705 Unit Three

Unit 3 Development of teacher competency
Unit summary
3.1. Micro Teaching(Introduction)
3.2. Steps and phases
3.3. Various skills developed through micro teaching
*******MICRO TEACHING*******
-First adopted in Stanford University, USA in1961
-Dwight W Allen and co-workers
- Training procedure for teacher preparation aimed at simplifying the complexities of the regular teaching process
-To acquire new teaching skills and to refine old ones
- New design for teacher training ,which provides trainees with feedback about their performance immediately after completion of a micro lesson
DEFINITION
-A scaled down teaching encounter in a class size and class time (Allen)
- A scaled down sample of teaching in which a teacher teaches a small unit to a small group of 5 to 10 pupils for a small period of 5 to 10 minutes
- A teacher training procedure which reduces the teaching situation to simpler and more controlled encounter achieved by limiting the practice teaching to a specific skill and reducing teaching time and class size
Why Micro ? - Reasons
- Small group
-Short duration
-Small piece of content
-Concentrates at a time on a single sub skill of the major skill
Significance
-Microteaching provides an opportunity for faculty and teaching assistants to improve their teaching practices through a “teach, critique, re-teach” model.
-Microteaching is valuable for both new and experienced faculty to hone their teaching practices.
-It is often used in pre-service teacher training programs to provide additional experience before or during the clinical experiences
-Microteaching is a concentrated, focused form of peer feedback and discussion that can improve teaching strategies.
-It was developed in the early and mid 1960’s by Dwight Allen and his colleagues at the Stanford Teacher Education Program (Politzer, 1969).
-The microteaching program was designed to prepare the students for their internships in the fall. In this early version of microteaching, pre-service teachers at Stanford taught part-time to a small group of pupils (usually 4 to 5).
-The pupils were high school students who were paid volunteers and represented a cross-section of the types of students the pre-service teachers would be faced with during their internships.
-Ultimately, microteaching is a useful technique for teaching soft skills, presentation skills, and interpersonal skills.
-This focused approach encourages growth through practice and critique. The “teach, critique, re-teach” model gives the faculty immediate feedback and increases retention by providing an opportunity for practice.
Why use microteaching?
-Microteaching has several benefits. Because the lessons are so short (usually 5 to 10 minutes), they have to focus on specific strategies.
-This means that someone participating in a microteaching session can get feedback on specific techniques he or she is interested in exploring.
-In a pre-service or training situation, participants can practice a newly learned technique in isolation rather than working that technique into an entire lesson (Vare, 1993).
Meaning
-Microteaching is also an opportunity to experiment with new teaching techniques.
-Rather than trying something new with a real class, microteaching can be a laboratory to experiment and receive feedback, first (Kuhn, 1968).
How does micro-teaching work?
-In the classic Stanford model, each participant teaches a short lesson, generally 5 to 10 minutes, to a small group.
-The “students” may be actual students like in the original Stanford program or they may be peers playing the role of students.
-The presentation is followed by a feedback session.
- In some cases, the feedback session can be followed by a re-teach, so that the faculty has an opportunity to practice the improvements suggested during feedback (Vare, 1993).
Giving Feedback
-Receiving criticism is difficult for everyone.
-Setting a tone of respect and professionalism may help participants to be tactful and to keep feedback constructive.
Ground Rules
-Here is an example of ground rules used by the CASTL program at California State University :-
-Respect confidentiality concerning what we learn about each other.
-Respect agreed-upon time limits. This may be hard, but please understand that it is necessary.
-Maintain collegiality. We’re all in this together.
-Stay psychologically and physically present and on task.
-Respect others’ attempts to experiment and to take risks.
-Listen and speak in turn, so everyone can hear all comments.
-Enjoy and learn from the process!
FEED BACK
-Feedback should be constructive and based on observation, rather than judgments.
-A good example of feedback is “You fidget with your pen while talking, and that is distracting,” rather than “You seem nervous and unprepared.”
-The first comment is about observable behavior, while the second is a judgment about what that behavior means.
