Below, our winner’s responses to questions posed by Literacy Network Co-Chair, Mark Gura:
Sirhajwan Idek
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M G: Congratulations on receiving the award, Sirhajwhan, I’m impressed at how our network reflects the international dimension of the digitally extended community of colleagues across the world.
M G: Congratulations on receiving the award, Sirhajwhan, I’m impressed at how our network reflects the international dimension of the digitally extended community of colleagues across the world.
S I: Thank you for the opportunity,
I am so excited about this and I really appreciate what you guys are doing.
This means a lot to me :)
M G: Tell us about yourself and your teaching practice.
S. I. I teach at Keningau Vocational College, it is a rural vocational
school located in the interior region of Sabah, a Malaysian state located on
the island of Borneo. The school currently has over 800 students of 16 to
19-year-old.
Our school is considered
a non-mainstream school since it is an institution that offers various
vocational programs like construction technology, automotive technology, early
childhood education, culinary art and cosmetology. Hence, our mission is to
develop students’ skills and capabilities in specific areas while giving them
the opportunities to also learn academic subjects taught in mainstream schools
with the exception of the national high stake tests.
I am an English language
teacher and I also teach three to four different subjects related to English
language; including Business English and Communication English.
M G: How has your teaching grown and developed as you’ve accrued experience? How have your understandings changed and grown?
S. I. When I first started teaching, I felt a bit frustrated as the students did not meet my initial expectation on them. But I gradually realized that they were creative, skillful and passionate learners and they needed the right approaches and platforms to show their true interests and talents. So I decided to assist and support them in venturing into innovation and entrepreneurship and used it as a platform for them to put their English language skills into practice as they needed to explain and pitch their ideas. As I slowly became invested in this area, I volunteered to lead the research and innovation unit of my school so I could help more students and teachers develop their ideas and find the right platforms to demonstrate them in the real world.
M G: How has your teaching grown and developed as you’ve accrued experience? How have your understandings changed and grown?
S. I. When I first started teaching, I felt a bit frustrated as the students did not meet my initial expectation on them. But I gradually realized that they were creative, skillful and passionate learners and they needed the right approaches and platforms to show their true interests and talents. So I decided to assist and support them in venturing into innovation and entrepreneurship and used it as a platform for them to put their English language skills into practice as they needed to explain and pitch their ideas. As I slowly became invested in this area, I volunteered to lead the research and innovation unit of my school so I could help more students and teachers develop their ideas and find the right platforms to demonstrate them in the real world.
M G: The award was given
in view of your project; please describe it.
S I: My project is called “See & Say” which is a technology-supported teaching and learning approach that is based on visual literacy.
It occurred to me how important visuals are in language learning after reading an article published by ISTE entitled “Visual Literacy” taken from Media Literacy in the K- 12 Classroom. That piece explained how 3 R’s are no longer enough, as learners need to be visually literate in order to be able to communicate, solve problems, and learn effectively in the world oversaturated with visuals.
We are familiar with the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Literacy is often seen as the skills to read and write. However, as people become more exposed to social media, emoji, memes, videos, photos and symbols, as a result of the increasing usage of mobile devices and internet, it is essential to acknowledge the need to teach learners on how to read and write visual information effectively which can be considered as the fifth language skill. Thus, I decided to explore the role of visuals in helping my students interpret and utilize graphics properly to enhance their language and thinking skills.
S I: My project is called “See & Say” which is a technology-supported teaching and learning approach that is based on visual literacy.
It occurred to me how important visuals are in language learning after reading an article published by ISTE entitled “Visual Literacy” taken from Media Literacy in the K- 12 Classroom. That piece explained how 3 R’s are no longer enough, as learners need to be visually literate in order to be able to communicate, solve problems, and learn effectively in the world oversaturated with visuals.
We are familiar with the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Literacy is often seen as the skills to read and write. However, as people become more exposed to social media, emoji, memes, videos, photos and symbols, as a result of the increasing usage of mobile devices and internet, it is essential to acknowledge the need to teach learners on how to read and write visual information effectively which can be considered as the fifth language skill. Thus, I decided to explore the role of visuals in helping my students interpret and utilize graphics properly to enhance their language and thinking skills.
NOTE: Here’s a link
to the article (actually a book chapter) that is referred to above - [PDF
] Visual literacy – ISTE - https://id.iste.org/docs/excerpts/MEDLIT-excerpt.pdf
] Visual literacy – ISTE - https://id.iste.org/docs/excerpts/MEDLIT-excerpt.pdf
MEDIA LITERACY in the
K–12 Classroom. 41. We are a visually
illiterate ... Visual literacy has been defined as the “ability to
understand, interpret and evaluate .... that 83% of American teens take
pictures with their cell phones (Lenhart, Ling,.
M G: How do you see
schools changing and the role technology plays in that change?
S I:
With the constantly
changing job market, convincing students that their school education is still
relevant and practical might be getting harder to do. Schools need to be able
to continuously adapt to the current world. They need to link their teaching
practice, curriculum and materials with the real world and provide students
platforms to pursue their passion and develop their potential individually.
Since our school is
located in the rural area, getting adequate resources such as stable internet
connection and computers can be quite difficult which usually demotivates many
teachers from utilizing technology in their class. Thus, one of the most
plausible ways of integrating technology into their teaching practice is by
selecting the most efficient and user-friendly web tools that allow students to
collaborate and communicate properly in meeting the lesson objectives. In
addition, equipping students with skills on how to search, evaluate and analyze
online information enables them to utilize the resources that they have access
to either at home, library or public places and become independent and
proactive learners.
I always remind myself
that integrating technology into our classroom is not about introducing
something new to our students but rather making use of what we are already
familiar with or what we will have to get used to in the future.
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