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There are many different practices and techniques when it comes to teaching. Teaching isn’t an easy process. It requires different skills to master the art of teaching. Aspiring teachers have to go through proper training to learn the techniques and skills of teaching in a classroom with confidence. Micro-teaching is a teaching technique used in teacher training institutes to help pupil teachers acquire the desired skills. But what is micro teaching?
In this article, we’ll discuss micro-teaching, the types of micro-teaching, the objectives of micro-teaching and the uses of micro-teaching.
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What Is Micro-Teaching?
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The Concept Of Micro-teaching
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The Principles Of Micro-Teaching
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Types Of Micro-Teaching
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The Process Of Micro-Teaching
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The Phases Of Micro-Teaching
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Advantages Of Micro-Teaching
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Disadvantages Of Micro-Teaching
What Is Micro-Teaching?
Aspiring teachers need to understand what is micro-teaching and the uses of micro-teaching. As for the meaning of micro-teaching, it’s a process that’s widely used in teacher training programs. Micro-teaching is an innovative technique used for helping aspiring teachers, who are trained in training institutes and colleges, acquire the desired skills for teaching.
The definition of micro-teaching is specialized training given to pupil teachers to provide them with opportunities for the development and practice of specific teaching skills. It’s a way of organizing teaching in its microform regarding time duration, content covered and class size.
The Concept Of Micro-teaching
The concept of micro-teaching is used for imparting teacher training to experienced or inexperienced teachers to help them learn the art of teaching. It’s a practice of learning specific skills using a scaled-down teaching technique that reduces the complexities of teaching in a standard classroom.
Micro-teaching is a tool used where aspiring teachers deliver short teaching sessions, either online, in person or recorded. These teaching sessions could be presented to school colleagues or mentors or a class or small group. The concept of micro-teaching is allowing teachers to improve themselves by reviewing their performance and receiving feedback. Aspiring teachers must understand the definition of micro-teaching before taking up a teaching training program.
The concept of micro-teaching is based on the following:
- Real-form teaching but with the minimum concept
- Focusing on basic teaching skills and using feedback for improvement
- Enabling teachers to learn effective teaching skills
- Monitoring micro-teaching exercises
Understanding these points is a key step in knowing what is micro-teaching.
The Principles Of Micro-Teaching
Teaching is a very complex process, and as a teacher, you need a range of different skills to be efficient and effective in a classroom. You require the right training and courses to become a teacher. Micro-teaching revolves around a few principles that improve its reach in the development of teachers. Below are the principles of micro-teaching:
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One skill at a time
The method of micro-teaching involves targeting one skill at a time. When it comes to the steps of micro-teaching, it’s about training teachers on specific skills until they master them. Once a skill is mastered, another one is targeted. Thus, the method of micro-teaching is all about aiming for one skill at a time
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Small-scale content
There are many steps of micro-teaching that teachers must be aware of when training. When content is limited, it gives teachers more ease and freedom. Micro-teaching is also based on the principle of small-scale content or limiting content. Teachers are expected to prepare lessons based on the given content. So, it becomes much easier for them to teach
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Practice makes perfect
The principles of micro-teaching are also about practice. To master teaching skills, teachers require a lot of practice. The concept of micro-teaching allows pupil teachers to practice those teaching skills one at a time. Practice helps boost self-confidence and also promotes the development of different teaching skills. The process of micro-teaching involves a lot of practice, which is very important to master the art of teaching
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Experiments
Experiments are also one of the key features of micro-teaching. In micro-teaching, there are many different experiments conducted to test the teachers. The objective of micro-teaching is to prepare teachers in the best way possible. With experiments, the objectives of micro-teaching are met as skills are tested time and again
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Feedback
Another key feature of micro-teaching is feedback. Once a micro-teaching session ends, supervisors and pupils give their feedback immediately. Through micro-teaching, a teacher can improve and work on their drawbacks
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Self-evaluation opportunities
One of the main objectives of micro-teaching is self-evaluation. Self-evaluation plays a significant role in any kind of task. Through the process of micro-teaching, one can analyze their mistakes and try to improve their skills. The use of micro-teaching allows students to understand their mistakes and work on improving themselves. The use of micro-teaching for training purposes helps point out drawbacks and solutions, thus helping in the overall development of teachers
Let’s now understand the types of micro-teaching methods.
