Parking Lot

Parking Lot has been considered as one of the best practices in the 21st century classrooms besides the famous group seating arrangement. In Malaysian public schools especially in Sekolah Amanah, it is a mandatory to prepare a space or an area in the class to put up a Parking Lot.

Per contra, to date, teachers are having a lack of proper guidance on the use of Parking Lot as a consequence of the non-existence of a blueprint or a printed guide from any Malaysian education departments on this practice.

Worst, the knowledge of Parking Lot is succinctly dismantle to teachers while they are having courses on 21st century classroom or learning, during Professional Learning Communities (PLC) sessions or during department meetings. It is through these short sessions or meet-ups that Malaysian teachers are made aware of the benefits of Parking Lot. Even the practice could benefit both teacher and students, the lack of understanding on the practice results failure in its execution process. 

Let's look at the remarks given by these three teachers on the use of Parking Lot:

1. Cikgu Ayu 

"Pada ketika ini, murid boleh menyuarakan maklum balas mereka dengan menampal sebarang soalan, idea, masalah, kebimbangan, keperluan atau apa sahaja yang dirasakan perlu untuk memajukan diri mereka."

2. Cikgu Syam 

"Tujuan asal parking lot adalah untuk murid bertanya soalan yang tidak sempat ditanya pada waktu cikgu mengajar. Mungkin tidak sempat bertanya sebab tiada masa atau murid memang jenis pemalu nak bertanya secara lisan."

3. Cikgu Mohd Ariffin 

•Peluang bertanya •Peluang mengemukakan idea •Peluang mengemukakan rasa tak puas hati •Sesuai bagi yang pemalu

From these remarks and from experience observing the practice, Malaysian teachers are using Parking Lot to encourage silent and reserved students to take part in classroom discussions or the plenary sessions by writing down comments or questions or just anything. They believe that making these students write on a posted note, walk towards the Parking Lot space and place their sticky note on the Parking Lot validate their commitment on inclusive practice where no student is left not taking part in the class activities.

Ideas always sound nice but they just do not work as well in practice.

I witnessed one. A lesson led by a skilled teacher. All went bad because of the 'anything will do as long as you write something'. 

***

After a two hour workshop was a plenary session. Tired and sleepy students were asked to write comments (any comments would do) to be put up on the Parking Lot. The teacher managed to make all students write, walk and paste the posted notes. The Parking Lots (there were two) were full of colourful posted notes which looked very nice from the far back. It was then the end of the workshop but the teacher did not react to the Parking Lots (in theory, teachers should read the notes aloud but frequently the notes will be left there because teachers are running out of time unless something really interesting is written there). When I walked up to the teacher, she was busy clearing the notes with help of some of my students. I didn't dare to interrupt thus waited aside. A student walked up to me and said:

"Teacher, students did not write good things on the notes."
"Really? What did they write?" I was really worried since my students were bold enough to comment on one's appearance (aurat and so on)
"They said the teacher is boring."
"How many students?"
"Majority. Almost all? Only some of them wrote something else."

***

It has been a few years and the teacher has never stepped back into the school compound ever since.  

It was not the Parking Lot. It was the instruction. It was not the teacher. It was the lack of guidance and the non-existence of a blueprint or a guide to manage a Parking Lot.

Now, let's watch these two videos on Parking Lot. One from Malaysia and another from Australia. The students are not at the same age yet the question posted to both are quite the same; What is Parking Lot? and How it is used in lessons?

The student supposed that the Parking Lot is used to write questions yet when asked to read a note, he could not find one with a question. He even added that he had not contributed to the Parking Lot.

The student explained that the Parking Lot is used to express feelings and what they do in their class. The Parking Lot is there together with 4 questions which are: What is going well?, What can we improve? What are the questions? What are the issues and ideas?

Next, I am going to compare the Parking Lot used abroad and the one used in Malaysia.

Local Parking Lot

     

These two are the examples of a Parking Lot. Some only provide space for posted notes while some are with subject divisions. If you Google one, you could find many more decorated with papers and glitters. Malaysians love cosmetics; everything created should be beautifully-presented though sometimes not carefully considered. 

Parking Lot abroad

  

This is the example of a Parking Lot done abroad. If Googled, you could find that many of them are on mahjung paper or an A1 size paper. It is usually very mobile and effortless as teachers would usually take it off once the lesson is done to reflect on it or to use it again in the next lesson. Questions are presented together with the Parking Lot hence limiting students' response.

The idea of Parking Lot is amazing. It helps students to reflect on what they have learnt. Throughout the world, scholars are calling educators to encourage reflective thinking in classrooms, one by promoting student reflection. There are a lot of activities suggested which some could take hours while for Parking Lot, it is just a matter of minutes. Hence there is no doubt that Parking Lot is amazing.

Nevertheless, the lack of guidance on how to use Parking Lot results Malaysian teachers to be very creative with its use. Being very creative has sometimes diverted the real aim of having Parking Lot. From my observation, rather than reflecting on own learning, students tend to be more critical about the teachers. They comment on the teacher's appearance and style which most of the time have little to do with the learning process. 

This is a call for Malaysian teachers and educators who are still confused with the use of Parking Lot. Parking Lot is a great initiative to foster reflective and critical thinking among students. It enables students to analyse and evaluate by reflecting their own learning. By this, it will encourage students to take responsibility of their own learning (autonomous learner) which will then help create the 21st century learner. 

Remember, the most important factor in creating 21st century classroom or environment is not its seating arrangements or its best practices, it is the teacher. The power to transform comes from the teacher through the opportunities to learn how to learn, solve problems and apply learning in meaningful ways (Martin K, 2018).

From now on, when using Parking Lot, let us not give too much freedom to our students. Don't let them write anything. Present them with questions that attend to the objectives of the lesson. Let the experience using Parking Lot be the one that empowers them.

Martin, K. (2018). The key to 21st century classrooms isn't tech. It's evolved teaching. EdSurge. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-06-04-the-key-to-21st-century-classrooms-isn-t-tech-it-s-evolved-teaching.