this choice is the best kot for her.


We have reviewed around before enrolling. My cousins rupanya ada 2, 3 org dah hantar anak ke sini. Even member kitaorg kat Plymouth (skg dah ada kat Msia, balik dulu before us), pun hantar anak masuk sini. So I am confident with the choice made.


As my cousin has said masa tgh convince me tu (I really was skeptical awal2), he said, "Macam ni je la. Anak2 dia pernah sekolah rendah biasa. Now dah transfer masuk sini. Yang jadi kayu pengukur ok ke x ok sekolah tu is, kalau dulu di sek keb, kalo anak terlambat bgn utk gi sekolah, walau bbrp minit, terus cjp, "X nak la pegi sekolah. Nanti kena marah dgn cikgu". Skrg, dah pkl 9 pg pun kalo terbgn mnangis2 nak pegi sekolah". That seriously suggests something is right somewhere.


We as parents bole cuba bagi yg terbaik utk anak2 kita, dan kemudian mendoakan segalanya berjalan dengan lancar. Mudah2an Allah memberi yg terbaik utk anak2 kita, dan memelihara mereka sentiasa. Sekolah di mana2 itu bkn pokoknya, yg penting nawaitu kena betul utk belajar ilmu Allah walau di mana berada, Insya Allah....





Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Concentration

Just a quick one - putting up something about the kids in this post. The theme today - concentration. These kids don't normally stay quiet on any one activities, but when they are, the sheer concentration is fierce. Just look at Kakak doing her Bahasa Melayu homework. And then Zayd. Tgk tab pun mcm study nak jwb calculation maths. Yes, dik, find X. Heheh...


I don't normally get the luxury of monitoring Aisyah's work at school, mostly because her school has a locker where every student leaves their books in school when there's no homework to take home. I can work with her on other supplemetary books which we personally bought, but not the ones she did at school before they're not taken home. This means that I can make an educated guess of what Aisyah does at school based on our conversation or looking up the syllabus online. So when she does bring back homework, I check it out like a hawk haha. Happy to report that last week, her teacher marked her an A, and remarked her work as 'Baik. Tulisan kemas'. For someone yg mmg x suka prektis writing kat rumah, this comes as a shock. But in a good way, Alhamdulillah!





Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Resuming Fit to the Beat

A week x bersiaran. Demam satu family. Mmg teruk virus kali ni. Demam smpi dkt 40C temperature, lamaaaa plak tu nk completely baik. Last2 terpaksa jg amik antibiotik huhu...


Alhamdulillah now dah sembuh. Aisyah pun dah pergi sekolah (last week dia missed 2 days of school, I missed FIVE days of work, including sendiri x sihat and then cuti jaga Zayd and Aisyah di rumah plak). Since demam last week, mmg x pergi la program 'Fit by the Beat' tu (the exercise program organised by my workplace that I spoke about last time). I think I'm getting hooked. In spite of all the clumsy steps, we are a fun bunch. 


So today I went again. Re-start the whole regime again. It felt good, although I did stay to the light side of things. Ye la, org baru baik demam, x nak la jatuh sakit lg from exertion. I just wish they do the steps in the shade sket. 4 pm is panas lit lit huhu...