Micro-teaching is an innovative training method in which a teacher trainee or a student-teacher leads a lesson for a small number of students for a short period of time. This teacher training approach is used worldwide to help teachers improve their teaching abilities by focusing on a variety of minor tasks known as teaching skills. Micro-teaching has proven to be effective because it emphasises a sinle ability at a time.
Understanding Micro-Teaching
If you’re studying to become a teacher, you’ll already have decades of classroom experience as a student. However, learning to teach necessitates the acquisition of new abilities and the refinement of existing ones. When it comes to ‘learning to teach,’ you’ll come across various strategies and practices. Because teaching entails a wide range of basic and soft skills, it’s critical to assess your competence as a teacher and seek input from more experienced colleagues.
Here, we discuss micro-teaching and how it might help teachers run more productive classrooms.
Types of Micro-Teaching
Several types of micro-teaching can help teachers improve their skills. They must be well-versed in these talents because they will be employing them for the rest of their professional lives.
1. Introduction
How a teacher begins a lesson determines the result of the session. It is the warm-up period before beginning a class, which includes providing a quick introduction before diving into the syllabus. Make sure you’ve gone over the topics thoroughly and have crucial notes handy.
2. Explaining
This is the most challenging aspect of teaching. The main point of education is to simplify lessons so that students can grasp them better. The lessons can be made fascinating by just being participatory, relevant, and presenting a sufficient amount of examples. Explaining or breaking down a lesson in this manner would ensure a smooth experience.
3. Questioning
The instructor should be as vigilant as the students and know when to ask the students a question. Instead of saving everything until the end, a qualified instructor would ask questions in-between lectures. When you ask questions in between classes, kids remember it better. Remember! If the student is attentive and the class is participatory, classroom lectures are successful enough that there is no need to revise at home.
4. Demonstration
Education needs a large number of demonstrations and objects during lessons. These sample sessions in between lectures will stay with them for the rest of their lives. This makes learning more efficient and productive.
5. Illustration
The micro-teaching skill of illustration with examples requires the teacher to use personalised and particular examples to explain the topic’s content. In order to explain, verify, or validate an idea, it is required to provide an example to illustrate the topic matter.
6. Reinforcement
The capacity to reinforce and review is good for the student and the teacher. The teacher can guarantee that her students are doing well in their classes and that they understand the fundamentals.
7. Closure
Starting a class is simple, but bringing it to a close, or ending it, is where most teachers go wrong, making it unclear, ambiguous, and chaotic. Ensure the closing is well-organised, and give them enough tasks to help them remember the teachings while not overburdening them.
8. Stimulus Variation
The ability to change the focus of the study from a book or vocal instructions to a chalkboard, demonstrations, painting, storytelling, etc., is known as stimulus variation. This is elicited by the desire to search for variations or changes in the stimuli to have a more effective learning experience.
9. Blackboard
This skill is necessary to emphasise important concepts, alter the emphasis, and attract students’ attention. Students with poor attention can be alerted when the teacher begins to write on the board; they now understand why it is necessary. This encourages students to participate in classroom instruction.
Phases of Micro-Teaching
There are three phases involved in micro-teaching:
1. Knowledge Acquisition Phase
This pre-active phase involves activities such as –
- Providing information about teaching methodologies
- Monitoring the presentation of teaching skills
- Analysing and discussing the teaching skill demonstration
2. Skill Acquisition Phase
The skill acquisition phase, also known as the inter-active phase, involves –
- Micro lesson planning and preparation
- Putting the skill into practice
- Evaluation of the technique that has been practised (feedback)
- Re-planning, re-teaching, and re-feedback until you reach the target level of expertise
3. Transfer Phase
The final, post-active phase of micro-teaching entails –
- Allowing the mastered skill to be applied in a regular classroom setting
- Integrating the many skills you’ve learne
Micro-Teaching Cycle
Micro-teaching is a cyclic process, and it usually involves six steps:
1. Plan
Planning is the first step of the micro-teaching cycle. The plan entails choosing a topic and associated information that allows for the easy application of components of the primary teaching skill being practised.
2. Teach
The following stage is to begin teaching. The teacher trainee follows the strategy and presents what they had prepared for the class.
3. Feedback
The term “feedback” implies providing information to the teacher trainee regarding their performance. The data comprises both their strengths and weaknesses concerning their performance. It aids the teacher-in-training in enhancing their performance in the right direction.
4. Re-plan
The teacher trainee re-plans their lecture, including their strengths and eliminating the elements that were not successfully handled during the last try at teaching.
5. Re-teach
The trainee repeats the processes and teaches the class once more.
6. Re-feedback
The teaching is once again monitored, and feedback is given.
Conclusion
Micro-teaching skills assist pupil-teachers in improving their teaching. Complex teaching processes can be eased by gaining new abilities in specific teaching. Teaching is a complicated process, and to be effective and efficient in the classroom, teachers must possess a diverse range of abilities. It takes a long time to become a teacher, and you must undergo the appropriate courses and training. Leveraging a specific micro-teaching course from certified online classes can be one of the best ways to benefit from the various advantages of micro-teaching and turn into a successful teacher.
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