Big Books, or large book learning media, are learning tools that aim to improve students’ interest in learning. The interesting pictures displayed in the Big Book make students excited to identify the alphabet and writings. This book can be self-made by the teacher using interesting language. To maximize the teachers’ potential in making these Big Books, the Bangil district in Pasuruan regency, which is currently in the COVID-19 yellow zone, is holding a face-to-face Big Book training.
While in the yellow zone, the Teacher Working Group (Kelompok Kerja Guru, or KKG) of Elementary School Cluster 3 (SD Gugus Sekolah 3) in Bangil district, Pasuruan regency took the initiative to hold a face-to-face literacy training, specifically for making Big Books. The training activity, which was held on 2 December 2020, lasted for a day.
Even though it was carried out face-to-face, according to Eka Oktavia, the Regional Facilitator from Pasuruan regency who guided the training, the health protocol was followed during the activity. “The attending participants must wear masks and not in a condition, where s/he is carrying symptoms of illness. When entering the room, all participants and training guides must wash their hands and have their body temperature measured,” said Eka.
Participants were early grade teachers from the School Cluster 3 Bangil subdistrict—a total of 36 teachers from grades 1, 2, and 3. Participants were then divided into six large groups to maintain health protocols, such as keeping their distance from one another. The divisions consisted of two groups from grade 1, two groups from grade 2, and two groups from grade 3, with each group consisting of six members.
The biggest challenge in training activities during a pandemic is the participants’ reduced freedom to discuss, especially during group discussions. “Early on, we reminded everyone about the health protocol during this activity so that even during the discussion sessions, participants still had to maintain a minimum distance of one meter from each other. Despite the limitation, the material was well-conveyed, and each group finished the Big Book well,” she explained.
According to Eka, this activity was entirely funded by the School Cluster 3 and was taken from the School Operational Funds (Dana Operasional Sekolah, or BOS) for teacher capacity development.
Hanum Mufarrokhah, S. Pd. SD., a grade 1 teacher of SDN Pogar 1 state elementary school in Bangil subdistrict, Pasuruan regency, who is the administrator of the Teacher Working Group (Kelompok Kerja Guru, or KKG), took part in the training activity. He revealed that the training on making Big Books was very good and useful for him.
“The biggest problem in grade 1 is when facing new students who are learning to read. This training is very good and gives me a solution on how to approach children who can’t yet read,” he explained.
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the training material provided was only for the Big Book, even though there was quite a demand from the teachers for more training.
“We are waiting for the pandemic to subside. If it has to be done online, some participants still struggle with internet signal, which makes it impossible to do,” explained Hanum.
Even though the training was only for a day, the participants were quite satisfied and enthusiastic. They want different materials to be presented in future disseminations.
“Due to the pandemic, we are temporarily limiting our activities. In the future, if it is possible to meet again, we can continue with other literacy materials. There is also the possibility that if face-to-face meeting is not feasible, then we could use the online training model. However, we cannot do this in the near future because some teachers struggle with internet network,” Eka explained.