What are the five skills of Microteaching?
Education

The Five Essential Skills of Microteaching for Effective Teacher Development

Mandi D 3 April 2023

Microteaching is a scaled-down, simulated teaching experience that allows teachers to experiment with various instructional techniques and receive constructive feedback in a supportive environment. The primary objective of microteaching is to enhance teaching skills and effectiveness by providing a platform for teachers to practice key techniques and identify areas for improvement through peer and supervisor feedback.

Microteaching sessions are usually 5-10 minutes long and involve a small group of real students or fellow trainee teachers who role play as students. The sessions focus on developing specific teaching skills as opposed to covering extensive content material. By practicing teaching skills in a low-stakes setting, teachers can gain confidence, identify strengths and weaknesses, and refine their techniques before implementing them in a real classroom.

The five core skills that form micro-teaching:

1. Set Induction

Set induction refers to the process of generating interest in the topic and mentally preparing learners for the upcoming lesson. The first few minutes of a teaching session are crucial for capturing attention, activating prior knowledge, and establishing relevance to spark learners’ curiosity.

Effective set induction creates an engaging climate that encourages learner participation and sets the tone for active learning. Some techniques for achieving good set induction include:

  • Using thought-provoking questions or problems to introduce the topic
  • Telling a relevant story or anecdote
  • Showing an interesting image, video clip, or demonstration
  • Referencing current events related to the topic
  • Engaging learners in a focused discussion or brief activity

For example, a teacher delivering a lesson on gravity could begin by dropping a set of keys and asking students to explain what caused the keys to fall. This demonstrates the phenomenon and gets students thinking about the topic right away.

2. Presenting Content

Clear presentation of lesson content is vital for student comprehension and retention. Teachers must organize information into logical sequences, explain concepts clearly, emphasize key points, and use examples and analogies to illustrate ideas.

Some effective techniques for content presentation include:

  • Breaking information into manageable chunks
  • Using visual aids like whiteboards, props, diagrams, or slideshows
  • Incorporating multimedia like videos, simulations, or audio clips
  • Using verbal explanations, demonstrations, and examples
  • Allowing time for note-taking and student questions
  • Checking frequently for understanding

For instance, a teacher explaining the concept of food chains could use a flow chart showing the connections between producers, consumers, and decomposers. This visual aid outlines the sequence clearly and provides a helpful frame of reference.

3. Questioning Skills

Questioning is essential for gauging student understanding, stimulating active thinking, facilitating discussions, and encouraging broader participation.

Effective questioning techniques in microteaching include:

  • Asking a balance of lower and higher-order questions
    • Lower-order questions target recall and comprehension
    • Higher-order questions encourage analysis, evaluation, and critical thinking
  • Allowing adequate wait time between posing a question and requesting a response (5-7 seconds)
  • Addressing questions to the whole class, then calling on students randomly to avoid voluntary participation only
  • Asking follow-up questions to clarify or expand on a student’s response
  • Ensuring all students get opportunities to respond over the course of a lesson
  • Providing feedback on answers (affirming correct responses and guiding students if an answer is incomplete)

For example, after explaining the process of osmosis in cells, the teacher could ask: “Why is osmosis important for living organisms?” This requires students to apply their conceptual knowledge and think critically.

4. Reinforcing and Providing Feedback

Reinforcement and timely feedback are essential for validating student learning and keeping learners motivated. Teachers should provide specific, positive feedback on aspects where students succeeded. Constructive guidance should be given sensitively where improvement is needed.

Effective reinforcement and feedback skills include:

  • Praising effort and perseverance, not just success
  • Being specific with praise and recommendations so students know what they did well or poorly
  • Reinforcing correct concepts and responses by relating them back to key learning points
  • Clarifying and explaining again if several students are struggling with the same concept
  • Providing guidance on how students can improve next time
  • Balancing positive and constructive feedback to create a supportive learning environment

For example, a teacher could say: “Great job explaining the main causes of deforestation. Let’s go over the impacts again as a few people seem unsure, but you all demonstrated good understanding of the causes.”

5. Achieving Closure

The closure stage of a lesson consolidates learning, resolves lingering questions, previews future lessons, and provides a sense of completion.

Effective closure techniques include:

  • Summarizing key points covered in the lesson
  • Linking back to the objectives stated in the set induction
  • Having students reflect on or summarize what they learned
  • Recapping any areas of struggle and clarifying doubts
  • Concluding with a thought-provoking question to prompt reflection
  • Previewing topics for the next class
  • Making connections to real-world applications of the concepts

For instance, after a lesson on pollution, the teacher could ask: “What is one thing you could do to help reduce pollution in your community?” This encourages students to reflect on how to apply their new knowledge.

The Microteaching Cycle for Ongoing Skill Refinement

The microteaching cycle provides structured steps for continuous improvement of instructional skills through practice and peer feedback. There are five main stages:

1. Plan

The teacher selects a short lesson segment (5-10 minutes) and plans the content coverage, learning activities, assessments, and use of techniques like visual aids or questioning. The teacher also formulates 1-2 specific skill objectives to focus improvement efforts on, like body language or wait time between questions.