-Commenting on observable behavior also leads to suggestions for improvement.
-A better example of feedback would be “You fidget with your pen while talking. Perhaps it would be better to keep a hand in your pocket.”
FEED BACK :THE STANFORD MODEL
-In the Stanford model, feedback was given using a 2+2 system.
-Each participant started his/her feedback with two positive comments, followed by two suggestions for improvement.
-This gives the faculty a sense of his or her strengths as well as areas of improvement .
How can micro-teaching be used?
-The most common application for microteaching is in pre-service teacher training, like the original Stanford model.
-However, that certainly isn’t the only application.
Objectives
-To enable teacher- trainees to learn and assimilate new teaching skills under controlled conditions
-To enable teacher- trainees to gain confidence in teaching and to master a number of skills by dealing with a small group of pupils
CHARACTERISTICS
-Scaled down teaching
-Less complex than regular teaching
-Involves lesser number of students, usually 5 to 10
-Duration is short-about 5 to 10 minutes
THREE PHASES OF MICRO TEACHING PROCEDURE
1.Knowledge Acquisition phase
Observe-Trainees observe the demonstration of skill by Teacher Educator
Analyse -Trainees and the Teacher Educator discuss the demonstration
2.Skill acquisition Phase
Prepare-Trainees prepare the micro lesson
Practice-Trainees practice the pre-determined skill
3.Transfer Phase
Evaluate-Observers evaluate the performance of the Trainee
Transfer-Trainees transfer the skill to actual teaching situation
STEPS
-Defining the skills to be developed in terms of specific teaching behaviour
-Demonstration of the skill by the teacher educator by taking a lesson
-Based on the model, preparation of a micro lesson plan by the teacher trainee, for a suitable content item ,which calls for application of the skill anticipated
-Teaching of the lesson by the teacher trainee in a stimulated set up, in the presence of observers
-Providing of immediate feedback to the teacher trainee by the observers with a view to help him improve the skill
-Arranging re-planning, re-teaching and re-feedback sessions
-Repetition of plan, teach, feedback,re-plan,re-teach and re-feedback cycle till the skill is mastered
-Integration of skills
-Integration of sub skills into the major skill-Link Practice / Link lessons
Methods
-After practising 3 sub skills separately , the trainee may combine all the 3 sub skills in a lesson of 10 minutes
-Then practises another set of 3 sub skills separately and links them
-Then combines all the 6 sub-skills in a single lesson of 15 minutes
-The procedure is repeated till all the sub skills are combined in a macro lesson of 40 minutes and teaching a full class
DISTINCTION BETWEEN MICRO TEACHING AND MACRO TEACHING
Micro Teaching
-Small teaching unit
- Small learning group
-Short duration
-Teaching under controlled conditions
-Immediate feedback
-Teacher concentrates on one teaching skill at a time
-Simple teaching
-Role of the supervisor is specific and well defined
Macro teaching
-Large teaching unit
-Large group(40-50)
-Long duration(40-45 min)
-Teaching –not under controlled condition
-Immediate feedback-not gained
-Several skills at a time
-Complex teaching
-Role of the supervisor is not specific and well defined
ADVANTAGES
-Teacher trainees perform well after M T training
-Employs a training strategy specially meant for the purpose of developing skills
-Helps accomplish specific teacher competencies
-Teaching practice gain a higher degree of organisation
( Time, No. of students etc.. could be controlled)
-Helps gain deeper knowledge due to feedback and re-plan, re-teach cycles
-More effective in modifying teacher behaviour
-Helps in developing important teaching skills (questioning, providing reinforcement, increasing pupil participation)
-Effective technique for transfer of teaching competencies to classroom situations.
- Provides many opportunities to trainees to build up desired pattern of behaviour in a non-threatening set up
LIMITATIONS
-Skill oriented-content is not emphasised
-Emphasises specific skills ;but may result in the neglect of integrated skills
-Covers only a few specific skills
-May raise administrative problems while arranging micro lessons
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