“Reading Log” to Nurture Literacy and Independence

Thursday October 10th 2024

Cultivating a reading habit since the early years is a community’s commitment to develop its next generation. Some believe that reading can bring a community to an advanced civilization. Reading also broadens knowledge, as it offers many solutions to human problems and ignites humans to generate ideas or make innovations.

It is very important to create a reading culture to stimulate students’ critical thinking skills. The activity may vary, for instance discussing the content of a book, making a summary, writing a book review, etc.

In line with Luh Putu Artini’s statement on her research (2017), building a Rich Language Learning Environment (RLLE) can be one of the reading programs where students are exposed to various lessons for the school’s best literacy. Thus, Al Azhar 55 initiated a “Reading Log” program to promote students’ English literacy. The program creates a reading circumstance and stimulation to develop student’s competency.

Reading Log itself is a book-borrowing log including 4 (four) columns and 20 – 25 rows. The four columns indicated the book borrowing date, the title of the book, the level of the book, and the homeroom teacher’s signature. One of the activities in this program is a book review where students work on a worksheet according to their reading level.

To support Reading Log, Al Azhar 55 provides students with hundreds of books in the library. The books are grouped into 10 levels, i.e. Red, Purple, White, Orange, Brown, Yellow, Blue, Green, Silver, and Gold where Red is the most basic and Gold is the most advanced. Graded sheets are also provided for students to do at home. The essential part of a Reading Log is the record keeping of reading options that encourage them to practice extensive reading.

To boost the Reading Log, Al Azhar 55 awards each student a certificate as an appreciation for them. The award is based on a certain number of books that he/she reads in a year. Those who read less than 25 books will get a “Keep Reading” certificate. Meanwhile, those who read 25 to 50 books get a “Rainbow Reader” certificate. Then, those who read more than 50 to 75 books will get a “Bronze Reader” certificate. The last one is the “Silver Reader” certificate which is awarded to those who read more than 75 books. This reading award is a small way to motivate them to read at home as a part of their independent learning.

(Mr Irwan)

Testimony

Prof. Dra. Hj. Suwarsih Madya, M.A., Ph.D.

Amidst the globalized situation which poses challenges of which one is a possible threat to identity, yet provides ample opportunities to excel for those who possess the prerequisites, we need to equip our children as the continuing generation with necessary competencies—affective, cognitive, psychomotor and interactive. In other words, we need to help them grow and develop into total persons and this can be achieved through the whole-child development approach which ensures the development of all potentials. In addition to this is the need for developing some competence which enables the children to communicate globally. All of this will ensure that the children will develop their citizenships both at the national and global levels. How can this ideal development be realized?

If you want to find out about how efforts are made to develop children’s whole potentials, you can come to SD Islam Al Azhar 55 Yogyakarta. Here you can see how the four-year old school has grown fast due to the stakeholders’ trust to send their children to study here. With only 54 children in the first year, this school now has 185 students. These students are educated to respect and preserve the social-cultural environment by learning the local language (Javanese, including the script) and arts (dance). Simultaneously, they certainly learn the national language (Bahasa Indonesia) and national content, which is unquestionable since it is compulsory, and English, which has now become a global lingua franca; thus, a prerequisite for successful global communication. More importantly, children in this school also learn to practise their religion consistently. So, in this school children’s identity is rooted in the local culture, with nationalism and global awareness being inherently developed together with reliogiosity.

Does the whole-child development approach at SD Islam Al Azhar still give room for children to excel? In my belief, when all their potentials are developed, children will have a greater chance to excel and I can see the truth in my belief in this primary school. In the last two years, the students have made great achievements in various competitions held at the local and national levels–gold medals in English, math and science competitions (national), silver and bronze medals in IT competitions (national), silver and bronze medals at colouring and swimming competitions (local) to mention some.

In conclusion, SD Islam Al Azhar has given evidence of the right efforts of true education to develop both intelligence and character.

Prof. DR. Budi S. Daryono, M.Agr. Sc.

Testimoni Sebagai Orang tua menyekolahkan anak Di Al-Azhar 55

Sudah menjadi kewajiban bagi orang tua untuk memberikan pendidikan yang terbaik bagi putra putrinya. Tantangan untuk mendidik anak di Era Global dan Digital pun semakin besar, kita tidak bisa lagi membendung segala perubahan yang begitu cepat terjadi, dan harus mempersiapkan anak-anak supaya bisa survive dan sholeh/sholehah tentunya. Saat ini dunia bagaikan kampung, dimana tidak ada batas-batas untuk melakukan transaksi kehidupan, untuk itu anak harus bisa berkomunikasi dengan bahasa universal sebagai modal utama. Disamping itu, pendidikah Ahlak dan Aqidah harus diberikan secara dini sebagai dasar anak dalam menghadapi gejolak gelombang kehidupan. Atas pertimbangan tersebutlah, kami selaku orang tua memilih untuk menyekolahkan putra kami tercinta Hikari di Sekolah Islam, yang menggunakan dua bahasa pengantar, yaitu Al-Azhar 55.

Prof. DR. Budi S.Daryono, M.Agr. Sc.