kajian tindakan pismp (mr conteng)

8/12/2019 Kajian Tindakan PISMP (Mr Conteng)

1/79


2/79

MR CONTENG: REFLECTIVE PRACTICE IN ACTION

WONG SONG JIE

An Action Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfilment

of the Requirement for the Award of the

Bachelor in Teaching with Honours

(Mathematics Primary School)

INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU

KAMPUS PERLIS

NOVEMBER 2012


3/79

ii

VERIFICATION OF SUPERVISOR

I admit that I have read through this research report

and in my opinion this work is adequate

in terms of scope and quality for the award of

Bachelor in Teaching with Honours

(Mathematics Primary School).

Signature of Supervisor : .

Name of Supervisor : Dr Nurulhidayah Lucy binti Abdullah

Date : November 2012


4/79

iii

ADMISSION

I acknowledge that this research report is the result of my own work except for

each quotation and summary that I have stated their sources.

Signature of Author :

Name of Author : Wong Song Jie

Date : November 2012


5/79

iv

DEDICATION

This research is dedicated to my parents,

Wong Kow Pin and Ng Wee Tiang

who introduced me to the joy of reading from birth,

enabling such as study to take place today.


6/79

v

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my research supervisor, Dr

Nurulhidayah Lucy binti Abdullah for her great guidance and encouragement given

during the research period. The cooperation from the teachers and Year Three Pupils

in Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (C) Sin Min, Perlis is greatly appreciated too. I also

would like to thanks my beloved, Hon Ching Mei, who has been a source of

motivation and strength during moments of despair and discouragement. This

acknowledgement also goes to those that have been involved in this research directly

or indirectly that have helped in ensuring the success of this research. Last but not

least, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Pn Sabariah binti Morad as well

as my former secondary English teacher, En Tan Eow Tong for the grammar check.


7/79

vi

ABSTRAK

Penulisan refleksi terhadap tindakan dapat membantu guru dalam

memperbaiki kualiti pengajaran dan pembelajaran. Sebagai seorang pengamal

reflektif, guru dapat memperbaiki kualiti pengajaran kendiri melalui refleksi yang

ditulis oleh murid-murid. Melalui pengalaman saya sebagai seorang guru pelatih,

saya mendapati bahawa murid-murid tidak dilatih untuk berfikir secara kritis dan

tidak didedahkan untuk melakukan refleksi. Semasa murid-murid melakukan refleksi,

murid-murid akan melihat kepada pengalaman, tindakan, perasaan dan respons diri

sendiri dengan lebih teliti dan mendalam. Tambahan pula, refleksi adalah penting

dalam membantu murid-murid mencapai pembelajaran optimum dalam Matematik.

Jadi, melalui Mr Conteng, saya memberikan murid-murid satu buku khas untuk

menulis refleksi mereka. Melalui penilaian refleksi murid-murid, saya dapat

mengenal pasti kelemahan diri sendiri serta tahap pembelajaran murid-murid. Kajian

ini akan dijalankan ke atas 22 orang murid Tahun Tiga untuk meningkatkan

kebolehan membuat refleksi supaya dapat mengenal pasti kelemahan guru yang

semasa menjalankan sesi pengajaran dan pembelajaran. Pengumpulan data akan

dikumpul melalui journal guru, temu bual dan penganalisa refleksi terhadap lapan

orang responden untuk mengesahkan bahawa penulisan refleksi terhadap tindakan

dapat membantu guru memperbaiki mutu teknik pengajaran kendiri.

Kata-kata Kunci: Refleksi, kualiti pengajaran dan pembelajaran, pembelajaran

optimum, kritis, Mr Conteng.


8/79

vii

ABSTRACT

Reflective practice in action in this study is designed to serve teachers

interested in improving their professional development. As reflective practitioners

teachers can draw meaning from students reflections on each lesson with the intent

to change for the better. Teachers can take step that will carry them along the path to

better teaching. From my experience as teacher preparation courses, I found out that

students lack of opportunity to train their thinking skill especially reflection skill.

The reflection skill is an important skill in learning Mathematics as when students

reflect, they consciously looking at and thinking about their experiences, actions,

feelings and responses. So, I introduce a book which known as Mr Conteng to

pupils to write their reflections in it. Teachers will then analyze the students

reflection in order to learn from students comments. Hence, this research has been

implemented on eight Year 3 primary students to help students to improve their

reflection so that teachers uncover aspects of their work that may otherwise remain at

the tacit level. Data collected through teachers journal, interviews and pupils

written reflection shows that reflective practice in action is useful to help teachers to

think reflectively about their teaching and to tackle their professional development

needs..

Key words: Reflective, professional development, practitioners, Mr Conteng


9/79

viii

CONTENTS PageVERIFICATION OF SUPERVISOR ii

ADMISSION iii

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

iv

v

ABSTRAK vi

ABSTRACT vii

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF APPENDICES

x

xi

xii

INTRODUCTION 1

Reflection of My Teaching Experience 4

Literature Review 5

RESEARCH FOCUS 9

What Is My Research Issue? 9

How I Collect Preliminary Data?

Non-participant Observation

Structured Interview

Conclusion

11

12

15

16

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES & RESEARCH QUESTIONS 17

What Are My Research Objectives?

What Are My Research Questions?

17

17

RESPONDENTS OF RESEARCH

Who Is My Respodents Of The Research?

18

18

CONTENTS OF RESEARCH

What Is My Action For The Research?

How Is My Action Research Process?

How I Collect The Data?

Teachers Journal

20

20

23

25

26


10/79

ix

Structured InterviewAnalysis Students Document / Reflection

2627

REPORT FOR CYCLE ONE

What Is My Action For Cycle One?

Week One (25/06/2012 - 29/06/2012 )

Week Two (02/07/2012 - 09/07/2012)

What Is The Result For Cycle One?

Teachers JournalStructured InterviewAnalysis Pupils Document/ReflectionDiscussion on Results

What Have I Learnt in Cycle One?

31

31

31

32

33

33

3537

41

42

REPORT FOR CYCLE TWO

What Is My Action For Cycle Two?

Week Three (09/07/2012 - 13/07/2012)

Week Four (16/07/2012 - 20/07/2012)

What Is The Result For Cycle One?

Teachers JournalStructured Interview

Analysis Pupils Document/ReflectionDiscussion on Results

What Have I Learnt In Cycle One?

44

44

44

45

45

45

46

48

54

55

WHAT I LEARNT? 57

WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT? 58

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

59

62


11/79


12/79

xi

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1 Pupil's reflective writing. 13

2Questions and answers between researcher and

teacher.16

3 Gantt chart for my Action Research. 24

4 Reflections rubric. 28

5 Rubric validation result. 29

6 Respondents responses in Cycle One. 367 The common mistakes in reflective writing. 37

8Respondents mistakes in week one reflectivewriting (Cycle One).

38

9Respondents mistakes in week two reflectivewriting (Cycle One).

39

10 Respondents responses in Cycle Two. 47

11 The common mistakes in reflective writing (CycleTwo).

48

12Respondents mistakes in week three reflectivewriting (Cycle Two).

49

13Respondents mistakes in week four reflectivewriting (Cycle Two).

52


13/79

xii

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix Page

A Format of Teachers Journal 62

B Teachers Journal Week 1 (Cycle One) 63C Teachers Journal Week 2 (Cycle One) 64

D Teachers Journal Week 3 (Cycle Two) 65E Teachers Journal Week 4 (Cycle Two) 66


14/79

INTRODUCTION

Reflection is a mental activity aimed at investigating ones own action in a

certain situation and involving a review of the experience, an analysis of causes and

effects, and the drawing of conclusions concerning future action (Woerkom, 2003).

