The Value of Caring in Changing the System
In 2015, I was approached by the Board of Directors to do something with our newly established secondary school. The BOD didn’t want the school to be just another school. Not only designing the school to accommodate the Khalifah Method that our late Prof Muhammad Al’Mahdi Jenkins left as his legacy but also to make …. Read More
Teachers as the Experts in Designing Learning Activities
“I am sorry because I feel like I am using you to cover my weakness,” the teacher said. “No, you shouldn’t see it that way. You are doing something that all teachers should do. Last year, one of the teachers from my school back home in Malaysia asked me a favour. She invited me to …. Read More
Self Regulated Learning to Transform Teacher Centered Setting
In Khalifah Model School (Secondary), when we transformed the school system from teacher-centered essentialism to student-centered progressivism, we believed that this transformation will help to save our students from being victimised by public education that concentrates a lot on low order thinking skills, mainly memorising and understanding. The transformation involved a lot of different approaches …. Read More
Nurturing the Culture of Thinking
Assalamualaikum. Today, I removed all the marker pens, whiteboards and computer. We put aside all the tables and arranged our chairs in U shape. I sat together with them, to try a different setting. I wanted to communicate with my students at the same physical level. We might not realise that when an adult stands …. Read More
Metacognition: Learning How You Learn
It was my first class for this new semester. I am assisting Mr. Amin to teach Study Skills to our new students. They were the eldest last year in primary school. They had their UPSR. This year they become the youngest in secondary school. No more UPSR. And on top of everything, our school is …. Read More
Improving the Way We Praise Good Behaviour
source fincherwannettaedm310.blogspot.my “Dad, today I got my examination result. I got 70%” Ahmad told his father when he got into the car. “Awesome. I love you” daddy replied. “Hmm… did he mean what he said? 70% is not a good grade. Why did he praise me?” Ahmad had this thought in his mind. He doubted his …. Read More
The Bloom’s Taxonomy of Hijrah
Bloom’s Taxonomy “First, share what you remember from the Hijrah. Its the who, where and when.” I told my students. This is the most basic part of the forum. Panelists should not over estimate the audience thinking that they already know everything. It is good to remind them of what are we talking about. Which …. Read More
Building a Learner-Centered Course Outline
“The Malay paper for IGCSE is quite simple. So, I develop the course outline based on what I believe is needed for the students, beyond IGCSE’s requirement. But I found the content is overwhelming. Too many to cover (in a semester)” one of our teachers said during our consultation hour. She has just recently joined …. Read More
From Parenting to Schooling
I embarked my involvement with education as a concerned parent. When my eldest son entered his first grade I saw how tremendously the schooling experience changed him within the first few months. I started to realize through experience that kids are highly influenced and adaptive to the surrounding. Six years of good parenting is not …. Read More
THE BEST EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE WORLD? MYTHS AND REALITIES
INTRODUCTION Searching the best education system has a long historical background, highlighted by what Marc-Antoine Jullien de Paris (1775-1848) presented in his Esquisse (A Sketch and Preliminary View of a Work on Comparative Education. It was first published anonymously in a Swiss journal, Bibliotheque Universelle des Sciences, Belles Lettres et Arts (Geneva) in 1816 [i]. …. Read More
