My Strongest Type of Intelligence

Posted by Nur Amalina
At first, I thought that the strongest type of intelligences that I have is kinesthetic intelligence. I thought that way, because I used to dance since I was in kindergarten and I love dancing so much until now. However, after I use self-diagnostic for identifying multiple intelligences that Pak Iwan gave, I found that my strongest type of intelligence is interpersonal intelligence. I was made confuse by the result, I counted it again but the score is still the same. Then, I realize the reasons why interpersonal intelligence is the strongest intelligence that I have.

First, I am the president of traditional dance club in SSE, Tatra Abhirama. Works together with other member to manage the club is an ordinary and obligatory thing for me. I have to give directions to my secretary to make some proposals, I must monitor the club’s inventories from club’s member, and so on. Second, I usually have group assignment. That’s make my creative ideas usually appear if other people push my creative thinking ability. For example, when doing a class project or other project that do in a group my idea will come to complete someone’s idea. That means, my ideas have to be hooked first with other group member’s ideas. The last but not least, I often dance in a group and dancing in a group is need good coordination. While I am dancing in team I must equalize my power with other dancer, and its need good interpersonal intelligence.

From that reasons, I conclude that almost every activity that I do are need interpersonal intelligence. I think nothing wrong with it anymore. I will also build my intrapersonal intelligence, because I remember that intrapersonal intelligence is also important for teacher.
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CULTURE: THE INCREDIBLE ATTRACTION OF JAVANESE WEDDING CEREMONY

Posted by Nur Amalina


In this modern age, many people think that the more modern things we have are the better we get. In my opinion, it’s completely wrong. Do you know why? Indonesia has many kinds of beautiful traditional cultures,  especially the traditional wedding ceremony. Every province in Indonesia has their own wedding ceremony and the most beautiful wedding ceremony is Javanese wedding ceremony. The incredible attractions of Javanese wedding ceremony can be seen from four processes inside it.

The first process is siraman. The bride has to do siraman in her house a day before her wedding. Siraman means to clean her body and soul before ijab qabul. The water that is used in siraman comes from seven sources and be added by seven kinds of flower. The process begins when her parents, start from her mother, pour that water over her head. The process is done, if all of her close relatives, who are married, have already poured over her head. In the end of the process, the bride has to break a kendi (earthenware flask with a neck) for showing that the process is already done.

The second process is balang suruh. The bride and the bride groom have to do balang suruh which is held after ijab qabul. Balang suruh is a process when they throw sirih leaf that has been rolled before, to each other. They throw sirih leaf in the same time. This process means that they love each other and willing to be loyal to each other. It symbolizes their goal in having a lovely and harmonious marriage and live happily ever after.

The last and the most important processes in this ceremony are wiji dadi and sinduran. Wiji dadi is a process of several ceremonies that newly wedded couple has to undergo, such as: first, the bride groom has to step on an egg until it breaks down. Second, the bride has to wash the bride groom’s foot with water that has been added by seven kinds of flower. The stuff that is used to take the water is a piece of coconut shell. Wiji dadi means the bride groom will become a responsible and be a good father when the have children. Another process is sinduran that every newly wedded couple also has to undergo, such as: first, the bride and the bride groom stand in front of the bride groom’s parents. Second, the bride groom’s parent will cover a cloth on bride and bride groom’s shoulders. The cloth which is used in this process is sindur cloth. That is the reason why this process named sinduran. The meaning of sinduran process is the bride groom’s family accepts the bride as the new member of their family. In the end of this process is the spoon feed each other which mean they will live together in happiness and sadness.