Reflection is concerned with consciously looking at and thinking about our

experiences, actions, feelings and responses and then interpreting or analysing them

in order to learn from them (Boud et al., 1994 as cited in Atkins and Murphy, 1994)

Hence, writing reflection is encourage to be included in our teaching & learning

process, so that pupils are able to reach the optimal learning. Furthermore, in

Technology Assistance Programme [TAP] (Southwest Educational Development

Laboratory, 2000) shows that optimal learning environment provides sufficient time

for both action and reflection. However, this is often difficult due to teachers

responsibilities to cover the curriculum and prepare pupils for state examinations.

My experience shows that teachers often end class activities without giving pupils

some formal or informal means of discussing what and how they learned. For

example, teachers often use the remaining time of the lesson to check pupils

correction and giving them some homework to do. Thus, an opportunity for the

meaning making, the introspection of reflection, is lost, and true learning is not fully

actualised despite the importance of reflection in enhancing optimal learning for

pupils.


15/79

2

The best thing any education can bequeath is the habit of reflection and

questioning. Seeing that reflection is one of the best things for education, therefore, I

plan to let my pupils do reflections at the end of every lesson. In addition, according

to Schon (1991), there are two types of reflection: Reflection-in-action and

Reflection-on-action.

Reflection-in-action is concerned with practicing critically. So, aphysiotherapy student working with a client on an exercise programmed is making

decisions about the suitability of particular exercises, which exercise to do next and

judging the success of each exercise at the same time as they are conducting the

activity. Meanwhile, reflection-on-action means reflection occurs after the activity

has taken place when you are thinking about what you (and others) did, judging how

successful you were and whether any changes to what you did could have resulted in

different outcomes. This is usually the type of reflection which you are asked to write

about as part of your studies.

As for my action research, my pupils did their reflection at the end of my

lesson and it is considered as Reflection-on-action. The benefit of doing Reflection-

on-action is it can help pupils understand why they do something in a particular way

and recognising how they feel about it. Furthermore, reflection-on-action can also

help pupils to identify their strengths and weaknesses, and it gives pupils chances to

build their strengths and find out the strategies to minimise their weaknesses. There

is another benefit mention by Hilsdon, 2006 (as cited inLearning Development,

Chapter 11), reflection is more than a set of skills, it is an expression of the natural

relationship that exists between learning and language. So, in my Mathematics


16/79

3

classes, pupils not only learn Mathematics, they can also strengthen their writing

skills by writing out their reflection.

As for me, by reading their reflections, I can improve my teaching skills or

find out suitable teaching strategies to help pupils in optimising their learning

Mathematics. In addition, it is a good opportunity for me to know their feelings in

learning Mathematics so that I can understand my pupils needs. For example, they

say they feel sad for today lesson because I scolded them for making so much noise.

From here, I know how they feel after being scolded and I leave some comments for

them in their reflection as giving chances to them to correct their disruptive

behaviour or to let them realise what they should do next. As for me, reflections by

the pupils are not an imagination of their fantasy world and believe what they reflect

is what really happened.

According to Hatton and Smith (2006), there are four domains of reflective

writing. The very first domain is descriptive writing; it means pupils write out what

had happened in class without giving any reason or mentioning the impact of the

incident happened toward himself or any other people in class. This very first domain

is the basic of the reflective writing so pupils must master the first domain before

moving to the second domain. The second domain is reflective descriptive writing; it

means the writer will mention very detail about the causes and the effect of the

incident that happened in class and writer will also give own opinion or justify the

incident that happened in class. The third domain is reflective dialogue writing; it

means the reflection will be written according to what the writer whispers in his or

her heart. This reflection can contains questions and the writer will also give answers

to those questions. Last but not least, the fourth domain is critical reflective writing;


17/79

4

it means the contents of the reflection is about the incident that happened in class and

the writer relates the incident to the philosophy of Mathematics, philosophy of

Science or any other issues such as economy issues or current issues.

Reflection of My Teaching Experience

Through my experience at SK Stella Maris, Perlis and SK Dato Syed Nahar,

Kedah, I noticed that pupils in these two schools do not have Mathematics note

books or scrap books for computation and writing notes in relation to the

Mathematics lesson. When I asked pupils to take out Mathematics note book to write

some information or notes, pupils always asked me question such as Teacher, what

book should I write it in? Mathematics Book A or B? When I decided to use

Mathematics A, some of the pupils did not have that book as they did not bring it to

school. Therefore most of the times, I would allow them to write the note in any

book or paper as they wish in order to avoid them from doing nothing.

Besides, my teaching approaches during mathematics lessons are often pupils

centred which allow space for lots of discussion.When I organised group discussions

for consolidation activities or any other activities, I usually provides Mini Boards to

them to write down their discussion points so that they can present it later. However,

I found out that pupils usually forget the things discussed after they have presented it

because they need to clean the Mini Board after each presentation so that the board

can be used to write down points for the next discussion. Therefore, they have no

reference to make reflection on what they have done for the whole lesson when

lesson ends.


18/79

5

Nevertheless, I noticed that some of the pupils did not involve themselves in

group discussions as they just sit in their group chatting with their friends or do

nothing. This situation makes them learn nothing during the whole session of

teaching and learning process as they did not involve themselves in group discussion.

So, during the consolidation activities, these pupils could not contribut to their group

members to finish the tasks given as they were not aware of the skills that were

needed to be applied in the task. Thus, the members in the group started to argu with

each other and the smarter pupils of the group would monopolised every task given

by teacher. This created negative situation for group activities as they did not

collaborate and cooperate to solve the task. Last but not least, I would like to ask my

pupils to write their reflections after every Mathematics lessons, so that I know what

they had learnt throughout my lesson. However, my pupils cannot write a proper

reflection for me as they hardly remember what they had discussed. They did not

have any notes to refer to in order to help them in reflecting the outcomes from their

discussion throughout the lesson. Thus, they could not trace back the activities or

their discussion. Thus, they cannot write out a good reflection.

Literature Review

From my experience during School Base Experience and the two phases of

practicum in school, I realise that most primary school teachers did not use a scrap

book for pupils to write lesson note, example of questions and outcome from

discussion. In my point of view, writing can help pupils in learning Mathematics

because children cannot sit long on the chairs and just listen to my explanation.

Drake and Amspaugh (1994) observe that teachers who add writing to their class


19/79

6

Evaluation

Synthesis

Analysis

Applcation

Comprehension

Knowledge

often find it easier to recognize and diagnose the nature of pupils conceptual

problems.

It is also clear that writing-to-learn activitieswriting strategies that give

pupils space to think through their problem-solving processeshave a place in

mathematics courses. Professor of Education at UNC-Charlotte David Pugalee

(1997) argues that writing can help pupils interpret unfamiliar texts, construct

arguments, struggle to understand complex systems, and develop new approaches to

problems. According to the National Institute of Literacy (2007), a researcher

agrees that, reading enable students to improve writing skills and improves their

capacity to learn Mathematics. In my opinion, reflection is very important to develop

pupils cognitive so that they can reach the highest level of Blooms thinking domain,

where they can evaluate their own learning and voice out their feelings.

Figure 1. Adapted from Bloom (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives.


20/79

7

In addition, critical thinking is very important for pupils to optimise their

learning during their golden age of pupils. Mathematics subject need a lot of logical

thinking such as recognising the pattern of equations, recognising the relationship

between equations and understanding the meaning of equations. To recognise the

pattern of equations and the relationship between equations, also, to understand the

meaning of equations, pupils will need to analyse the information given by the

teacher and then apply it in the correct situation. So, pupils should be trained and

drilled to think critically so that they can understand the concept of Mathematics

easily. Scriven & Paul (1987), states that critical thinking is the intellectually

disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analysing,

synthesising and / or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by,

observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication.

