Before I started my microteaching on Early February I started to read and learn on practice. Below is my brief reading history on academic concepts and research on its benefits , followed by my own experience.
Let’s start with a definition for microteaching; According to Uzon (2012) microteaching happens to be an efficient way of teaching , and plays an important role in teaching early-career teachers in honing down their teaching skills. This approach was originally was considered an innovative approach for early-career teacher training. Since its early adoption back in 1960s (Ostrosky et al., 2013) , microteaching has been hailed for its creative ways in order to engage teachers. In fact microteaching invention dates back to 1967 in Stanford University . Originally Dr. Dwight Allen, from Stanford came up with this technique to prepare the students for their internships and ever since it has gathered huge presence in teaching education disciplines (Arsal, 2014).
Its aim was to create a scale down teaching practice in order to help young teachers to further their teaching skills (Amobi ,2005). The idea was that through both teaching , observing and reflecting upon peers input , teachers can improve their teaching skills for better (Bell, 2007). Anantakrishan (1993), further on expanded the concept, and he argued the practice not necessarily was beneficial for early career teachers but for even senior teachers through the following definition: “In sum we can define Microteaching as :“A vehicle of continuous training process applicable at all stages not only to teachers at the onset of their career but also for more senior teachers who are already in the teaching field ( Anantakrishan, 1993, p. 143).
The effectiveness of microteaching comes handy when the practice helps teachers to break their teaching activity into bitesize exercise in order to sharpen their message and impact efficiency (Uzon, 2012). Fernandez (2012) conducted a study on efficiency of microteaching studying 36 early career teachers and noted not only the practice proved to be an effective way to make early career teachers to learn from their own practice, but also it helped them to incorporate peer review observation into their own learning process. Accordingly on the same accord of microteaching experience, peer- feedback also gives a great opportunity for teachers to reflect and act upon their own practice ( Remesh, 2013).
Overall microteaching benefits could be to give boost to confidence in teaching through practicing the teaching skills and reflecting on ones teaching journey ( Ekşi, 2012). Ostroski et al., (2013) also highlight the benefit of use of technology, hence the microteaching could be recorded and be referred back by teacher to watch again and reflect back on .
This bring me back to my own micro teaching session and the experience I had on my PGCER cohort and our tutor Dr. Rachel Marsden. On the day of microteaching we aimed to meet on BBcolab already created for this purpose. The idea of presenting a microteaching session online both made the session challenging and interesting. I had already planned to do something related to Brand Marketing and liaised with Rachel over viability of using a White t-shirt as my object. Rachel wisely suggested to make it more personal to the peer group this way they will engage more on the session.
What I did?
I created a powered point session on brand story telling and aimed to group my audience into smaller groups for an icebreaker. After that I gave the brand storytelling framework and asked them questions and finally we arrived at my conclusion.
What was my object?
I asked my peer to reflect on their favourite item of clothing and tell a story of that piece.
I also used padlet but noted 20 minutes was rather short for that.
Result: I am happy I did the icebreaker the way I did as it created great stories and conversation.
What I learned?
Major message was the value of engagement in every step. The value of asking questions and not overloading the classroom with dense concepts.
I also learned to lean back and enjoy the interaction with my peer group. The interaction and communication was key.
What did my peer said?
They commented on my fast-paced speaking tone and yet they did believe my session was engaging . The positive comment was also on session planning although I must admit I ran short of time.
Food for thought:
- Do not overload the session.
- Stick to one concept. at a time.
- create interaction through clever icebreakers.
- finish with a punchy conclusion.
What did I learn from my peers?
Sometimes patience pays.
Technology might break but lets not forget interaction and sense of humour always wins.
Object based learning in digital learning including Miro walls and padlet as well as other tools. More personal items can create more reflection on your audience.
Allowing our cohort to open and be part of conversation is key to learning.
Was my micro-teaching session successful?
It was such a great practice. I used my prepared session in one of my seminar in similar manner and this time around I was conscious of a better time management and more interaction with student co-hort. I also noted the value of a great icebreaker in terms of helping me to bond and create a good vide, as well as keeping up the student engagement.
Thank you very much Rachel and Group B for giving me such enjoyable micro teaching session experience.
References:
Amobi, F. A. (2005). Preservice Teachers’ Reflectivity on the Sequence and Consequences of Teaching Actions in a Microteaching Experience. Teacher Education Quarterly, vol. 32, no.1, pp.115 – 130.
Ananthakrishnan N(1993). Microteaching as a vehicle of teacher training – Its advantages and disadvantages. J Postgrad Med.,
Arsal, A. (2014). Microteaching and preservice teachers’ sense of self efficiacy in teaching. European Journal of Teacher Education. DOI:
10.1080/02619 768.2014.912627.
Bell, N. D. (2007). Microteaching: What is going on here? Linguistics and Education, 18, 24-40.
Ekşi, G. (2012). Implementing an observation and feedback form for more effective feedback in microteaching. Education and Science, 37 (164), 267-282
Ostrosky, M. M., Mouzourou, C., Danner, N. & Zaghlawan, H. Y. (2013). Improving Teacher Practices Using Microteaching: Planful Video Recording and Constructive Feedback. Sage Journals, vol. 16, no. 1, pp.16–29. Doi: 10.1177/1096250612459186.
Uzun, N. (2012). A sample of microteaching in environmental education and its effect on preservice teachers’ presenting effective lessons. Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, vol. 13, no.1.
BBcolab recording of the session on 9th of Feb: https://eu.bbcollab.com/collab/ui/session/playback
Images sources:
Image 1:
Katycloudes, (2021), ” The Teacher Training Technique That is Practical Worldwide, Accessed on 15th March 2022: https://engage-education.com/ae/blog/microteaching-the-teacher-training-technique-that-is-practiced-worldwide/
Image 3: Author’s own.
Image 2:
Acceset at 15 March 2022: https://steemit.com/steemiteducation/@affiedalfayed/why-micro-teaching-is-important-for-teachers-20171111t132413158z