Javanese wedding ceremony has incredible attractions in each process inside it, especially four processes that mention above. Even though those processes sound very complicated and so many stuffs we need to do it, but every process in this ceremony is very meaningful and useful in our live. In each process symbolize the bride and the bride groom’s expectation like having a lovely and harmonious family, have a loyal husband and wife, live together in happiness and sadness, and so on. Therefore, the incredible attraction of Javanese wedding ceremony can be seen from the meaning of each process which can influence our live better than before. In my opinion, we should not think the complication, but think about what we will get from them. Those processes will fascinate you, if you know the meaning.
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"Lebay" Teacher

Posted by Nur Amalina
            “Lebay is my life. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. I never force anyone to love my style or even do like I do, because every person has different style”.  Those were words that ever came from my teacher’s mouth when one of the students asked why she taught the students in Lebay style. She was my ESP (English for Special Purpose) teacher in SMA. She was 29 years old (when I was in 3rd grade in senior high school) and a mother of four children. She had ever lived in Malaysia for long time. That’s why she has Malaysian English accent. The most important information about her is she is my inspiration teacher.
            The reason why I want to be an English teacher is because I believe that I can be like her, teach the students totally. I love the way she taught the students in my class, especially when she taught about drama. She changed her self into the character in the drama and she did it very well. Every student paid attention to her; no one spoke or even slept. I ever asked her why she always played the character totally although it was just an example for mini classroom’s drama. Then she answered, “When we act, on stage or not, the audience is still audience. Moreover, totalities are needed to be a teacher.” At that time, I felt like my heart was shaking. After that, I always say to myself that I want to be a teacher like her, the real teacher who teaches the student totally.
            Now, she is my sister’s ESP teacher. Once I asked my sister about the way she teaches. The answer is she is still the same and never changed. I hope someday I will be like her. Maybe I will also say “Alay is my life” (hehe I’m just kidding).

*Lebay means exaggerating 
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Making an Effective Teaching

Posted by Nur Amalina
“Unexpected Week” would be the best title for this week. My day was full filled with unexpected students and situations. Actually, my expectation for this first week in the SMAN ** Jakarta was only to become an assistant teacher. However, the master teacher wanted more from me. She wanted me to teach in class.
            Before Arlin, Umi, and I teach in the class, she asked us about the way we wanted to use in teaching recount text. My answer was using game and group work in delivering the material. At first, she didn’t believe me because she thought that it was only wasting time. After I convinced her, she gave us chance to try it in the class, and then I said “hah?” Umi and Arlin kept silent, maybe they were too shock to say something.  Although, in the schedule state that the teaching session is in 2nd week and it’s only 20 minutes, we accepted the master teacher’s order. We taught the class for the whole session at that day, 2 x 45 minutes. Even though we taught without any preparation, the teaching learning process in classroom went well. The students were active in doing their task that we gave and none of them were sleeping during the class.
The master teacher was amazed by the situation in the class. She told us that the students usually keep silent when she taught English, not as active as the time we taught the students in the class. She also added that the students became more crowed and she loves that kind of situation. After that successful moment, she asked us to make a lesson plan to teach narrative text. She gave us the lesson plan that she made before. In the lesson plan, I read that the teacher explain about the narrative text, asked the student to make narrative text, then read it in front of the class. The teacher didn’t give opportunity to the students to make their own explanations about what narrative text is or when narrative text is used. That’s the reason why the student kept silent when she taught English. Base on my experience as a student, if the teacher place herself as the only one source in learning, the student will think that the teacher always right. Then, the student will only believe in what teacher said and not curious with the learning material.
Other ineffective teaching was that the teacher didn’t use Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. The students were asked to listen, write, and speak. The teacher didn’t include activities for kinesthetic, spatial, logical-mathematic, and so on. In some ways, she could teach effectively. She came to the student one by one to look the progress of the task that the students were doing and explain again the material to the students who didn’t get the explanation well. This kind of teaching method, make no one of the students is left behind.
            Therefore, in our lesson plan, we change the teaching methods which are not effective. First, we asked the students to classify the characteristic of recount and narrative by themselves in group of four. Second, they had to illustrate the situation in narrative text. Third, they had to write, speak, and listen to their narrative text. Fourth, they had to move to correct their friends’ work. All of that, had already did by us, and it worked.
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