Besides, from my experience in school, I noticed that pupils do not have

chances to think critically because the particular primary school teachers often give

drill practices to pupils in order to enhance their understanding about the skills that

they had learned. However, in my opinion, drilling them as an exercise is just like

creating robots for our country. Pupils cannot understand why they need to learn the

skills and how they can apply the skills in their real lives. Therefore, it causes pupils

to lose interests in learning and cannot solve their real lives problem through critical

thinking. Thus, pupils have poor reflective skills as they are not train to think

critically. To master the reflective skill, pupils will need to have critical thinking skill

first so that they can recognise the pattern of an incident and the cause of the incident.

Through reflection, it can help pupils to think more deeply and sometimes

help them to realise or connect the skills with the real life situation. In addition, by


21/79

8

doing reflection, pupils can transform the information they get as the useful skills in

answering Mathematics questions. In the words of Kemmis [1985] (as cited in

Learning through Reflection in Mathematics Teacher Education, 2006) as below:

Reflection is a process of transformation of the determinate raw material of

our experiences given by history and culture, and mediated through the situations

in which we live into determinate products (understandings, commitments,

actions), a transformation effected by our determinate labour (our thinking about

the relationship between thought and action, and the relationship between the

individual and society), using determinate means of production (communication,

decision-making and action)

His statements support my opinion that reflection can be useful helper for my

pupils in their study. Furthermore, Horning (1997) also mentioned about the

importance of reflection for pupils learning process. She stated the importance of

reflection in the writing classroom as follows: First, reflective statements shed

important light on the form and content of pupils written work. Second, reflection

helps pupils become aware of their preferred approaches to writing, and enable them

to take risks to try new and more productive strategies on a particular task. Third,

when revising, pupils may examine their reflections on their earlier process of

writing and consider alternative processes or approaches. Fourth, reflective writing

produces an intimacy between pupils and teachers that enables teachers to respond to

and encourage pupils growth in writing skill; lastly, the reflective statements give

teachers insights into students thinking and development not normally accessible

otherwise.


22/79

9

RESEARCH FOCUS

The focus of my research is to help Year Three pupils develop reflective

writing skills.

What Is My Research Issue?

From my previous experiences, pupils in primary schools were not trained to

write reflection after they have learned a particular lesson. So, I decided to carry out

this research to train them in writing their reflection because I want my pupils to

optimise their learning during Mathematics lesson through reflection. Besides, they

can deeply understand about the skill that they learn in a particular lesson through

reflective writing. For me, writing can be valuable tool for learning content, not just a

way to report what has been learnt.

If pupils were to do verbal reflection, thus, I cannot evaluate their thinking at

that time as the time given is too short for them to make their reflection. Besides,

while evaluating verbal reflection, I might make mistakes as I need to evaluate it

immediately and continuously, plus, I cannot look back at my mistake because there

is nothing left behind for me to check back. In addition, I also have no chance to look

back at my pupils reflection. Another problem is I do not have sufficient time to

evaluate each pupils verbal reflection as they need a lot of time to reflect. So, I

decided to let my pupils write down their reflections in a particular note book so that


23/79

10

they have enough time to write better reflections, while I can evaluate most of the

pupils reflections. Therefore, I strongly believe that Mr Conteng (a scrap book

where pupils can write or draw freely in it) will be very vital as a teaching and

learning aid to help pupils to optimise their learning of Mathematics.

However, they hardly remember what they had done. As a result, their

reflections cannot be evaluated because it contains nothing but just a phrase like I

learned Mathematics today. I let my pupils copied down some notes or write down

their discussion in a scrap book or note book. Now there are something for them to

trace back the activities they had done in class, which helped them in writing their

reflections. As I mention earlier, pupils were not able to do a good reflection in a

short period as they need more times to restructure their reflection, so verbal

reflection is not the best way to do reflection for them. Thus, I let pupils to write

down their reflection and I give some comments on it for them to read. Besides, they

can also refer to their reflection in future to help them in their Mathematics.

McGinley and Tierney (1989) pointed to writing as a means to improve

pupils thinking and reasoning ability in academic subjects. While Walshe (1987)

concluded that writing activities increase the quality of learning by helping pupils

clarify ideas and relationships between Mathematics skills and the activities. Thus,

when pupils write out their reflection, it helps them to reflect more about what they

had learned during the Mathematics lesson and also helps them to discover the

relationship between current Mathematics skills and the Mathematics skills of the

previous lesson.


24/79

11

In TAP (2000), it also recommended pupils to write out their reflection in a

book or journal. It says that writing reflection is an effectual means of prompting

students reflection. Besides, when the pupils reflection is not to be graded and to

maintain their privacy, writing out reflection can be a very potent tool for promoting

pupils reflection.

How I Collect Preliminary Data?

Preliminary data is the work that is put into a grant to convince a panel of

experts that the proposed further experiments are worth doing. It is data that is likely

to be published -it is just the groundwork for the new work to be done.

To identify whether Year Three pupils of SJK (C) Sin Min are trained to

write reflection, I decided to collect some preliminary data before I start my research.

The preliminary data can help me to identify the use of Mr Conteng can help me in

developing pupils reflective writing. Furthermore, I also would like to determine

whether the Year Three mathematics teacher teach her pupils to do reflective writing

or not.

The instruments I used to collect the preliminary data are non-participant

observation and informal interview. Both interview helped me a lot by giving me a

lot of useful information about the Mr Conteng is needed to introduce in my lesson

as a book for my pupils to write their reflections.


25/79

12

Non-participant Observation

In non-participant observation, the observer remains separate from his study

population's activities, and attempts to be unobtrusive (Broshenka & Castro, 1983).

From the observation that I had done within the first week of my practicum, I found

that Year Three pupils do not have the habit of writing reflection after the lesson.

They also did not have a note book or scrap book for Mathematics. So, they just sat

there and listened while I was explaining the Mathematics skill such as reading and

writing the number sentences. When I asked them to discuss certain activities in

groups, they just simply took a blank paper or their own small note book to jot down

the main points for their discussion. However, not every pupil jotted down the points,

some just did not participate actively during the conversations in their own group.

For example, when I finished my first lesson on counting objects up to 10,000

by 1000, 100 and 10, I asked Year Three pupils to write reflection regarding the

lesson. However, the reflections from Year Three pupils showed that they did not

know what to reflect and how to write their reflections. Thus, I spent a few minutes

explaining to them about reflection. After that, I gave them 10 minutes to write their

reflections on a piece of paper. As a result, I found out that most of them still did not

know how to write their reflections. Most of them reflect their feelings such as: I am

happy. Nearly all of them did not write the reason why they felt happy and also did

not write about the incidents or activities that happened during the lesson.

Table 1 show a few reflections randomly picked and translated from

Mandarin to English. These reflections were written by Year Three pupils after my

50 minutes lesson on that day.


26/79

13

Table 1

Pupil's reflective writing.

Reflective Writing Translation

Pupil A

Happy

Pupil B

We are happy.

Pupil C

I am so happy.

Pupil D

Today, teacher took us to

computer laboratory I feel very

happy because teacher lets us to

learn Mathematics and playgame.


27/79

14

(cont)

Pupil E

Today I am so happy, because

teacher takes us to computer

laboratory. Teacher asks us

question and lets us play game.

Pupils written response in Table 1 shows that they are happy with teachers

teaching the lesson. Pupils were able to write out their feeling such as happy and I

am so happy. However from the reflective of Pupil A, Pupil B, Pupil C and Pupil D,

they cannot give any reason for their feeling.

On the other hand, the reflection written by Pupil D and pupil E are better

than Pupil A, B, C and D as they can give me simple reason about their feeling with

complete sentence. However they did not mention about what they had learnt for the

lesson and the process of the activities in class. So, there is still room for

improvement for them to write a better reflection.

