Shadowing Program

By Antonius Agus Sulistyono
Nov 7th, 2018

Today, two teachers came into the XB class with the aim of making learning more attractive for the students in the class.  What happened with these teachers? Why did two teachers with a different focus come together in the XB class? This is what we call the shadowing program. What is the shadowing program and how is this program implemented in Minor Seminary of Mertoyudan?

The purpose of the shadowing program is to improve the quality of the teachers’ skills. We can see that the quality of the teachers’ skills is not only measured in their ability to transfer knowledge and technology skills, but arguably more importantly , is the teachers’ ability to understand the context, situation and personal feelings of the student. The purpose of the program is not to supervise other teachers, or to become an assessment instrument for the other teachers. The purpose of the program is the means to build the self-assessment, self-evaluation and self-reflection skills of the teacher in a classroom setting

This was my experience as a civic education teacher who followed a physics teacher who was teaching the topic of newton theory. In the learning process with the students in the class, I could feel what I imagine the students feel in this process; happy, nervous, and maybe a little confused as they are following the learning process.

What is the importance of understanding the context of our students in the class? I think once we understand the context of our student’s learning, we as  teachers can make our teaching more effective, attractive and relevant to the students’ lives. For example : if we as a teacher, when we are shadowing another teacher, feel bored by the teacher’s class and find it difficult to follow the class, then chances are the students will feel the same. This then becomes an important opportunity for self-evaluation by the teacher. The teacher must identify what the problem is and why our teaching is boring for the students.And through this process of reflection, the teacher must be creative and develop a new way to teach.  Reflection is an  important value which increases the quality of our teaching, our learning and our overall skills as a teacher.

I find the shadowing program very effective because we as a teacher know the personal context of our students, and understanding this personal context, we can motivate our students with suitable and relevant topics and problems. Apart from that, teachers can also reflect on the learning process in the class and learn from this reflection.