Skills of micro
teaching
Microteaching, evolved in the late sixties by Alien to
improve the skills of teachers is an excellent vehicle of providing teachers
with an opportunity to improve their teaching skills.
Microteaching is a scaled down teaching encounter in class
size and time (Allen, 1966). • Microteaching is a system of controlled practice
that makes it possible to concentrate on specified teaching behavior and to
practice teach. It is a teaching training technique for learning teaching
skills. • It employs real teaching situation for developing skills and helps to
get deeper knowledge regarding the art of teaching• The teaching of a small
unit of content to the small group of students ( 6-10 number ) in a small
amount of time ( 20 – 30 min. ) •
Microteaching is a scaled down teaching encounter in which a teacher teaches a
small unit to a group of five pupils for a small period of 5 to 20 minutes
(L.C. Singh,1997). • It gives instructors opportunity to put themselves “under
the microscope” of a small group audience. • It is an excellence way to build
up skills and experience. • To experience a range of lecturing/ tutoring
styles. Microteaching as a technique
that affords both beginning and advanced teachers opportunities to plan and
practice a wide array of new instructional strategies. • It is a technique that
enables a teacher to develop his/her repertoire of professional skills in an
atmosphere conducive to learning and in a relatively safe environment which is
removed of the normal classroom threats and challenges (Orlich, et.al.,1990).
Characteristics of
microteaching
• Microteaching is
real although the environment is constructed. • It focuses on training for the
accomplishment of specific tasks such as instructional skills, techniques of
teaching, mastery of curricular materials and demonstrations of teaching
methods Characteristics of Microteaching • The duration of teaching as well as
number of students are less. • The content is divided into smaller units which
makes the teaching easier. Characteristics of Microteaching • There is a
provision of immediate feedback. • In microteaching cycle, there is facility of
re-planning, re-teaching and re-evaluation. • It puts the teacher under the
microscope. • The problem of discipline can also be controlled.
Components of Micro teaching Techniques
1.
Student Teacher - Various capacities are
developed in them- capacity of class management, maintaining discipline. 2.
Feedback devices- changes in the behaviours of the students. Components of
Micro teaching Techniques Skill: ability to do something well or expertness.
Teaching skills - a set of teachers’ behaviors which are specially effective in
bringing about the desired changes in the students. Examples: • Lecturing skill
• Skill of black-board writing • Skill of asking questions Skills of Micro
Teaching 1. Introduction Skill 2. Skill of Probing Questions 3. Skill of
Explanation 4. Skill of Stimulus Variation 5. Skill of Blackboard Writing 6.
Skill of Achieving Closure 7. Skill of reinforcement 8. Skill of using Teaching
and Learning Aids Skills of Micro teaching Techniques 1. Introduction Skill:
The skill of introducing a lesson involves establishing rapports with learners,
promoting their attentions, and exposing them to essential contents. Skills of
Micro teaching Techniques 1a) Preliminary Attention Gaining Create desire for
learning among the students. Teacher can tell a story, with the help of
demonstration, recitation. Skills of Micro Teaching Techniques 1b) Use of
previous knowledge. 1c) Use of appropriate Device. 1d) Link with a new topic:
After preliminary questions and introduction, teacher establish a link of
previous knowledge with present topic. Components of Introduction • Attention
Gaining: Yes No i) Use of voice to focus interest ii) Use of audio-visual aids
iii) Use of gestures/eye contact iv) Introducing something unusual Components
of Introduction • Motivation Stimulation Yes No i) To arouse curiosity ii) Use
of storytelling technique iii) Able to involve students Components of
Introduction • Cognitive link Yes No i) Able to relate to past experiences ii)
Able to relate to new experiences iii) Able to relate to current events iv)
Able to relate to students’ interest/ experience Components of Introduction •
Structure Provision Yes No i) Able to state ways to accomplish task ii) Able to
use a series of questions. iii)Able to state activity, task or project Skills
of Micro teaching Techniques 2. Skill of Probing Question: - help students to
think in depth about the various aspects of the problem. Skills of Micro
teaching Techniques • Components of probing skills: 2i) Prompting: is a
technique to move on to another student in order to maintain interest.