From Table 1, I realised that Year Three pupils in SJK (C) Sin Min had poor

skill in reflecting because they cannot think critically about the lesson they had gone

through including the process of their discussion, the activities they had done and the

mathematics skill they had learnt from that lesson. Most of them merely write out

their feelings without providing any reasons. Only two pupils were able to explain

their feeling but yet did not mention about the process, the activities and the

mathematic skills. Lastly, I also realised that most of them cannot write a proper


28/79

15

sentence for their reflection and some of them cannot even write a complete sentence

for their reflection.


A structured interview consists of a series of well-chosen questions (and often

a set of tasks or problems) which are designed to elicit a portrait of a student's

understanding about a scientific concept or set of related concepts (Southerland,

Smith & Cummins, 2000).

I had carried out an interview with the Year Three Mathematics teacher in

this school. She is the only Year Three Mathematics teacher. She has taught

Mathematics for about 8 years and she had three years experience in teaching Year

Three Mathematics. The aim of this interview was to get some information about

how she carried out closure for every lesson and the books that she has been using in

teaching Mathematics.

From the result of the interview (Table 2), it is proven that the Year Three

pupils do not have note books or scrap books for now. Therefore in my research I

will introduce Mr Conteng to Year Three pupils. Secondly, the result of the

interview also shows that the teacher does not implement oral reflection and written

reflection in her lesson. Thus, writing reflection is not yet a learning habit for Year

Three pupils.


29/79

16

Table 2

Questions and answers between researcher and teacher

Questions Answer ( Year Three teachers response)

What do you usually do during

the ending stage?

I usually test studentsunderstanding by giving

worksheets or answering questions on the board

and then I will do conclusion for the lesson.

Do pupils have a book as note

book or scrap book for pupils?

No. I havent done it yet for now but I will ask

them to use a new exercise book when I

needed.

How do you train your student

to think?

I usually post open ended question for them to

try and then I will guide them to the correct

answer.

Do you train your pupils to do

reflection?

No. I have never done it before.

What do you think about their

writing skill?

Their writing skill are poor as they have just

started to learn how to write the essay in Year

Three. In my opinion, they still need some time

to learn to write a complete and correct

sentence.

Conclusion

The results from both non-participant observation and the formal interview showed

that Year Three Pupils of this school did not have a note book or scrap book during

Mathematics lesson. Besides, the results from both data collection showed that Year

Three pupils did not acquire the thinking and writing skills to write reflection in

relation to their Mathematics lesson.


30/79

17

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES & RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What Are My Research Objectives?

In general, the main objectives of this research are to:

1. Develop reflective writing skill among my pupils.2. Implement Mr Conteng in the classroom to develop reflective writing skill

among my pupils.

3. Determine the implication of implementing of Mr Conteng in developingreflective writing skill among my pupils.

What Are My Research Questions?

1. What is the action that I can take to develop reflective writing skill among mypupils?

2. Can the implementation of Mr Conteng helps to develop reflective writingamong my pupils?

3. What is the implication of implementing Mr Conteng in developing reflectivewriting among my pupils?


31/79

18

RESEARCH RESPONDENTS

Who Are My Respondents Of The Research?

SJK (C) Sin Min is the only Chinese primary school in Pauh, Perlis and the

pupils in this school are mostly from nearbyKampung Baru. The total number of

pupils in this school is 135 pupils. There is no good class or weak class in this

school. There is only one just a class for each Education Year consists of pupils

with different abilities in one classroom.

My respondents for this research are the Year Three pupils of SJK (C) Sin Min.

In my class, there are 22 pupils. My class be considered as One Malaysia class as

it includes the three main races of Malaysia. There are 18 Chinese pupils, three

Indian pupils and one Malay pupil. However, this class have some difficulties in

writing the reflection as they are just exposed to essay writing in Year Three.

According to my preliminary data, only two of them can write a simple essay for

their reflection; eight of them can write simple sentences for their reflection; and

12 of them cannot even write a simple sentence for their reflection. So, I need to

waive the grammatical mistakes while looking at their reflections because their

reflections do not based on correct grammar.


32/79

19

Furthermore, according to the Year Three existing teacher, there are two

LINUS pupils whom could not perform well in computation and language writing.

So, I decided not to take these two pupils as my respondents. As time constraints for

my research, I randomly choose eight pupils from 20 pupils as my respondents

because I will evaluate their reflections for each lesson once a week continuously for

four weeks. So, I will need to evaluate 16 reflections attentively so that I can develop

their reflective writing skill through this research.


33/79

20

CONTENTS OF RESEARCH

What Is My Action For The Research?

According to the research focus and the research objectives, I have decided to

introduce Mr Conteng to Year Three Pupils. This Mr Conteng played the role as

a note book, scrap book and reflection journal for my Mathematics lessons. Pupils

used it to copy notes from my lesson, to answer example questions, to write down

their discussion outcomes, to do computation and to write their reflections. Thus, it is

a very useful tool for pupils to learn Mathematics and to improve their reflective

writing skill.

The notes and the discussion outcome in Mr Conteng helped pupils to write

their reflection as pupils can refer to Mr Conteng as reference when they write

reflection. They can recall the skills had been taught by the teacher, information

during their discussion and activities that have been carried out during the particular

lesson. By referring back to the information, their reflections would be more holistic.

Besides, pupils can identify the skills that they have learned before examinations or

any other tests. As the saying goes, killing two birds with one stone. Pupils can

optimise their learning process and they can also take it as reference book in future.


34/79

21

For the reflective writing, I set three aspects for the reflective writing, so that

I can grade their reflection to see their improvement from time to time. The aspects

that pupils should cover in their reflective writing are their feeling after the lesson,

the Mathematics skills that they have learned from the lesson and the activities that

they have done during the lesson. All three aspects are the basic criteria for their

reflective writing and it is important before they can write higher level reflection.

Figure 2. Cover for Mr Conteng decorated by pupils.

Figure 3. Samples of pupils response in Mr Conteng.

Figure 4. Pupils used Mr Conteng as scrap book to docomputation.


35/79

22

Figure 5. Mr Conteng as scrap book and reflective writing.


36/79

23

Preliminary Data

Non-participant

observations

Interview a Year Three

Mathematics Teacher

Cycle Two

Application of MrConteng

Teachers Journal

Structured Interviews

Documents Analysis:Pupils reflective writing

Data Analysis Planning Action for Cycle Two

Cycle One

Application of improved

Mr Conteng

Teachers Journal

Formal Interviews

Documents Analysis:

Pupils reflective writing

Data Analysis and

Writing Report

The Research Process

Figure 6. The process of data collection.


37/79

24

Table 3

Gantt chart for my Action Research

No

Activity Practicum Phase 3

Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1 Determine problems and

preliminary data collection

2 Write action research

proposal

3 Action planning.

NoActivity Internship

Week 1 2 3 4

1 Brief Pupils on MrConteng

2 Carry out first cycle action

3 Analyse pupils reflection

4 Determine the level of

pupils reflection

5 Write Teachers Journal

6 Interview

7 Discussion on theproblems in first cycle

8 Reflection on first cycle

9 Carry out second cycleaction.

10 Analyse pupils reflection

11 Determine the level of

pupils reflection

12 Writing Teachers Journal

13 Interview 14 Discussion on the

problems in second cycle

15 Reflection on second cycle


38/79

25

How I Collect The Data?

Reliability and validity are two aspects which we need to consider during

data collection. They are different but, in fact, they are related to each other (Trochim,

2006). Reliability emphasizes consistency, precision and repeatability of data;

however, validity centered on accuracy and variety of data.

When the data is reliable but not valid, then it may have limited use. So, the

general statement that we make about the world may not be applied to anyone.

However, when the data is valid but not reliable, we cannot make a general statement

about the world, we can only understand something about the particular group of

people that doesnt necessarily apply to all people.

