TOPIC 9

MICRO-TEACHING

SYNOPSISThis topic will provide an overview of microteaching: its purpose, benefits, structure and end with practical micro-teaching sessions.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:By the end of this unit, course participants will be able to: identify the purposes of micro-teaching realise the benefits of micro-teaching distinguish the stages and structure of a micro teaching session

FRAMEWORK OF TOPIC

Micro-teaching

Micro-teaching sessionsPrinciples and practices

What is Micro-teaching?Micro-teaching is a professional development tool used by teachers and trainee teachers (for the purpose of this module these target groups will be referred as teachers hereafter) to better understand their teaching-learning process. It is part of a teacher-training programme in which a teachers teaching situation is reduced in scope and simplified in systematic ways (Wahba, 2003). It is a scaled-down lesson designed to develop new skills and refine old ones (McKnight, 1971 in Brown, 1975). A teacher teaches a small group of pupils (or peers) for 10-15 minutes. The lesson is video-taped and subsequently observed and analysed by the teacher, his or her peers and the supervisor. Feedback is given to which improvements to the lesson plan are made based on the recommendations and suggestions.

History of Micro-teachingMicro-teaching has its roots at Stanford University in the early 1960s. Introduced by Keith Acheson, a doctoral student, it was applied in the teaching of science but later modified and extended to language teaching. The session was video-taped which provided a common frame of reference for the observers (peers and supervisor) to give immediate feedback.

Purpose of Micro-teachingMicro-teaching is designed to break down the complex act of teaching into simpler elements. By analysing the elements, a teacher can determine the areas that need to be improved to strive towards perfection. Self-evaluation using the video tape allows the teacher to revisit the lesson and assess the performance based on criteria or objectives set prior to the lesson. Wahba (2003) outlined three main purposes of micro-teaching as: helping teachers understand better the processes of teaching and learning providing teachers ample opportunities to explore and reflect on their own and others teaching styles acquiring new teaching techniques.

Why micro-teach?As stated earlier, micro-teaching is a professional development tool to enhance ones teaching. Besides being an effective technique, it is a tool for reflection. By reflecting on their own teaching styles, it allows the teachers to focus on specific areas which need to be fine tuned from different perspectives. It helps teachers to scrutinise their own teaching and hence forth, discover their strengths and weaknesses. Also, it makes teachers aware of their own skills and strategies and to pursue self-initiated, self-directed and self-observed growth (Wahba, 2003).

Stages of a Micro-teaching cycleThe original micro-teaching cycle developed and used at Stanford University consisted of the sequences Plan Teach Observe (Critique) Replan Reteach Reobserve. Each cycle is devoted to one specific component of the lesson (e.g. the set-induction and closure or the presentation stage, etc.), instructional language, classroom management, or board work. Now, variants of the Stanford model have evolved. For some, the cycles are made up of the first three sequences of the original model as is the one used at the New University of Ulster. This new model is more economical but still upholds the primary purposes: to teach, observe and provide constructive feedback.

The following diagram illustrates the Stanford model.

PLAN

TEACH

REOBSERVE

OBSERVE (CRITIQUE)RETEACH

REPLAN

PlanThis is the pre-teaching phase where the teacher considers the objectives of the teaching, selects the content or area to teach and determine the strategies and skills to deliver. The characteristics of the target group (students) is also be given due consideration. The objectives, procedures and the teaching aids to be used must be clear stated. The lesson should not last more than 15 minutes. The lesson may be planned by a group.

TeachThis is the all important interactive stage. It involves the teacher executing the lesson that the group has planned. The teacher practices or focuses on one skill at a time. The students will be engaged in a variety of activities.

Observe (Critique)During the teaching, the peers take notes that can be used during the reflective discussions. This is essential especially if the students are peers as from the observations the experience provides insights into learning problems that they may also face. The peers should also decide the aspect to focus.

The feedback session which follows the observation will focus on analysing and discussing the experiences acquired. It is also a time to reflect on the new experiences. Ideally, the feedback should be constructive, specific and practical. As far as possible, stay away from giving the feedback that is vague, judgemental or ill-timed. For example, the peers and supervisor should strive in giving comments which indicate the specific area(s) that are found to be good and interesting instead of providing a general comment as sometimes you werent clear in your instructional language.

ReplanAt this stage, using the feedback provided, the teacher replans the lesson incorporating the points of strength and removing the ones that were not skilfully handled previously.

ReteachReteach the lesson to a new group. This is to remove boredom or monotony of the students (or peers).

RefeedbackAs described above, this is the stage where constructive feedback is provided to help the teacher improve the lesson.

What to observe during micro-teachingSince micro-teaching is aimed at helping teachers improve their delivery of the lesson, the focus of the observation should be made known to the teacher. In short, the observation should focus on certain aspects and not the whole lesson. This is done so to enable the teacher to work on one area of weakness at a time and that over time, the teacher will improve in most, if not all aspects of the lesson.The following are some areas to observe: structure stages of the lesson transition of the lesson from one stage to another (use of transitions) use of examples use of graphics delivery oral volume, rate, pitch fluency

nonverbal gestures (hand and facial) eye contact use of space

poise

board work appearance legibility use of colored chalk

arrangement of material logical? too much or too little written down?

use of notations

classroom interaction participation encouraged? handling of questions and answers giving instructional language

technology use: appropriate use of technology does technology engage the learners does technology increases student understanding

Benefits of Micro-teachingBeing a professional development tool, micro-teaching certainly holds a number of merits. Below are some suggested by Sathi (2008) bearing in mind, this list is not exhaustive. it helps develop and master important teaching skills it helps to accomplish specific teaching competencies it caters to the need of individual differences in teacher training it is more effective in modifying teacher behaviour it is an individualised training technique it employs teaching situation for developing skills it reduces the complexity of the teaching process as it is scaled down it helps to get deeper knowledge regarding the art of teaching.

Limitations of Micro-teachingThough the benefits of micro-teaching is undeniable, it carries some limitations. Among them are: it is skill orientated instead of content it being time consuming it covers only a few specific skills at each teaching session it deviates from a normal classroom setting, hence the result may not be a true reflection of a real-time classroom environment

The discussion above is an overview of micro-teaching. Are you ready to carry out yours? Use the form below to make notations of your peers teaching. Remember to provide specific and constructive comments where your peer can act upon instead of being judgemental. Similarly, be open to comments and not take them too personal. Treat each suggestion as part of the learning process.

Microteaching Feedback Form Date: Session title: Presenters name:What were the strengths of this mini-lesson? Why?How did the instructor involve the audience?What can you suggest to make the lesson more effective or understandable?

ReferencesBrown, G. 1975. Microteaching: A program of teaching skills. New York: Methuen & Co.Olivero, J.L. 1970. Micro-teaching: Medium for improving instruction. Ohio: Charles E. Merril Publishing Company.Sathi, K. 2008. Introduction to microteaching.http://sathitech.blogspot.com/2008/11/introduction-to-micro-teaching.html. Retrieved: 17.8.2012

Wahba, E.H. 2003 Microteaching. English teaching forum. October, p. 44.

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