Types Of Micro-Teaching
There are different types of micro-teaching that one needs to understand. They are as follows:
- The Skill of Introduction
- The Skill of Explaining
- The Skill of Questioning
- The Skill of Demonstration
- The Skill of Illustrating
- The Skill of Reinforcement
- The Skill of Stimulus Variation
- The Skill of Blackboard Writing
- The Skill of Closure
As we’ve mentioned before, if you want to understand what micro-teaching is, you must know the types of micro-teaching methods available to teachers.
The Process Of Micro-Teaching
Now that we’ve clearly understood what micro-teaching is, let’s look at the process of micro-teaching. Micro-teaching revolves around six basic ideas. They are as follows:
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Plan
Micro-teaching allows teachers to conduct a teaching session for a small group. This gives them the freedom to plan accordingly. They prepare a topic or lesson and what they want to cover in class. This is similar to lesson planning but it’s not full-fledged. This is the very first step of micro-teaching. Teachers will have to plan their lessons according to their trainer’s instructions
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Teach
The next step of micro-teaching is to take a class and teach. The trainee will teach a class according to the plan they’ve prepared. Their trainer will be the supervisor
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Observe
The trainer will observe the trainee teacher’s class and will comment and give feedback based on their observations
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Re-plan
Based on the trainer’s feedback and self-evaluation, the trainee will re-plan their approach and strategies. This can include communication, presentation style or teaching skill. Micro-teaching may be stressful for many, but one will be able to master the art of teaching eventually with practice
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Re-teach
The trainee teacher will have to repeat the same process and re-teach the class. Micro-teaching is a process where teachers learn through trial and error
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Re-observe
Once again, the trainer will observe the trainee teacher and give feedback according to the observations made
Now, let’s find out more about the phases of micro-teaching.
The Phases Of Micro-Teaching
There are three phases of micro-teaching. They are as follows:
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Knowledge Acquisition
This is the very first phase of micro-teaching. This phase is all about gathering knowledge about the various skills needed to become a successful teacher. Trainee teachers will go through different teaching lectures and demonstration videos to understand everything about a teaching career. In this phase, trainee teachers understand the meaning of micro-teaching and what a teaching job involves.
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Skill Acquisition
The next phase is the working phase of the program. In this phase, trainee teachers are asked to prepare certain topics or lessons based on the micro-teaching model that’s presented at the start of the program. In this phase, there are two essential things to keep in mind—setting and feedback. Setting includes the duration of the class, the lesson length, the students, the supervisor and the skill to be obtained.
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Transferring Phase
This is the final and the most vital phase of micro-teaching. In this phase, the trainee teaches in a real classroom that’s not controlled. It’s a real situation, and both students and teachers get an opportunity to learn and grow.
With that said, we must also evaluate the pros and cons of this method, which are enumerated below.
Advantages Of Micro-Teaching
Micro-teaching is a great platform for teachers to improve their teaching skills. Here are some advantages or benefits of micro-teaching:
- Builds confidence
- Involves a lot of practice
- Budget-friendly
- More learning
- Improves attitude
- Develops communication skills
- Promotes systematic lesson planning
- Instant feedback
- Helps master skills
There are also some drawbacks of this model, which are listed below.
Disadvantages Of Micro-Teaching
The main shortcomings of micro-teaching are:
- Reduces creativity
- Teaching is limited
- Lesser students mean lesser interest
- Wastes a lot of time
- Not realistic and practical
- Time-consuming
- Involves overlapping of certain skills
Understanding what micro-teaching is is essential if you’re looking to enroll in a teaching course. Micro-teaching programs for experienced and non-experienced teachers are an ideal way to enter into the world of teaching. Remember, there are pros and cons for every innovation, and keeping this in mind, you must opt for a suitable teacher training program that offers you the best training. Micro-teaching is a widely used technique that’s approved and adopted by various institutes across the world.
With Harappa’s Inspiring Faculty program, you’ll be able to design outcome-oriented course plans for inquiry-based learning. The pathway will allow you to sharpen communication skills to build an impactful classroom presence and also plan authentic assessments to apply learning in real-world contexts.
