Meryana Rambu Ata, a grade 3 teacher in SD Masehi Parewatana, Umbu Ratunggay sub-district, Central Sumba district, was unable to hide her joy and emotion. The reason is, four of the 22 students who were previously only able to read words, have now reached the level of reading comprehension. By using various learning strategies that she received from the district facilitators when she joined the scale out of Teachers Working Group (KKG), Meryana was able to lead the four students to read fluently and understand what they read within four months, August-December 2022.
“I feel happy and touched because finally the reading ability of all my students in Grade 3 has improved. From the beginning at the level of reading words, now it is at the level of reading comprehension. This is thanks to the new knowledge that I got when I joined the scale out of KKG. Many learning strategies have truly provided meaningful experiences for me as an early grade teacher. It has helped me in my efforts to improve my students’ reading skills,” said the teacher who is usually called Ibu Mery.
In the assessment at the beginning of learning that was carried out before the KKG began in August 2022, the other students were already at the reading comprehension level. Only four students were still reading words.Armed with the knowledge gained from the KKG, Ibu Mery and her mentor teacher, Edison Umbu Beru, allocated 30 minutes after school hours to guide the four students. Ibu Mery also brought food to eat with the students because their house is quite far from school.
Previously, these four students were often absent and skipped classes, causing their reading skills to lag behind their peers. Ibu Mery’s fun learning strategies such as jumping syllables, snakes and ladders games, and charades, made them excited about learning.