2. Teach

The teacher delivers the microlesson to a small group of students while being observed by colleagues. The session is videotaped for review later. The students provide verbal feedback at the end on aspects like clarity, engagement, tone, etc.

3. Reflect

The teacher reviews their videotaped microlesson and reflects on aspects like content flow, areas of strength, areas for improvement, and whether they met their skill objectives. The teacher makes notes to inform implementation of refinements in the re-teach stage.

4. Re-Plan

Using notes from the previous reflection and feedback, the teacher modifies the microlesson plan to incorporate improvements. These could include re-ordering content, trying new instructional strategies, asking different questions, or focusing on body language and tone.

5. Re-Teach

The revised microlesson is taught to a new group of students. Peers continue observing and providing feedback about skill development. The teacher reflects again on whether the changes were beneficial and identifies any new areas for improvement to focus on in the next microteaching cycle.

This iterative process allows teachers to continuously refine techniques, apply feedback, monitor growth, and become more self-reflective. Over successive cycles, instructional skills are strengthened.

Making the Most of Microteaching Practice Sessions

Here are some tips for teachers and student-teachers to maximize the benefits of microteaching practice:

  • Set 1-2 specific skill goals per session rather than trying to improve everything at once. Targeted refinement is more manageable and effective.
  • Practice each skill multiple times across different microteaching cycles to get comfortable applying them flexibly.
  • Pay attention to verbal and non-verbal communication skills – tone, eye contact, gestures, face expressions, etc. These significantly impact student engagement and comprehension.
  • View videotape of your microteaching session before the re-teach stage while feedback is still fresh. This allows more accurate and objective self-evaluation.
  • Welcome constructive feedback from peers and supervisors. Use it positively to pinpoint concrete areas for improvement.
  • After each cycle, note the 1-2 skills to target in your next microteaching session based on your key development needs. Focusing on incremental growth promotes steady improvement.
  • Remember that microteaching is intended to be low stakes, allowing freedom to experiment and make mistakes in a supportive environment where real students are not impacted.
  • Approach each session mindfully, not mechanically. Reflect honestly on your performance and maintain the beginner mindset – even experienced teachers have room to grow their skills.

Applying Microteaching Skills to Real Classrooms

With practice over successive cycles, the instructional techniques honed through microteaching can become ingrained. Teachers gain confidence applying them in actual classrooms to benefit real students.

However, the transfer to a full-length lesson with dozens of learners can pose challenges at first. Maintain realistic expectations of yourself as you work the skills into your teaching repertoire.

Some tips that can facilitate the shift to real classroom application include:

  • Start by integrating 1-2 specific microteaching techniques at a time into your full lessons. Don’t overwhelm yourself expecting mastery of all skills immediately.
  • Mimic the structured reflection process from your microteaching cycles. After each real lesson, review what techniques you applied, their impact, and what to adjust next time.
  • Accept that the pacing and variability of a real classroom will require flexibility in using certain skills. For instance, you may not wait the full 5-7 seconds for student responses.
  • Anticipate student questions and pre-plan strategies, but also leave room to respond spontaneously using your skills as needed. For example, you may need to reinforce or re-explain concepts on the spot.
  • Consider any contextual factors like curriculum directives, school culture, demographics, learning needs, or classroom layout that may influence how you apply particular techniques.

The goal is to progressively integrate the microteaching skills into your teaching repertoire at a manageable pace. With time and practice, the techniques will translate into impactful instructional strategies for engaging and supporting real learners.

Wrapping Up – Key Points

  • Microteaching provides a valuable simulated experience for preservice and inservice teachers to develop critical instructional skills through repeated practice and peer feedback.
  • The core microteaching skills include set induction, content presentation, effective questioning, reinforcement and feedback provision, and closure.
  • The iterative cycle of planning, teaching, reflecting, re-planning and re-teaching allows for continuous refinement of techniques.
  • Focused skill development in the low-stakes microteaching environment equips teachers to apply those strategies effectively in real classrooms.
  • Consistent practice and mindful self-reflection are key to improving teaching techniques over time through successive microteaching cycles.

Microteaching is thus an invaluable part of teacher training programs, as well as professional development for practicing teachers looking to upgrade their skills. With commitment and thoughtful application, it can significantly enhance instructional effectiveness to benefit student learning.

Further Online Resources and References

  1. Microteaching – An Efficient Technique for Learning Effective Teaching
  2. The Microteaching Method: An Overview
  3. Effective Teaching Skills and Microteaching
  4. Enhancing Teaching Skills through Microteaching
  5. The Role of Microteaching in Developing Teaching Skills
  6. Microteaching Techniques and Strategies for Improved Instruction
  7. The Importance of Questioning Techniques in the Classroom
  8. Effective Feedback in the Classroom: Strategies and Tips
  9. Creating Lesson Closure: Strategies for the Classroom