Sarinah, Teaching Freely near IKN Nusantara
Her innovative teaching methods have gained Sarinah her own award for North Penajam Paser Teacher with Best Achievement for two successive years, in 2017 and in 2018.
Sarinah
The sound of a drum and a music CD came from a loudspeaker in classroom A for the fourth grade. The students, who were sitting quietly at first, slowly but surely started nodding their heads in time with the rhythm. Like Ramengvrl, the contemporary rapper, the teacher was rapping while walking around the classroom.
“Yo, yo, kids, try to mention, what are the parts of a plant?” rapped Sarinah. While swaying slightly to the music, the students rose from their seats and answered by rapping also: “There are leaves, stems, branches and roots!”
That Wednesday (27/7/2022), the fourth-grade class was very lively, although it was nearing 12 p.m. Central Indonesia Time, the time for a break, during which most students feel sleepy. Now and again, the students laughed out loud as their classmates made a slipped up while rapping. However, every time a rap finished, their classmates clapped. This was the ambience of the class led by Sarinah at SDN 020 Sepaku state elementary school in North Penajam Paser, East Kalimantan.
The school is only around 5 kilometers from “point zero” of the site of Nusantara (IKN Nusantara), the new capital city. Sepaku is about 90 kilometers from Balikpapan, one of the largest cities in East Kalimantan.
Despite its remote location, Sarinah does not want her students to be left behind in their expression and pursuit of knowledge.
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Since she began teaching in 2006 as a nonpermanent teacher and was then promoted to civil servant status in 2010, she has experimented with many teaching methods. Her aim is simple: make the learning atmosphere of enjoyable and encourage students to express themselves. She also instills the importance of collaboration.
“Now is not the era of competition, but rather collaboration. Students need to collaborate to learn. Therefore, I’ve arranged the students’ desks into two groups,” she said.
This arrangement enables students to collaborate while learning a subject. For instance, the students are asked to form groups to present the functions of the parts of a plant, from the leaves to the roots. They are free to use their own learning aids and methods. Some groups have made models from used cardboard and other groups have drawn detail illustrations of a tree, using their own style.
Sarinah with her students in grade 4A at SDN 020 Sepaku, North Penajam Paser Regency, East Kalimantan, Tuesday (30/7/2022).
Limitations
Sarinah also uses multimedia to teach. Not all classrooms at SDN 020 Sepaku are equipped with loudspeakers and projectors. Of the school’s 12 classrooms, only three have projectors. When the devices are needed, Sarinah has to take turns along with the other teachers.
She uses a projector as a visual aid. She has downloaded various YouTube videos to use as learning material so her students can gain better understanding and enjoy her lessons. In the midday heat, for example, students don’t need to go outside to identify the parts of a plant.
Videos and pictures cast from the projector make it easier for students to become conversant with the names, shapes and functions of the parts of a tree.
Although the school has no computer lab yet, Sarinah uses another way to introduce communication technology to her students. Occasionally, she asks her students to bring their devices to school, with their parents’ permission. The devices are used to acquaint students with YouTube accounts offering educational content.
“We can also play quizzes on cellphones through the Kahoot! service,” she said, referring to the game-based learning platform.
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Sepaku district became widely known only after it was designated as the “point zero” site of the IKN Nusantara development project. This district is far from the hustle and bustle of big cities. In order to arm students with better understanding from an early age, Sarinah and the school’s administrators have created a program for students to visit several companies. This way, they can get an idea of the different professions.
One of the places they have visited is a media company in Balikpapan. There, they were told about the process of making a newspaper. They were also introduced to the profession of journalism.
Independent learning
Sarinah’s teaching methods have heightened students’ interest in learning at school. The parents of one student once told her that their child had insisted on learning at school despite being sick. Sarinah advised the student not to push themselves to come to school. The most important thing was to keep learning, albeit at home.
Sarinah has enthusiastically embraced the Merdeka Belajar (independent learning) program promoted by the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry. She has developed her own teaching methods in discussion with a senior teacher she calls “Miss Dayang”. In addition, she has joined every teacher training course that has been held so far.
Unwilling to become stagnant in her teaching methods, she regularly looks for inspiration on YouTube and other internet sources. Through her searches, she has come to understand that students cannot be expected to be smart at everything. She has to be very observant to find the strengths and weaknesses of each student.
It is our hope that the students will be able to give substance to being independent in their respective fields.
With this in mind, she motivates students by giving various “awards” to appreciate their efforts and encourage their development. At the end of a class, for instance, she gives them “awards” like most active student, most polite student, most disciplined student, and student with the best understanding for the different subjects.
Her innovative teaching methods have gained Sarinah her own award for North Penajam Paser Teacher with Best Achievement for two successive years, in 2017 and in 2018. Although Sarinah’s influence is limited to the classroom, she hopes that her students will go on to develop and spread what they have gained to many more people.
“It is our hope that the students will be able to give substance to being independent in their respective fields. Our duty as teachers is to keep striving for ways to guide students in appreciating the learning process,” she added.
Sarinah
Born:Balikpapan, 20 April 1986
Education:Elementary Teachers’ Education, Mulawarman University (2009)
Achievements include:
- Teacher with Best Achievement, North Penajam Paser regency (2017 and 2018)
- Core Teacher of Learning Competence Promotion (2019)
- National Instructor of Sustainable Professional Development (2018)
This article was translated by Aris Prawira.
