REFLECTION OF INTERNSHIP

On 6th July 2014, I went to Sekolah Kebangsaan Pagar Besi for my internship
program. This program is compulsory for all Semester 8 students in IPG and it is done
within 4 weeks. This program is about experiencing the real situation what is really
happening from administration section until my classroom management and my
interaction with the students. During my internship session, I have been asked to
complete two projects as stated in the policy of internship program. First project is a
group project where my group members and I need to create a booth to promote about
Malaysian history and also introduce the vocabulary of English through the picture and
word shown at the corner. For individual project, I need to held and English session right
after the assembly to promote the fun of English to the students. During this internship
session, I have been given one hour for every week to teach English for standard 3
Akrab.

Based on these two weeks, I have discovered many things which can help to
face the reality of teaching career which has its own advantages and difficulties in
future. First aspect that I can reflect from my internship within these two weeks is about
participation in school activity. Our participation in school activity visualizes our
communication skill when interacting with the community in school. Active participation
in school activity really helps me in improving my communication skill. Discussion,
meeting and collaboration that I have done really helps me on how to achieve an
agreement in certain issues and it helps on how to accept others opinion in improving
the plan and solving the problem. Participation in program held by the school
administration exposes me on the management of the program. As we know, managing
a program needs a good team to make sure the program works smoothly and achieve
the objectives. Creating a good team needs a good relation between the members and
through the active participation with the community; building a good relation becomes
easier and the expertise of each member can be used at optimum level in achieving the
objectives of the program. Active participation in schools program open up the chances
for me to unleash my talent in certain area which is out from the pedagogical aspect
which is good to be developed like hosting a program, performing on the stage and so
on. It is not easy to get this chance because based on my observation; this school tends
to choose the same person for the committee for the program held. This is not a good
preference to be followed because it is not a good way to develop the hidden talent
among the teacher because it may lead to dissatisfaction between the teachers in terms
of the deviation of the task in the school

Based on my observation and interview with the teacher, second aspect that I
want to discuss is about the communication between administrator and their staff in the
school. From what I saw, the administrator does not have a good rapport between them.
Every decision is not been discussed well between them and sometimes it cause a
confusion about the details of the plan and it leads to cause chaos during the program.
Communication is a very important aspect especially when you work at the place which
involves collaboration and discussion in order to gain cooperation from the community
around you. In the school, most of the work is done collaboratively and needs variety of
thoughts which can ensure the objectives are achieved and give great effects towards
students. In order to acquire a good collaboration, there are some techniques
suggested by the experts in order to improve the quality of the discussion. First,
listening to the others is an important feature to make sure the discussion is held
effectively. The use of gestures and correct voice intonation will contribute a positive
environment in the discussion and the decision made with the agreement from all the
members. Secondly, great discussion should an exchanging idea session which is well
structured and it is done systematically. Each participant must get opportunity to share
their idea with the other members. This session will motivate the other members to be
more creative and innovative since they felt appreciated by the members of the group.

Other than that, my internship program in this school also exposed me to the
importance of a good leadership in the teaching career. Being as administrator at the
school requires a teacher to be a good model to their colleagues. Based on my
observation and discussion with the teachers in the school, their response towards the
leadership of the administration does not show a satisfaction towards the leadership
offered by the administration. Based on my conversation with one of the teacher, the
administration does not show a role model to the other teacher as what they should do.
Some of them tend to be bias in judging the product done by the teachers. It causes
internal conflict between the teachers and administration of the school. Besides that, the
administration is lack of professionalism ethics when most of the problem is dealt with
emotional rather than rationale. The administration use the same way to scold the
students and the teacher and it makes teacher feel ashamed and demotivated to give
the best towards the task that had been assigned to them. It is not a good practice that I
found out in this school which opens up my eyes to improve my social skill in dealing
with the problems in my teaching career. This event also make me realize that scolding
is not the best way to gain respect from the community around us but modeling a good
behavior can help teacher to be more positive from time to time.

From the observation and conversation that I have made during these two weeks
of internship, there are several things that need changes to make sure the management
of the school can work well in achieving what national aspiration proposed by the
government. Leadership aspect needs significant changes especially the relationship
between administration and the teacher. First changes that can be done are practicing
moral values in correcting people mistakes. Avoid scolding and use the harsh words to
correct peoples mistakes. Other than that, rapport between administrators should be
improved to make sure there is no misunderstanding happens between the
administrator and the teacher. Other than that, the discussion made should involve the
teacher who in charges to make sure there is no miscommunication happen which can
lead to a problem in handling a particular event. The community in the school need to
be unites and should have a bond like a family in order to create a school is not just a
workplace but a place where family is work to provide values to students and achieve
what is proposed in National Philosophy of Education.

Based on the conversation and observation done within two weeks, I can see
that internship is really helpful to improve my understanding on the development of
professionalism of teacher. It is because, internship is not just being at the school and
teach but it is how we as a novice teacher to be must work hard in every aspect to gain
the trust and confidence from the school community in order to make us reliable to them
to be given the task. In these two weeks, internship has shown me on how to be
sensitive of what peoples perception towards our behavior and people perception is a
very crucial element which can affect our motivation in doing our job and our quality of
work will be affected if we keep thinking of what people think about us.

In conclusion, internship program is like a kick start for me to be ready in facing

the real situation in teaching career which have so many challenges and obstacles not
just from the student but from the community of the school if we are not well prepared
mentally and physically. Changes will happen from time to time and we as a novice
teacher should improve our skill in facing new generation in future.