CCTS is challenging? May 15, 2008

I don’t really know why, but I keep sighing when imagining that I will be able to learn CCTS like other subjects too (minus doing Literature with Mdm. Rai).. maybe it was the early impressions that some of my friends gave during our first lecture with Dr. Sharifah. CCTS is a killer subject, many couldn’t get A’s in CCTS and etc…

But after learning it for one whole semester, the impressions slowly faded away because the lesson was enjoyable and the lecturers are talented and pretty good in capturing our attention.  the BONUS was, I got Dr. Sharifah as my tutor and she  is amazing! never happen to give up on us and kept pushing us to moving forward. Really hope she can be my supervisor for my practicum later…  hehehe. doing teaching practice and metacognitive review is the best experience with her. her advices are truly useful in my future life, others lecturers too… thank u Dr Sharifah, En. Mahzan, Mdm Rosseni and all CCTS lecturers.

Metacognition & Metacognitive May 15, 2008

Metacognition is the process of thinking about thinking. Flavell (1976) describes it as follows:

“Metacognition refers to one’s knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive processes or anything related to them, e.g., the learning-relevant properties of information or data. For example, I am engaging in metacognition if I notice that I am having more trouble learning A than B; if it strikes me that I should double check C before accepting it as fact.”

The metacognitive process enhances learning by guiding students’ thinking, and by helping the learner follow a wise course of action as he or she thinks through a problem, makes decisions, or attempts to understand a situation or text. In this rapidly changing world, the challenge of teaching is to help students develop skills that will not become obsolete. Metacognitive strategies are essential for the twenty-first century because they enable students to cope successfully with new situations.

Learners who are well developed metacognitively:

• Are confident that they can learn.
• Make accurate assessments of why they succeed in learning.
• Think clearly about inaccuracies when failure occurs during tasks.
• Actively seek to expand their repertoire of strategies for learning.
• Match strategies to the learning task, making adjustments when necessary.
• Ask for guidance from peers or the teacher.
• Take time to think about their own thinking.
• View themselves as continual learners and thinkers.

Metacognitive Strategies for Successful Learning

Imagine you are about to take a final exam. Here are some metacognitive strategies to try:

mind mapping & graphic organizers May 15, 2008

As I far as I remembered, the lecture was handled by En. Mahzan. He is somewhat a funny lecturer yet try his best to make us understand. He did gave us a lot of examples of mind map & graphic organizers and to make us reach better understanding, he asked us to draw a mind map using our own creativity and a graphic organizer in job comparing. It was fun indeed. From the lecture, I know that those two techniques are effective in their very own way especially for me who ‘was’ unorganized with my note making. mine was all over the place before.. after learning it, I practiced harder than before! hehehe.

De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats May 13, 2008

I learned this technique in one of the lectures and tutorials conducted by Dr. Sharifah. It is a powerful technique that helps you look at important decisions from a number of different perspectives. It helps you make better decisions by pushing you to move outside your habitual ways of thinking. As such, it helps you understand the full complexity of the decision, and spot issues and opportunities to which you might otherwise be blind. I really enjoyed learning this technique because before this, I never knew that thinking can be classed like De’Bono did. Dr. Sharifah too, sparked my interest by teaching it in an interesting way. She gave a lots of examples in order for us to understand. She also asks us to divide ourselves into six groups, one each with one thinking hats and comments on one subject using those hats. awesome!

Edward De Bono & His Challenges May 13, 2008

17th March 2008 May 13, 2008

On that particular day, My friends (Saf, Ain & Iwa) and I were doing a teaching practice during our tutorial.  It  is 30 marks  out of  the syllabus. Its a LOT and we want it to be perfect as the marks can really help our grades in CCTS.

We then decided to choose to read literature text and learning about it because teaching students to think while reading is referred to in the professional literature as “critical reading.” It is defined as “learning to evaluate, draw inferences, and arrive at conclusions based on evidence” (Carr, 1988). Children’s literature is a powerful tool for teaching critical reading. It offers children the opportunity to actively engage in texts while simultaneously considering ideas, values, and ethical questions. Through literature, students learn to read personally, actively, and deeply (Sweet, 1993).

That actually what was happen because throughout the lesson, we were doing great. All of  the ‘students’ cooperated well with us and they seemed to be enjoying the lesson.

Rizzo: Critical Thinking May 13, 2008

Critical Thinking May 13, 2008

A Review on Lecture 1 – TLTCT May 13, 2008

I’m so sorry for the delayed of the entries for many speculations with this blog thing. I must say that blogging is not really a new thing for me as I have one my own and before I got one, I really spend some time, reading my friends’ and strangers’ blogs.. ;P

Okay, let’s get down to business! My review on TLTCT Lecture :

At first, I was surprised because this blog thing is not in the syllabus but we had to do it, plus I don’t see any links of how blogging are connected with the subject – CCTS. But, as the lecture went on, I’m pretty much sure how it links. Blogging actually can generate our critical and creative side of thinking as in the lecture note of how blogging can actually help to discover  our own potential whether or not we are the visual learner types who use images, pictures, color and other visual media to help learning , audio learner types who learns by listening or by sound stimulation, and kinesthetic learner types who learn best by moving their bodies, activating their large or small muscles as they learn. This proves that  the whole thing of blogging can actually creates a healthy creative mind and as a bonus, our free time fulfilled!

For more info of Types of Learner, visit :

(www.cuyamaca.edu/eops/dsps/resourcesvis.asp)

(www.metamath.com/lsweb/fourls.htm)

(www.educ.uvic.ca/epls/faculty/rowles/301.htm)

March 17, 2008

“Every thought is good unless it’s the refusal of thinking.”