Every research instrument has its weaknesses and we cannot make or plan a

perfect instrument for a research. Hence, triangulation is needed to provide a more

holistic and better understanding of the phenomenon under study of the researcher.

To triangulate data, researcher has to choose two or more suitable instruments so that

the data from each instrument can be used to support each other in a single research.

For my research, I have chosen three instruments to collect my data and the three

instruments are teachers journal, formal interview and analysis of students

document / reflection. Hence I triangulate my methods of data collection.

Figure 7. The data triangulation.


39/79

26

Teachers Journal

According to Alice Orr (2004), the writer's journal is a record of and

workbook for her writing life. It is your repository for bits of experience, observation

and thought destined for eventual use in one writing project or another. The entries in

a personal journal tend to be abstract, but the entries in a writer's journal should be

concrete.

For teachers journal (Appendix A), I wrote down my comments, respondents

weaknesses and the action to be taken after my observation. I wrote the journal

continuously for four weeks and I evaluated my action from time to time.


Interviews are particularly useful for getting the learning situation behind

participants experiences (McNamara, 1999). So, I decided to use structured

interview as one of my action to collect data. From the interview, I want to ensure

that pupils are able to write their reflections and any problems occur in writing

reflections. It is very crucial to determine the reliability of the feedback, so, I plan to

choose a few pupils as subjects from the population wisely.

Interviews are organized every two weeks so that pupils have more time to

try out the reflective writing before they give comments about my action. Each

interview takes about 10 - 15 minutes for each respondent. The interview questions

included How do you feel about writing reflection? Why? , Do writing reflection

help you in learning Mathematics? Why? and Will you continue writing reflection

for other subject? Why?.


40/79

27

The interview was conducted at SJK (C) Sin Mins meeting room as the place

is convenient without interference by other pupils or teachers during the second

recess time, besides, other facilities such as fans, tables and chairs.

The aspect of my interview include pupils perception about Mr Conteng,

such as respondents feeling about reflective writing, how did writing reflection help

them in learning Mathematics and will they continue writing reflection for any other

subject. These three aspects are important to determine the implication of

implementing Mr Conteng in developing reflective writing.

Analysis of Pupils Documents / Reflections

Document analysis is a systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating

documents. Like other analytical methods in qualitative research, document analysis

requires that data be examined and interpreted in order to elicit meaning, gain

understanding and develop empirical knowledge (Corbin and Strauss, 2008).

Meanwhile, scoring rubrics are descriptive scoring schemes that are developed by

teachers or other evaluators to guide the analysis of the products and/or processes of

pupils' efforts (Brookhart, 1999).

So, to interpret and examine pupils reflection, I created a rubric as shown in

Table 4 so that I can examine, interpret and grade respondents reflection based on

the characteristic for each level of reflectionsperformance. The Rubric provides me

clear information about how well they are able to write their reflections. By using the

rubrics, I examined pupils reflection once a week continuously for two weeks. Each

week I checked and interpreted 22 reflections. However, I only took eight reflections


41/79

28

of my respondents for my first cycle. These eight reflections were graded according

to the rubric that I had created.

Table 4

Reflections rubric.

Level Characteristic

0 Not achieving the basic reflective level such as descriptive writing,

reflective writing, reflective dialogue writing and critical reflective writing

1 Descriptive writing; pupils write out what had happened in class without

giving any reason or mentioning the impact of the incident happened

toward himself or any other people in class.

2 Reflective descriptive writing; pupil will write very detailed about the

causes and the effects of the incident happened in class and the writer will

also give own opinion or justify the incident that happened in class.

3 Reflective dialogue writing; pupil write reflection according to what they

whisper in heart. The reflection can contains some questions and answers

are provided.

4 Critical reflective writing; the contents of the pupils reflection is about

the incident happened in class and writer relate the incident to the

philosophy of Mathematics and current issue.

* Grammar mistake are not taken into account.

To validate my rubric, I have asked two experience teachers in this school to

grade five examples of reflective writing of my respondents. The first teacher (TOne)

is an English teacher who is teaching Year Six pupils and the second teacher (TTwo)

is also a Mathematics teacher, who is teaching Year Three pupils. Both of them have


42/79

29

almost 10 years teaching experience at the primary school. According to the result

of the validation as showed in Table 5, the rubric is reliable as the grading of the five

pupils reflection by the two teachers and I would have high consistency. According

to TOne, she said that this rubric is very clear and easy to understand. However, the

pupils make a lot of grammatical mistakes and she felt that it is hard for her to

dismiss the grammar mistakes. Meanwhile, TTwo said that the reflection is easy to

be graded by following the rubrics as the rubric is easy to understand. In addition,

she is very surprise that there were two pupils who can write reflection identified to

be at level one during their first trial.

Table 5

Rubric validation result.

Pupils Reflection TranslationLevel of reflection

TOne TTwo Me

Today, teacher takes us to

the Computer Laboratory.Teacher gives us a sticker

because we done our

homework very well.

0 0 1

Today I feel very happy

because my group get six

points and we played

together.

0 0 0

Today I did subtraction. I

feel very cold. I feel very

happy. I feel very sleepy

too. Teacher scolded us

and gave us a lot of

subtraction questions.

1 1 1


43/79

30

(cont)

Today we learned

subtraction, two problem

solving questions and three

subtraction questions.Today is Thursday so we

have class in Computer lab.

My group get one more

sticker today.

1 1 1

Today I feel very happy

because teacher taught us

subtraction.

0 0 0


44/79


45/79

32

To do reflection at the end of the lesson, I asked my pupils to close their eyes

and think back what they had done and learned throughout the lesson. After five

minutes, I allowed them to write their reflections in Mr Conteng. Sometime,

environment can affect their reflections. Thus, it is important for them to remain in

the same environment while writing reflection, as they can refer to the existing

environment. For pupils who had difficulties to construct their reflections in word

thus, they can ask their friends or ask researcher to show them the word. However,

some of them could not finish it in class so I let them continue to write their

reflection at home.

At the beginning of the second lesson, I randomly chose a few pupils to read

out their reflection so that they shared their feeling and learning processes with their

friends. This can help to enhance the relationship between pupils and between pupils

and teachers. In addition, it can help them to improve their communication skills and

built their courage to speak in front of others. However, due to time constraint, I

postponed the sharing session to the next lesson. As a result, every pupil have chance

to share their reflection with their friends. However, I could only carry out the

sharing session for the first two weeks because I had to finish a few sub topics before

pupils examination.

Week Two (02/07/2012 - 09/07/2012)

During week two, I introduced three questions as guidance to my pupils to

write their reflection because their reflection during week one did not satisfied me.

The three questions were What mathematics skill have you learned today?, What

activities have you done today? and How do you feel about todays lesson?.


46/79

33

Pupils are requaired to copy the questions into Mr Conteng so that they can refer to

the guided questions from time to time. Besides, I also asked my pupils to read the

comments which I had written in Mr Conteng so that they know their weaknesses

in their reflective writing skill. In addition, to stimulate their learning in Mathematics,

I introduced King of Puzzle. The group that can finish the exercise in time (I will

set the time limit according to the amount of questions given), I gave a piece of

puzzle to the group and the group would paste the puzzle on the puzzle board. The

groups which complete the puzzle would be given a sticker for their sticker board.

What Is the Result For Cycle One?

Teachers Journal

From my observation in week one (Appendix B), I noticed that the

respondents used Mr Conteng to jot down notes and answer a few sample

questions. However, when respondents wrote their reflections, all of them did not

refer to their notes in Mr Conteng. Furthermore, they did not mention the skills

they had learned and the activities they had carried out. Their reflections were too

short and only two of the respondents were identified as level one.

