Classroom observation, conducted by the school principal and accompanied by school supervisors, is a critical part of STIR programme delivery. When Suyono, our District Champion in Kediri district in Indonesia, completed a recent classroom observation, he was amazed by the teaching innovation demonstrated by the teachers. One of the teachers that Suyono had the opportunity to observe was Putri. Suyono observed that the students in Putri’s class were provided with a variety of activities, such as watching videos, true or false worksheets, match-making games, and biodiversity observation in order to accommodate the variety of students’ learning needs. Not only did the students achieve the learning objectives and were engaged throughout, but Suyono also reflected that Putri had successfully created a positive learning ecosystem.
A teacher in Kediri with the Digital Bulletin on her device
Furthermore, reflective and meaningful conversations happened when the school supervisors and STiR team took some time to have a coordination meeting. The teachers’ enthusiasm and dedication to designing meaningful lessons for students inspired the supervisors. Suyono felt that such best practices might serve as educational resources not only for school principals and supervisors but also for a greater number of teachers in Kediri to get teaching inspiration.
Equipped with this concern and with the support of STiR, the idea for a digital bulletin was put forward as a platform for teachers to share best practices that can be viewed by other teachers. Sharing good practices, in addition to communicating teaching innovations, has proven to elevate teacher writing competence and foster a willingness to collaborate through a wonderful piece of work.
Teacher Putri
After 3 months of planning and implementation, the bulletin was finally launched on 7 November 2023. This digital bulletin collects exemplary instructional practices from teachers who want to share their stories. Although most of the teachers found it difficult to express their best practices in a written piece, the detailed instructions given and the never-ending support of their school principals helped them through the process. Our STiR Education’s personnel in Kediri also played a key role in the overall process.
Anang Kurniawan, the head of the Kediri Education Office, stated in his foreword that “such grassroots movement efforts are truly necessary to be conducted so that a transformation in education that empowers society as a whole may flourish sustainably to make behaviour changes.” Our District Champion and education office personnel contend that by creating an ecosystem for sharing innovative learning methods through this digital bulletin, we can encourage teachers to generate a remarkable writing piece.
One of the teacher’s stories on the digital bulletin comes from Teacher Viki who shared an interesting teaching story about using the Mix and Match Card method to foster collaboration among students. Teacher Viki noticed that students in her class were hesitant to collaborate. Viki recognised this challenge and implemented the innovative Mix and Match Card method, in which students are guided to work in pairs and have roles in their groups to complete the tasks assigned. Viki was content with the situation at hand since the students deliberately supported their friends who were experiencing difficulties in solving the challenges. Viki has also documented this in the following video: gg.gg/IbuVikiSukorame2
This culture of sharing best practices through digital bulletin shall act as the solid foundation for a drive to innovate among all teachers in Kediri. Please click the following link to access the digital bulletin or scan the barcode below: gg.gg/SPP2KotaKediri