Prompting questions use hints and clues to aid students in answering questions
or to assist them in correcting initial original questions with clues or hints
included. Skills of Micro teaching Techniques • Skill of Probing Questions:
2ii) Seeking Further Information: When the students answer correctly in the
class but the teacher wants more information and further clarification from the
learner by putting “how” and “why” of correct part of the response. Skills of
Micro teaching Techniques 2iii) Refocusing: When the teacher ask the same
question from other student for comparison. Skills of Micro teaching Techniques
2iv) Redirection involves more students in discussion. Questions directed to
more than one student to answer. Skills of Micro teaching Techniques 2v)
Wait-time Mary Budd Rowe (1974) has shown that most of teachers on the average
wait about 1 second for students to answer questions. Rowe found that when
teachers waited about 3 seconds or longer, the quality of students’ responses
improved. Evaluation of Questioning Technique • Questioning Techniques: •
Framing of questions- Clear and coherent. • Focused on an idea. • Pausing •
Refocusing • Redirecting • Handling of incorrect responses • Distribution of
questions to the class Evaluation : Bloom Taxonomy of cognitive domain • Recall
• Comprehension • Application • Analysis • Synthesis • Evaluation Skills of
Micro teaching Techniques 3) Skills of Explanation: To present the
subject-matter in the simplified form before the students. It involves the
ability of the teacher to describe logically ‘How”, “Why” and “What” of a
concept, event. Skills of Micro teaching Techniques • Components of Explanation
skill: 3i) Clear beginning statement. Before starting any explanation, the
teacher make the students aware of what he is to teach on that day through a
clear beginning statement. Skills of Micro teaching Techniques 3ii) Fluency in
Language. The teacher uses fluent language that the students may listen and
understand the thoughts of the teacher. 3iv) Connecting link. This technique is
used primarily to explain the links in statements with ‘so’, ‘therefore’,
‘because’, ‘due to’, ‘as a result of’, ‘in order to’ Skills of Micro teaching
Techniques 3v) Use of proper words- to explain an object or event. Skills of
Micro teaching Techniques Precautions when using skills of explaining. a) It
should be simple language. b) Irrelevant things should not be included. c) The
thoughts included in it should be in a sequence. d) It should be according to
the age, experience and mental level of the students. Skills of Micro teaching Techniques
4. Skill of Stimulus Variation - deliberate change in the behaviors the teacher
in order to sustain the attention of the learners throughout the lesson. Skills
of Micro teaching Techniques • Components of this skill are: 4i) Body movement:
Physical movements of the teacher in the class is to attract the attentions of
the learners. Sudden body movement and suddenly stopping the same helps in
gaining learner’s attention at high level. Skills of Micro teaching Techniques
• Body movement: - Teacher without these activities is like a stone idol. -
Excessive body movement is undesirable. Skills of Micro teaching Techniques
4ii) Gestures: It involves the movements of the head, hand, and facial gestures
( laughing, raising eyebrows, emotions ) This technique helps teacher to be
more expressive and dynamic when presenting in the class. Skills of Micro
teaching Techniques 4iii) Change in Voice: Teacher should bring fluctuations in
his voice. Speech at same pitch will make students feel bored and get deviated
from the lesson. Skills of Micro teaching Techniques 4iv) Focusing: It implies
drawing attention of the students towards a particular point which the teacher
wishes to emphasize. Such technique involves verbal focusing, gestural focusing
or verbal-gestural focusing. Skills of Micro teaching Techniques 4v)
Eye-contact and eye-movement: Both eye contact and eye movement play an
important role in conveying emotions and controlling interaction between
teacher and student. Skills in Micro teaching Techniques • This technique
implies that the teacher should maintain eye-contact with the students in order
to sustain the attention of the latter. Skills of Micro teaching Techniques
4vi) Pausing: refers to the short and deliberate silence used when delivering
ideas, explaining, lecturing. Deliberate use of short pauses help the teacher
to attract and sustain the attention of his students. Evaluation on aspects of
stimulus variation • Teacher movement • Eye contact and movement • Teacher
voice • Teacher-group interaction • Teacher-student-teacher interaction •
Student-student interaction • Student verbal and physical activities Skills of
Micro teaching Techniques 5) Skill of Black-board writing: A good blackboard
work brings clearness in perception and concepts being taught, and adds variety
to the lesson.
Skills of Micro teaching Techniques
The components of the skill
of blackboard writing are:
i) Legibility ii) Size & alignment iii)
Highlighting main points iv) Utilization of the space v) Blackboard summary
Skills of Micro teaching Techniques vi) Correctness vii) Position of the
teacher viii) Contact with the students Writing Skills i) Legibility: ensure
that a clear distinction is make between every letter, adequate space is
maintained between individual letters and words. ii) Size and alignment:
Uniform and large enough to be read from the last row. Writing Skills iii)
Highlighting Main Points: Main points or words highlighted by color chalks or
underlined. iv) Utilization of space: Only write important words or statements
on the board. Writing Skill v) Blackboard Summary: - Develop blackboard summary
at the end of the lesson. - Need to be brief for students to recollect the
whole lesson at a glance. Writing Skills vii) Contact with Pupils: -
maintaining eye contact. - for controlling interactions - maintaining
disciplines - sustaining attentions of the students Skills of Micro teaching
Techniques 6. Skills of reinforcement: - Use simple expressions like excellent,
well done, and giving praises. - non verbal reinforcement like smile -
proximity (moving nearer to student) - eye contact Skills of Micro teaching
Techniques 7. Skills of using Teaching and Learning Aids Characteristics of a
good teaching aids a. It should explain an abstract idea, show a relationship,
or present information or procedures that cannot be clarified without it.
