Farhan
I hesitated prior to the project due to being nervous and I thought of opting out last minute. However, being nervous is normal because you’re afraid of things that you don’t know about. What I loved about the project was that it does not only help the students learn and grasp the important bits but also help the volunteers improve themselves as a person. It brings forward a new level of teamwork as you work with people who you never knew beforehand and I personally think it’s part of growing up.
I loved the idea of being flexible. The whole project was a combination between deciding activities together as a team and being able to change it when it needed to change. The idea of being flexible also showed during Project Keceriaan when the project was prolonged into a week long period. It showed us the ability of the students being able to help out when necessary and expressed the passion that is inside everyone’s hearts.
Initially the common mistake was that we were trying to teach the students like how teachers do in a classroom. Upon discussion, we realised that we came here not to teach but to motivate and make them understand what success is, even though we haven’t fully achieved success in our lives. I’ve always thought to myself that in the end “Did we manage to open the doors for them to walk through it?”. Again, we weren’t supposed to teach like teachers. We’re supposed to make them like the subject so it’s easier for them to learn in the future.
I was brought up in an environment that made me love maths, even though it was partially scary at the time. I grew up knowing that it was important and fun especially when you understand it. I brought that world that I had previously and showed it to my maths students. It was a world that made me interested in mathematics and surprisingly enough it made them understand the whole concept of the things that we were supposed to learn together. Rather than becoming a teacher, or a motivator, I thought at the time it was better for me to be a brother to them. This made them more confident in asking more questions regarding things they don’t understand and that is the first step to understanding mathematics. Questions. Other than questions, making them confident in making and acknowledging their mistakes is as important a priority as the questions in their mind. In the end, I was able to answer the initial question that I had “Was I able to open the doors for them to walk though it?” when it was proven to be successful through their post-test results.
Written by,
Farhan Shaman