So, I guided them to write proper reflection based on three questions: What

mathematics skill have you learned today?, What activities have you done today?

and How do you feel about todayslesson?. I reminded them to refer to their Mr

Conteng while doing reflection. From my point of view, my respondents did not

have the skills needed to write their reflection.


47/79

34

Today we learnt

regrouping.

Today, I am very happy because I

went to Computer Lab for my lesson.

I learnt addition where I added two

numbers, and then I add another

number. I have done 11 questions

plus 3 questions and it is very easy.We have competed with other groups

to see which group finish homework

first and my group gets the second

piece of the puzzle. But we were

reprimanded by teachers. Mak Han

Wee is pitiful because he was scoldedby teacher because the teacher says

he did not do homework and was

Week one Week two

Figure 9. Reflective writing by Respondent C

During week two observation (Appendix C), my respondents fully use Mr

Contengduring my mathematics lesson. By referring to the three questions given,

they improved a lot in their reflective writing. As a result, six out of eight

respondents reflection were identified to be at level one. For example, Figure 9

shows the improvement of Respondent Cs reflective writing. Figure 10 show that

Respondent B did not show any improvement for her reflective writing. From my

point of view, my respondents cognitive are still immature and they need guidance

such as questioning to improve their thinking skill.


48/79

35

Figure 10. Two weeks of reflective writing constructed by Respondent B.


From respondents responses as shown in Table 6, I summarised the

interview process and the results are:

How do you feel about writing reflection? Why?

When I asked the above question to Respondent A, she frowned and said that

she dislikes writing the reflection as she has not done it before. According to her,

reflective writing was a new thing. In addition, Respondent C said that writing

reflection is annoying as he did not like to think. However, he said that he was able

to write reflection confidently by referring to the three questions given by teacher.

However, Respondent H gave the opposite view as she said that she likes to write

reflection because it is just like writing in a diary. Respondent H agreed that the three

questions given by teacher is helping her a lot in writing reflection.

Today, I am very happy

because I learnt subtraction.

I am very happy, I went to Computer

Lab. I learnt Mathematics in mandarin,

I have done 6 questions. I know how to

do, I played game. I get ruler.

Week one Week two


49/79

36

Did writing reflection help you in learning Mathematics? How?

Respondent A and C gave the same responses as they said that writing

reflection did not help them in learning Mathematics. For Respondent C, he learn

Mathematics through extra homework and tuition. However, Respondent H

confidently said that writing reflection can help her remember what she had learnt

throughout the classroom activities.

Will you continue writing reflection for other subject? Why?

For this question, Respondent A, C and H would not continue writing

reflection for other subjects. This is due to their inability to write a proper reflection.

Furthermore, Respondent C would not write the reflection for other subject due to

time constraint and Respondent H, claimed that she did not have guided questions to

write the reflection for other subjects.

Table 6

Respondents responses in Cycle One.

Questions/Answer Respondent A Respondent H Respondent C

How do you feel

about writing

reflection? Why?

Writing

reflection is

hard for me

because I did

not learn it

before.

I like to write

reflection because it

is just like writing

diary and I do not

have a diary before.

Furthermore, teacher

gives me threequestions as

guidance and it help

me a lot.

I feel that writing

reflection is

annoying because

I do not like to

think. However, I

can write the

reflection asteacher gives me

three questions as

guidance.

Did writing

reflection help you

in learning

Mathematics?

How?

No because I

still do not

know how to

write a proper

reflection.

Yes, because

reflection can help

me remember what I

have learnt through

the activities.

No, because I

usually do a lot of

exercise during

tuition and extra

homework from

my parent.


50/79

37

(cont)

Will you continue

writing reflection

for other subject?

Why?

No because I

still do not

know how to

write a properreflection.

No because I do not

have question as

guidance for the

subject.

No, because I do

not have time to

do it.

Analysis Pupils Document/Reflection

By analysing the respondents reflective writing in week one (Table 8), Ifound out that there was no respondent had constructed the level one reflection in

week one. All of them have failed to fulfil the level one requirement in the

reflections rubric (Table 4). In week two, there was six respondents were able to

construct the level one reflective writing. However, there were two respondents were

still remain in level zero as they still failed to fulfil the level one requirement.

By analysing respondents reflective writing level, I have coded some

common mistakes made by the respondents (Table 7).

Table 7

The common mistakes in reflective writing.

Code Common Mistakes

1 Did not mention the Mathematics skill learned for the lesson.

2 Did not mention the incidents in class.

3 Did not mention their feeling.

4 Did not mention the activities carried out in consolidation.


51/79

38

To grade pupils reflection as level one reflection, they must not have three or more

mistakes in their reflection.

Table 8

Respondents mistakes in week one reflective writing (Cycle One).

Respondent Reflective Writing Translation Codes Level

A

Today I have done

subtraction. I felt

sleepy. Teacher

wanted us to

cooperate. Teacherscolded us. Teacher

doesnt like us to

talk nonsense.

1,3,4 0

BToday, I am very happy

because I learnt

subtraction.1,2,4 0

C

Today we learnt

regrouping.1,2,3,4 0

D

Today I am so happy

because my group

member gets 6

marks. We are good

to each other.

1,2,4 0

E

Today, I am very

happy because

teacher taught us

subtraction.

1,2,4 0


52/79

39

(cont)

F

Today I am so happy

because teacher

taught us subtraction

with regrouping.

2,4 0

G

Today I felt sad, I do

not know why I am

sad. We take part in

a competition.

1,2,4 0

H

Today I am so happy

because we had a

competition, many

groups did not finish

the game, so teacher

let us do it at home.

1,3,4 0

Table 9

Respondents mistakes in week tworeflective writing (Cycle One).

Respondent Reflective Writing Translation Mistakes Level

A

Adding up two

numbers up to 4-digits

with regrouping.

2,3,4 0

B

I am very happy, I goto Computer Lab. I

learn Mathematics in

mandarin, I have done

6 questions. I know

how to do, I played

game. I get ruler.

1,2,4 0


53/79

40

(cont)

C

Today, I am very happy

because I went to

Computer Lab for my

lesson. I learnt addition

where I added two

numbers, and then I addanother number. I have

done 11 questions plus 3

questions and it is very

easy. We have competed

with other groups to see

which group finish

homework first and my

group gets the second

piece of the puzzle. But we

was scolded by teachers.

Mak Han Wee is pitiful

because he was scolded by

teacher because teacher

said he did not do his

homework and talkative.

- 1

D

Today I am happy, I

went to Computer

Laboratory for class, I

learnt addition up to

three numbers without

regrouping, I know

how to do it, I played

a game, I won, and I

get an angry bird

sticker.

4 1

E*

Today, I felt a bit sad

because Mak Han

Wee was scolded by

teacher as he was

noisy.

1,4 1

F

Today I felt a bit sad,

because the teacher

scolded us as we did

not listen to him

especially Thomas. He

is troublesome. But I

felt a bit happy

because we went to

Computer Lab and

learnt addition up to

three numbers without

regrouping.

4 1


54/79

41

(cont)

G

Today I am not happy

because teacher was

very angry. We did

our class in Computer

Lab. I have learntaddition within 1000,

addition up to three

numbers without

regrouping. I have

done 11 addition

questions.

4 1

H

Today I am very

happy because

teacher took us to

Computer Lab,teacher taught us

addition up to three

numbers without

regrouping. We have

done 11 additionquestions and I know

how to do them.

4 1

*Respondent E was able to justify briefly about why Mak Han Wei was scolded.

Discussion on Results

By referring to week one Teachers Journal, reflective writing is still a new

skills for Year Three pupils. Thus, they needed guidance to lead them to write a

better reflection. To guide them in writing a proper reflection, I provided them three

basic questions so that they construct better reflective writing during week two.

