One day when I entered the class as usual with a passionate enthusiasm to start teaching and learning activities, I found there were some students who did not seem eager to begin the lesson. Even when in the middle of the lesson I sometimes see students who are not focused on the lesson and instead fall asleep in class. This is enough to make me sad because the student has no interest in learning and will miss the subject matter. Besides me, this has certainly been experienced by other teachers.
As a teacher whose job is to transfer knowledge to students, we must be able to foster student interest in learning. The first step of it is at the beginning of learning. Beginning of learning is the first stage which is very important in the learning process. When students feel enthusiastic at the beginning of learning, the next learning process will run smoothly. Beginning of learning is very important and should not be ignored because, as stated by Munif Chatib (an Indonesian education consultant and author of the School's Human Bestseller) that "the first minutes of the learning process are the most important time for the next hour of learning". That is why teachers must have skills in opening lessons.
At the beginning of the lesson, after greeting and greeting, the teacher should carry out apperception activities. In principle, apperception aims to arouse students 'interest in learning at the beginning of a lesson by linking students' daily lives with subject matter. Apperception activities should turn on a cheerful and pleasing atmosphere for students so students will open themselves and be ready to receive lessons. In apperception activities, students should be led to the alpha zone or alpha zone conditions. According Munif Chatib, Zona alpha is a student's best condition for learning.
There are four kinds of frequency waves of the human brain related to the process of learning and receiving information. Every teacher should understand correctly about this. First is the delta wave (0-4 Hz) which is the condition of someone who is sleeping soundly. It is not possible to let students be in the delta zone condition. The second is theta waves (4-7 Hz) which is the condition of someone who is sleeping and dreaming. In this condition also students cannot study well. Third is the alpha wave (7-13 Hz) which is a relaxed but alert condition. This condition is the right condition for learning because in this condition the creative process of one's brain is in the most illuminating category. Signs of children in the alpha zone are sparkling eyes, cheerful faces and students smiling and laughing. The fourth is the betha wave (13-25 Hz), which is student in fully concious. At first glance, we can use the Betha wave in the learning process, but the alpha wave is more used because the alpha wave is a connecting wave between the conscious and subconscious mind so that during the learning process, the teacher will more easily give suggestions or lessons in class.
After understanding the alpha zone, I tried to practice it in class. The class starts by greeting students cheerfully and reading prayers, then I play a music video clip that relates to the material to be learned. Students watched the music video clip while singing together after that we discussed interesting things in the music video clip. It was different with the other class I entered, I felt a tense situation after the daily tests at the previous class. I took the initiative to make students into the alpha zone by telling funny stories to children so that they relax and cheer up before starting learning. On another occasion, when I entered class in the last lesson, I played a funny gymnastics video and invited students to follow their movements. I tried to do this because I realized that the last lesson was a vulnerable hour for children to feel bored and sleepy so I made them move cheerfully at the beginning of the lesson so they would not be sleepy while studying. Of the various ways that I did to reach the alpha zone, it was successful to increase student interest in learning early in learning. Students are more active and easy to receive information during the learning process. No more children who are sleepy, out of focus and bored in class. By having the knowledge and skills to open lessons, especially conditioning children in the alpha zone, the teacher plays a role in shaping the character of students because in this alpha zone students are trained to increase cooperation, curiosity, care and creativity.