Participant 2 Being a Professional Teacher

60 By joining SM-3T, the identity of the participants was upgraded. They were not a student but devoted teacher in a remote area. Even though they were drawn by different motivation to join SM-3T, they had the same experiences. Through problems in remote areas, they could solve and seek to the solution. After joining a one-year program of SM-3T, the participants joined the PPG Program in ELESP USD. Being sent to USD, Yogyakarta was not their expectation to be placed for the program. In the same time, they had an uneasy feeling that something complicated was going to happen in the program. They assumed that they would not follow the learning process in ELESP USD. Thus, they built self-adaptation to fortify themselves in the process of PPG Program. In fact, they were welcomed by the lecturers. The services of ELESP USD given to the participants strengthened the personality of being encouraged to learn more to the profession. They were well-facilitated and their self-motivation improved. During PPG Program, the participants realized that they could reflect on what they have done in recent years, including their study to get bachelors degree and their experiences in SM-3T. Self-reflection helped them to see how they live their life with all the limits but they still were grateful. The grateful attitude is a figure of being competent and worthy as a person. This attitude supports the development of professional identity formation since it was related to the self- esteem development. Then, a great maintenance of self-esteem will lead to motivation. The participants obviously had great motivation during PPG Program. The ability to reflect helped them to see how their prior experiences made complexity problem in their life. However, those difficult experiences were part of 61 their motivation. Motivation maintains the positive evaluation. Meanwhile, difficult experiences were the evaluation of their life to be better in future. In addition, motivation also helped them to commit to the profession. Thus, the determination to be a teacher formed. Having self-determination also led them to the commitment of the teacher profession. The self-determination that the participants had was to teach students better than what their lecturers did.

2. Being a Professional Teacher

The qualification of professional teacher lies on what competence is required for successful learning for students Englund, 1996. However, since being professional is not only about mastering the knowledge of subject matter, having good service quality, spirit, morale, and commitment of an occupation are required. Hence, the participants in this research mostly discussed about how they professionally dealt with the students and condition they encountered. All participants are concerned with the concept of professional teacher in relation to how they should do as a teacher. They are aware of their relationship with the students. The good relationship built between them led to the attitude of being respect to each other. From the participants’ experiences, it is clearly perceived that they were concerned with the students. They put the students as their priority. Furthermore, the participants could deal with the problems during the learning and teaching process by being able to make a decision to overcome the problem. For example, they could choose the suitable material for the students,