Furthermore, my respondents were not able to construct a level one reflection in

week one as they did not fully use Mr Conteng. This was because Mr Conteng

was a new companion to them in learning mathematics. From the analysis of their

reflections, it showed that they do not know what they should reflect upon and how

to write their reflection. Thus, all reflections were identified at level 0.


55/79

42

From the result in Teachers Journal in week two, I realised that my

respondents have improve their reflective skills and they can construct the level one

reflection by referring to the three guided questions given and their notes while

writing their reflection. However, I realised that Respondent A and B had difficulty

writing the reflection. They sat and did nothing for most of the time. It showed that

Respondent A and B could not construct level one reflection. Meanwhile, the other

six respondents have improvements in their reflective writing due to guided

questions given to them. However, the sentences that they use to describe the

incidents were limited.

Constructing level one reflection required pupils to write concrete experience

about what they could see and what really happened. So, most of them can reach

level one as the guided questions stimulate their mind to think back what they had

gone through in the class. In conclusion, my guided questions could not help

Respondent A and B to produce the level one reflection. Thus, I would like to

continue guiding these two respondents (Respondent A and B) to construct level one

reflection. At the same time I also want to guide the six respondents to construct

level two reflections in Cycle Two.

What Have I Learnt In Cycle One?

In Cycle One, the first example that I showed to my pupils was a reflection

required by researcher. However, it was not suitable because Year Three pupils still

cannot think from teachers standpoint. Thus, I used a sample from pupils

standpoint when explaining to them on how to do the higher level of reflection so

that they can easily understand it. Besides the eight respondents, there was eight


56/79

43

pupils did not show their interest in writing the reflection. After I interviewed four of

them, I found out that their writing skill was very bad and some of them still do not

know how to make sentences. Besides, pupils with races, their mandarin knowledge

was limited and that was the reason they could not write proper reflection. Lastly, I

realised that the cognitive level of Year Three pupils could be develop to a higher

level as long as teacher guides them by using proper questioning technique. Good

open-ended questions with answers can stimulate them to think. They will learn from

the example and some of them can expand their thinking process. So, we must train

pupils to think critically since they are young so that we can produce the pupils with

creative and innovative thinking.


57/79

44

Figure 11.Example of level two reflective writing.

REPORT FOR CYCLE TWO

What Is My Action For Cycle Two?

Week Three (09/07/2012 - 13/07/2012)

For week three, I started Cycle Two for my action research. In Cycle Two, I

would like to guide two of my respondents to produce level one reflection and the

other six of my respondents to produce level two reflection. So, an example of level

two reflection from pupils standpoint (Figure 11) was shown to the respondents and

explained to them on how to improve their reflections as they will need to justify the

incidents in classroom.

Why? Why? Why?

Yesterday I went to Science Laboratory

for Mathematics class. I like the Lab

because it i s very comfortable. Teacher

taught us to build the Multiplication

Tables of Six and Seven and I felt that this

lesson was very meaningful as I reali zedand understood on how the

Mul tipl ication Tables were buil t. Teacher

let us played the Angry Bird Puzzle, I felt

that it was very interesting because we

needed to f ind a correct answer for each

equation so that we can find out the

correct puzzle pieces to complete the

puzzle.


58/79

45

Week Four (16/07/2012 - 20/07/2012)

For week four, I realised that my pupils could not write the reflection which

can fulfil the criteria of level two reflection. So, I introduced three guided questions

to my pupils and the three questions were Do you like todayslesson? Why?, Do

you like the game for the lesson? Why? and How do you feel about teachers

teaching? .

What Is The Result For Cycle Two?

Teachers Journal

Before asking my respondents to write the reflection, I explained to them ways to

improve their reflection with an example so that they can reach level two. At the

same time, I showed level one reflection examples to Respondent A and B as I would

like to guide them to produce the level one reflection. From my observations in week

three (Appendix D), I found out that my respondents wrote better level one reflection

as they described more about the activities during the classroom. Meanwhile,

Respondent H was very active in writing the reflection as she kept asking me the

Chinese words as her knowledge is limited. However, they cannot justify the

incidents in class. When asked they could only nodded or just smile to me. Thus,

their reflection could not reach level two. As a result, I decided to give them guided

questions again so that they can construct level two reflections by referring to the

questions. For examples, the questions are Do you like todayslesson? Why?, Do

you like the game for the lesson? Why? and How do you feel about teachers

teaching? .


59/79

46

For week four observation (Appendix E), based on body language such as

scratching head while thinking and staring at Mr Conteng, I realised that my

respondents still could not write the level two reflection, I can see that they cannot

think about the causes and effect of the incident and to justify the incidents. In my

opinion, my rrespondents need longer period to improve their thinking skill. They

need more examples to help them in writing higher level reflection.


From respondents responses as shown in Table 10, I summarisedthe

interview process and the results are:

How do you feel about writing higher level reflection? Why?

While answering my questions, Respondent A, C and H look puzzled.

Respondent A said that writing higher level (level two) reflection is hard for her

because she did not know how to give reason. Respondent C mentioned that it is hard

to write higher level reflection as he does not know how to write even with the

guidance of the guided questions. Meanwhile, Respondent H answered in a low

voice and said that I think that it is hard for me because I cannot think of any reason

to write about the incidents in class. It is not the same as writing the reflection before.

I would like to write a story rather than giving reason. I asked her why the low

voice and she said she lack the confidence in writing the higher level of reflection

and she felt sorry.

Did writing higher level reflection help you in learning Mathematics? Why?


60/79

47

All three respondents said that writing higher reflection did not help them in

learning mathematics as Respondent A said that she cannot relate to the higher level

reflection with the Mathematics lesson. While Respondent H gave the reason that she

cannot write a correct higher level reflection and Respondent C claimed that he really

did not know how to write higher level reflection.

Will you continue writinghigher level of reflection for Mathematics? Why?

All three respondents claimed that they would not continue writing higher

level of reflection for Mathematics. Respondent A said that it is too hard for her to

write the higher level reflection. Meanwhile, Respondent C reasoned that he did not

like the higher level reflection as it is too tough for him. Respondent H refused to

continue writing the reflection. However she might continue writing the reflection

but not the higher level reflection.

Table 10

Respondents responses in Cycle Two.

Questions/Answer Respondent A Respondent H Respondent D

How do you feel

about writing

higher level

reflection? Why?

Writing

reflection is

hard for me

because I do

not know how

to give reason.

I think that it is hard

for me because I

cannot think of any

reason to write on

the incidents that

happen in class. It is

not the same as

writing the reflection

before. I like to write

story rather than

giving reason.

It is too hard for

me. I do not

understand how

to write the

higher level

reflection with

the guided

questions.

Do writing higher

level reflection

help you in

learning

Mathematics?

Why?

No because I

cannot relate

the reflection

with the

Mathematics

lesson.

No because I cannot

write a correct

higher level

reflection.

No because I

really do not

know how to

write higher level

reflection.


61/79

48

(cont)Will you continue

writing higher

level of reflection

for Mathematics?

Why?

No because it

is too hard for

me.

No because I do not

like to write higher

level reflection.

No because I do

not like to write

higher level

reflection.

Analysis Pupils Document/Reflection

By analysing the respondents reflective writing in week three (Table 12), I

found out that there was no respondent had constructed the level two reflection. All

of them have failed to fulfil the requirement of level two reflection in the rubric

(Table 4). However, six of the respondents could construct a better level one

reflection compare to their reflections in week two, while, Respondent A and B could

construct level one reflection. In week four, all of the respondents were still failed to

construct the level two reflective writing (Table 13) as they still could not justify the

incident happened.

By analysing respondents reflective writing level, I have coded some

common mistakes made by the respondents in Cycle Two (Table 11).

Table 11

The common mistakes in reflective writing (Cycle Two).

