Today (21/10/2019) is my last day working as a substitute teacher at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pasir Gudang 2 (SPADU). I teach History subject for the upper and lower form 6 students. So for this article, I will cover on how to apply for the position, my review on working as a substitute teacher, and what I have learnt from this experience.
How To Apply?
1. Searching For Vacancy
First, go to Facebook and search 'Guru Ganti KGSK (then type in your area)' page. For example, KGSK Pasir Gudang. Then, in KGSK page, you can search any vacancies available. You can choose the subject you want to teach and it is not necessary the subject that you are looking for is available, it depending on the available vacancies. For my case, I am looking for science subject especially Biology, but since there is no any position for biology teacher, then I choose to become a History teacher.
2. Fill In The Form
Click here or you can drop your email address in the comment section below, I will send to you the form in word format.
3. Send Your Form to PPD
After you finish filling in the form, then you can send the form to the nearest PPD office. Since I stay in Pasir Gudang, then I send my form to PPD Pasir Gudang. Don't forget to send your form along with 3 copies of your IC, 3 copies of your academic certs and a passport photo.
Review
The working hour is from 7.15 am to 2.30 pm (Sunday and Thursday) and 7.15 am to 3 pm (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). As I am a Pre-University teacher, I only teach 1 subject, so my daily schedule is not too busy. Usually, in one day I only had 2 classes and each class will be an hour and 20 minutes.
2. Learning and Teaching Process (Pembelajaran Dan Pengajaran P&P)
As I mention earlier, each class will be held for 1 hour and 20 minutes. The learning and teaching process is based on syllabus or chapter in the textbook. For STPM students, they don't have any specific textbook unlike mainstream students (form 1 to form 5). So please be careful and alert as the content might differ from one textbook to the other. My teaching method is using slides presentation, quick quiz via Kahoot, videos, tests and a quick recap every Thursday. I believe these methods can attract the students to start loving the History subject. By using slides and videos, I can share the images of real situation or real person that have been mentioned in the book. Meanwhile Kahoot is the best way to do quick revision for a subject. Even though for STPM level where the answer should be in essay form, Kahoot might help the students to remember some key points or events that couldhelp them to answer the questions.
3. Salary / Allowance
The allowance is based on the level of the academic. Here is the list of allowance according to the academic level of the teacher; SPM - RM 54, STPM/Diploma - RM 72, Degree - RM 100, Master - RM 110 and PhD - RM 150. The allowance is only paid for working days only.
4. Period of Working
The period of working as subs teacher is usually for 3 months as most of the vacancies are due to maternity leave, so it might be less or more than 3 months if the permanent teacher is not available due to other reason such as accidents etc. This job is suitable for those who are in job hunting and students who are in semester break.
What I Have Learnt?
1. Teach Other Peoples is The Best Way to Enhance Our Understanding/Knowledge
This point is very useful especially for students out there who always struggling to understand what they have learnt. I am a fresh grad from Biotechnology with Management, so history is not my area of expertise. We always heard that 'if you understand what you have learnt, you must be able to explain it to other people' and I strongly agree with this statement. I realized that the more I explain the fact of history to my students, the more I understand the chronology or reason behind of the event. Besides, we will receive a lot of questions from the students and of course this is the best way to test our understanding and knowledge. If we cannot answer the question, it's okay, go back to the laptop and textbook and do some extra research about the topics.
2. Best Place to Improve Our Interpersonal Skill / Soft skills
I never thought that I can speak at least for an hour in each class session to the students. Besides, I have to deal with permanent staffs such as senior teachers (which are same age with my mother!). This helps me to develop my interpersonal skills such as my communication, teamwork, problem-solving and etc. Before I worked as a substitute teacher, I have failed several interview sessions for the jobs that I have applied, but thanks to the experiences that I have learned as a teacher, finally I pass an interview and got a job as Quality Assurance (QA) at Biocon Sdn. Bhd.
