Micro teaching

Definition and Basic Concept

Microteaching is an organized teaching improvement technique where the experimental teacher teaches a small group of audience (peers).The audience and trainer makes correction where necessary, improves and re-teach until the desired result is achieved/learned.

It employs real teaching situation for developing skills and helps to get deeper knowledge regarding the art of teaching.

This technique involved the steps of “plan, teach, observe, re-plan, re-teach and re-observe” to conduct a postmortem.

This technique was invented in the mid-1960s at Stanford University by Dr. Dwight W. Allen, micro-teaching has been used with success for several decades now, as a way to help teachers acquire new skills.

Two important factor of Microteaching

1)      Technique

A teacher is asked to prepare a short lesson (usually 20 minutes) for a small group of learners who may not have been their own students. This was videotaped, using VHS. After the lesson, the teacher, teaching colleagues, a master teacher and the students together viewed the videotape and commented on what they saw happening, referencing the teacher's learning objectives. Seeing the video and getting comments from colleagues and students provided teachers with an often intense "under the microscope" view of their teaching.

2)      feedback

 Feedback is an important part after each practice session. The modern-day multimedia equipment such as audio–video recording devices have a key role in the learning process.

It focuses on what was done well and suggestions for improvement. Each participant is expected to give and receive constructive feedback!

Qualities of effective feedback:

§  It is descriptive, specific, and focuses on changeable actions

§  It identifies what was done well and what might be improved

Core skills applicable in Microteaching

The core techniques involved with microteaching are based on the fact that teaching can be analyzed and estimated using various simple teaching tasks/skills, which are a set of behavior or acts of the teacher that facilitates learning (directly or indirectly). During the origin of microteaching, almost 20 teaching skills have been identified. But, it has now increased up to 37 or even more. Listed below are some of the important teaching skills.

1)      Lesson planning

It involves the preparation of a micro-lesson which should be organized in a logical sequence. The content should be concise, appropriate, relevant, and could cover the specified duration.

2)      Presentation and explanation

This involves the skills required to explain with clarity and proper understanding of the concepts. The components include teacher enthusiasm, creating readiness by a beginning statement or topic sentence, effective explanation, planned repetition, and concluding statements or key messages with summary of explanation.

3)      Illustrating with examples

The teacher trainee should be able to rightly explain the concept by simple, relevant, and interesting examples to increase learners’ understanding.

4)      Reinforcement

This skill is meant for increasing the participation of the learners in the development of teaching process. Use of positive verbal and non-verbal cues would be key component for this skill.

5)      Stimulus variation

Securing and sustaining the attention of the learner is imperative for a good teacher. The effective components of the skill are gestures, change in speech pattern, and change in interaction style.

6)      Probing questions

It is important to allow and encourage the fellow trainees to ask structured questions and clarify doubts. Redirection, refocusing, and increasing critical awareness are significant components of this skill.

7)      Classroom management

Providing proper instructions, restricting inappropriate behavior, and calling the learners by name are essentials of this skill.

8)      Using audiovisual aids

The increased awareness of the audiovisual aids is important for this skill. Adequate spacing, distinct size, proper spacing between words and lines, and use of relevant words or phrases are the key components for this skill.