Code Common Mistakes

1 Did not mention the Mathematics skill learned for the lesson.

2 Did not mention the incidents in class.

3 Did not mention their feeling.

4 Did not mention the activities carried out in consolidation.

5 Did not justify the Mathematics skill learned, the incidents or activities.


62/79

49

To grade pupils reflection as level two reflection, they must not have any three

mistakes in their reflection and they must justify incidents, activities or the

Mathematics skill learned.

Table 12

Respondents mistakes in week threereflective writing (Cycle Two).


A

Today I have class at the

Science Laboratory and I am

happy. I learn Multiplicationas repeated addition for 6.

Today teacher let us play

secret code game. We found

the code as RAJIN and we get

the Angry Bird Sticker.

5 1

B

Today I am happy, we have

class at Science Laboratory. I

learn how to construct the

Multiplication Table of 6 & 7.I answered 2 questions from

teacher and I get the correct

answer for them. I did play a

game and we won.

4,5 1

C

Today I am so happy because

teacher did not get angry and

did not scold us. I felt that

teacher like us. Today we

have class the ScienceLaboratory. Today we learnt

Multiplication as repeated

addition. Teacher let us write

multiplication in repeated

addition. We answered 12

questions.

4,5 1


63/79

50

(cont)

D

I am so happy, I go to Science

Laboratory for class, I learnt

how to build the

Multiplication 6 & 7, I playeda game, I got 22 marks, I got

Angry Bird sticker.

5 1

E

Today, I felt happy because

teacher takes us to Science

Laboratory. I saw many

teachers sitting behind and I

sat down too. Then, teacher

taught us to write therepeated addition. Teacher

gave us time to do some

exercises. After that, Teacher

taught us multiplication.

Teacher asked us not to be

careless and do it slowly so

that we wont do it wrong.

4,5 1

F

Today I am very happy

because we went to Science

Laboratory for class. We

learnt Multiplication as

repeated addition. We have

done 12 questions as

exercise. After I finished the

12 questions, I felt tired but it

was very easy. We played

game but we do not get the

price.

4,5 1


64/79

51

(cont)

G

Today I am so happy because

we have class in Science

Laboratory. Teacher taught

us to write repeated addition

as multiplication. We just

need to add and no need to

memorise multiplication.

Teacher said multiplication is

repeated addition.

2,4,5 1

H


because teacher took us to

Science Laboratory. Teacher

taught us Multiplication asrepeated addition and gave

us some exercises. Then

teacher gave us 8 questions

as homework. Teacher let us

play a game, Teacher wanted

us to help the pirate to open

the treasure chest by finding

the secret code. Teacher gave

us a card to write down the

code. Teacher gave us three

minutes to find the secretcode and then put it on the

board. All other group get

RAJIN and only my group got

the wrong code because we

wrote as TAJIN. So we do not

get the prize. Then the bell

rung and we go back to class.

5 1


65/79

52

Table 13

Respondents mistakes in week fourreflective writing (Cycle Two).


A

My class was in the

Computer Laboratory

and I felt comfortable

and sleepy because it

was very cold. I thought

that multiply two digits

numbers by one digit

numbers is easy.

Suddenly felt very hot. I

played with Pikachu andwas very happy. I helped

Doraemon find secret

code which was also very

fun. Teachers class very

fun.

5 1

B

I think that multiply two

digits numbers by one

digit numbers is easy. I

think that helping

Doraemon find the secretcode is fun. In my

opinion, Teacher Wongs

class is fun and no need

improve anything.

3,5 1

C

For me, learning in

Computer Laboratory is

comfortable because got

air-cond. I think thatmultiply two digits


numbers is easy. Helping

Pikachu finding the way

home is boring.

5 1


66/79

53

(cont)

D

Today I went to the

Computer Laboratory for

class and I like it because

it is very comfortable.Teacher taught us to

multiply two digits


numbers and it is difficult

for me.(Repeated for

two times). It is fun to

help Doraemon to find

the secret code.

2,5 1

E

Today, I am happybecause teacher took us

to Computer Laboratory.

Teacher taught us

multiply two digits


numbers. It is very easy.

Teacher asked us to

answer the question in

pg23. Then it is fun to

help Doraemon in

finding the secret codebecause teacher let us

see his picture with

Doraemon. I think that

teacher do not need to

improve.

5 1

F


because we helped

Doreamon to find out the

secret code for his door.The code is HAPPY. Our

group is the fastest

group. Multiply two

digits numbers by one

digit numbers is easy to

me.

5 1


67/79

54

(cont)

G

Yesterday, I went to

Computer Laboratory

and I liked it because it is

comfortable. We learntmultiply two digits


numbers. This lesson was

very easy because

Madam Yin Su taught me

before. I think that

helping Pikachu getting

its way home is fun

because we just need to

multiply.

5 1

H


because teacher took us

to Computer Lab, I like

Computer Lab very much

because it is cold. I think

that multiply two digits


numbers is easy. Helping

Doraemon finding the

secret code is fun. Mr

Wongs class is fun andhe does not need any

improvement.

5 1

Discussion on Result

Results from my data analysis showed that Respondent A and B constructed

the level one reflection and the other six respondents had difficulties in justifying the

incidents. They had a hard time in giving reasons for the incidents as it showed from

their body language. This is supported by interviewing them as they claimed that

they did not like to write the higher level reflections. While analysing their

reflections, the results showed that they cannot justify the incident happened in their

reflection. They can only write the reason that was told by teacher and they did not


68/79

55

justify it with their own reflection such as teacher scolded us because I did not listen

to teacher and my friends were talking while teacher was teaching.

None of their reflections reached level two based on the rubric. Furthermore,

their reflective writing lack creativity as their reflections is almost the same such as

their feeling. However, four of them could produce better quality level one reflection

as they could describe the incidents with more details. As a result, Year Three pupils

were not able to write level two reflections as their cognitive level were still in

concrete level as they can only write out the incidents they had gone through but not

to justify them.

The findings of this research was supported by Piaget in Piagets Stages of

Cognitive Development (as cited in Cognitive Levels Matching, 1983), the cognitive

level of children from 7 - 11 year old are still in a concrete operational stage where

children develop logical structures to deal with changing object in the physical world.

He also mentioned that children were able to give reason and abstract thought

starting from 11 years old. So, I need more time to guide my respondents to write the

higher level reflection as their cognitive skill is in concrete operational stage. Thus, I

will need to provide more examples so that they are able to learn from the examples

in helping them to develop their reflective skill through examples.

In conclusion, I managed to train my respondents to write out the level one

reflection where they wrote about what had happened in class without having to

reason or mention the impact of the incidents. However, because of their cognitive

development, they need longer period and guidance with more examples so that they

can produce level two reflection where they can write in detail about the causes and

effects of the incidents and to provide opinion or to justify the incident in class. In


69/79

56

my own opinion, writing reflection is good but not for pupils as they need to be train

on how to reflect and to construct reflection.

What Have I Learnt in Cycle Two?

After evaluating my pupils response, I found out that I should motivate them

to write their reflection. Without motivation, some of my pupils started to lose

interest in writing the reflection. However eight of my respondents lost interest in

writing reflections because level two reflection is too abstract for them. Justifying an

incident is not easy to them and I should give them more examples. However,

because of time constraints, the examples and the guidance that I had given to them

is limited. Thus, if I want to continue this research in other schools, I think I will

need to use the time after school to train my pupils reflective thinking.

According to the results, I am very satisfied as they started from zero and

now they can produce a good quality level one reflection. Although the research took

about four weeks, the cooperation that was given by my respondents helped me to

complete this research. In my opinion, introducing reflective writing to Year Three

pupils is very good training for developing their creative and critical thinking.


70/79

57

WHAT I LEARNT?

After going through two cycles for my action research, because of time

constraint, my respondents still cannot construct the reflection which can help to

improve my teaching quality. I need more time to train them to think critically and

creatively as all of them