Skills of Micro teaching Techniques • Characteristics of good teaching aids *
It should be large enough * Lettering large enough. Avoid decoration. *
Important parts highlighted. * Constructed of good materials * It should be
mounted to make it portable Skills of Micro teaching Techniques 8. Skill of
achieving closure: - Summing up the lecture in a proper and attractive way.
Steps of Micro-teaching
• Step 1 Particular skill to be practiced is explained to the teacher in
terms of the purpose and components of the skill with suitable examples.
• Step 2 The teacher is to give
the demonstration of the skill in Micro-teaching in simulated conditions to the
other new teachers. Steps of Micro-teaching .
Step 3 The teacher plans a short lesson plan on the basis of the
demonstrated skill for his/her practice.
Step 4 The teacher teaches the lesson to a small group of audiences. His
lesson is supervised by the supervisor and peers. Steps of Micro-teaching.
Step 5 On the basis of the
observation of a lesson, the supervisor gives feedback to the teacher. The
supervisor reinforces the instances of effective use of the skill and draws
attention of the teacher to the points where he could not perform well.
Steps of Micro-teaching Step 6 In the light of the feed-back given by the
supervisor, the teacher re-plans the lesson plan in order to use the skill in
more effective manner in the second trial. Step 7 The revised lesson is taught
to another comparable group of audiences. Steps of Micro-teaching
Step 8 The supervisor observes the re-teach lesson and gives re-feed back
to the teacher with convincing reasons.
Step 9 The “teach-re-teach” cycle may be repeated several times till
adequate mastery level is achieved.
Microteaching Cycle (Procedure)
Step-I : Micro Lesson Plan (2 hrs/a day) Step-II : Teach 5 min Step-III :
Feedback Session 5 min Step-IV : Re-plan 10 min Step-V : Re-teach another 5 min
group Step-VI : Re-feedback 5min …………………… Total 30 min. (Appr.)
Plan • This involves the selection
of the topic and related content of such a nature in which the use of
components of the skill under practice may be made easily and conveniently.
• The topic is analyzed into
different activities of the teacher and the audiences(students) Plan • The
activities are planned in such a logical sequence where maximum application of
the components of a skill is possible. Teach
• This involves the attempts of the teacher to use the components of the
skill in suitable situations coming up in the process of teaching-learning as
per his/her planning of activities. Teach
• If the situation is different and not as visualized( in the planning of
the activities, the teacher should modify his/her behavior according to the
demand of the situation. He should have the courage and confidence to handle
the situation arising in the class effectively.
Feedback
• This term refers to giving
information to the teacher about his performance. It includes the points of
strength as well as weakness relating to his/her performance. • This helps the
teacher to improve his performance in the desired direction. Re-plan • The
teacher re-plans his lesson incorporating the points of strength and removing
the points not skillfully handled during teaching. Re-teach • This involves
teaching to the same group of students if topic is changed or to a different
group of students. Re-feedback • This is the most important component of
Micro-teaching for behavior modification of the teacher. Feedback in Micro teaching
• Feedback is the information given to the individual. • The success of micro
teaching depends on feedback. • It is used in various forms like videotape,
films Giving feedback • When you are giving feedback, try to: - Be specific
rather than general. For example: instead of saying “You were not clear in your
explanations” tell the presenter where he was vague, describe to him why you
have problems understanding him. Giving feedback • Instead of saying: “I
thought you did an excellent job”, list the specific things that he did well. •
Choose one or two things for the person to concentrate. • Begin and end with
strengths of the presentation. Receiving feedback • Not to respond to each
point, listen quietly. • Be open to what you are hearing.
Phases of micro
teaching
1. Knowledge Acquisition Phase (Pre-Active Phase)
2. Skill Acquisition
Phase (Inter-Active Phase)
3. Transfer Phase (Post-Active Phase)
1. Knowledge
Acquisition Phase (Pre-Active Phase) • It includes the activities: - Provide
knowledge about teaching skills. - Observe the demonstration of teaching skill.
- Analyze and discuss the demonstration of the teaching skill.
2. Skill Acquisition
Phase (Inter-Active Phase) • It includes the activities : - Planning and
preparation of micro lesson for a skill. - Practicing the skill. - Evaluating
the practiced skill. - Re-plan, Re-teach and Re-feedback till achieving the
desired level of skill.
3. Transfer Phase (Post-Active Phase) • Giving opportunity to
use the mastered skill in normal class room teaching. * Integrate the different
skill practiced. Advantages of Microteaching • It emphasizes on sharpening and
developing specific teaching skills and eliminating errors. • It enables
understanding of behaviors which is important in class-room teaching. • It
increases the confidence of the teacher. • It is a vehicle of continuous
training for both beginners or senior teachers. • It provides expert
supervision and constructive feedback.
Limitations
• It is skill
oriented.
• Content not
emphasized.
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