“The duties of a teacher are neither few nor small. They elevate the mind and give energy to the character.”
One cannot trivialize the work that teachers do. From lesson planning to classroom management to character development to inculcating knowledge, there are a gazillion things that they do and numerous roles that they play. Without proper training and education, teachers won’t be able to ace these tasks at hand. Some people have an innate aptitude for teaching and certain others don’t. Microteaching is a technique used in teacher training to prepare the teachers for their classes.
Teaching is not just about transferring knowledge or talking about the subjects and concepts in the syllabus. It aims at the holistic development of a child and there are a lot of duties and responsibilities that a teacher has, and it is imperative that they fulfill them. Microteaching is a teaching technique that helps teachers to be prepared for the tasks that are coming their way.
Microteaching entails three basic steps. Let us discuss microteaching and how it helps teachers in detail.
The Framework of Microteaching
Knowledge addition, skill development, and transfer are the three main parts of microteaching. They can also be called the steps of microteaching. Before going into the details of microteaching and how it trains teachers, let us take a look at some of the important teaching skills that a teacher should possess;
Teaching Skills
The major skills that teachers should possess include and are not limited to:
- Interpersonal skills
Effective teaching and learning cannot happen without a good rapport between the teacher and students. The teacher must have good interpersonal skills so as to establish and maintain a good relationship with the students. A hostile classroom can never be a great place to learn.
- Presentation skills
It is said that teaching is one-fourth of preparation and three-fourth, theatre. The teacher must be able to present the concepts and lessons in an innovative way and the students must find it interesting. Presentation skills are necessary to make the classroom active and interesting.
- Organizational skills
For the students to be disciplined and organized, the teachers must be organized. Since teachers have to juggle multiple roles and responsibilities, it is of paramount importance to have good organizational skills.
- Leadership skills
More often than not, teachers have to lead the way and light the path. They should know how a leader should be. Leadership is not about commanding or running a tight ship. It is about looking out for others, creating a better space and guidance.
- Creative thinking
Innovative thinking and creative approaches make learning effective. It is normal for students to get bored and doze off. The teacher should know how to capture the attention of students
- Patience
Fitting into multiple shoes and playing different roles can be overwhelming. The students can get on your nerves and more often than not, you might feel like you are losing it. Just sit back and take a deep breath. Patience is key when it comes to teaching.
Now that we have taken a quick look at some of the teaching skills, let us dive deeper into microteaching and its importance.
Not a lot of people would have the skills that are mentioned above. While some have an inborn talent to teach, certain others must be educated and trained. Microteaching is a way to achieve these skills and create efficient teachers.
Steps in Microteaching
1. Knowledge Acquisition
The first phase of microteaching is knowledge acquisition. The teacher or teacher trainee acquires knowledge regarding various verticals. Starting from the subject knowledge to the presentation skills and classroom etiquette, all the things are discussed in this phase. This is done mainly through discussions, lectures, demo classes by experienced teachers, and likewise. This is the first stage in microteaching where the trainee is an observer or learner.
2. Skill Development
The second stage is skill development. In this stage, the knowledge that they acquired in the first stage, i.e., knowledge acquisition is put into practice. This is a more dynamic and interactive phase where the teacher trainee plans a small part of a lesson and demonstrates it in front of their peers and lecturers. Based on the feedback that they gather from the audience, they rework their micro lesson plan and alter their approach and work on their skills accordingly. This phase, thus, has four sub-steps:
- Plan- Where the teacher trainees plan a small part of the lesson.
- Teach- The teacher trainees conduct a demo class.
- Feedback and Introspection- Gather feedback from the trainees, and lecturers and work on their skills.
- Reteach- Conducting more demo classes based on the feedback collected and perfecting their skills.
These four steps are cyclical in nature. The teacher trainees keep doing this to hone their skills.
3. Transfer Stage
The last phase of microteaching is the transfer stage where the teachers face the real classroom and interact with students. They put into practice the knowledge that they acquired and the skills that they developed during their training session.
There is a lot of distance between what we see and what we don’t. People think that teaching is an easy profession. In reality, it has its own difficulties and hurdles. It is not just about reading out from a textbook or inculcating values. There are more layers and levels to it. Teachers undergo a lot of training and development sessions in order to prepare themselves for the students. They put in their best every day to ensure that the students get a chance to dream and succeed. As mentioned before, one cannot trivialize the job that teachers do. Teachers have the ability to achieve more with less and make the best out of any situation. The rapid increase in online classrooms and the seamless shift proves that teachers are quick learners and adapt to ensure quality education is accessible to all!
We have discussed what microteaching is, the steps of microteaching, and how it helps teachers in this article. We will be back with more informative content.
Until then,
Happy teaching!
To bring ease and efficiency to the table, it is of utmost importance to digitize your school. With a brilliant suite of features, the Teachmint Integrated School Platform makes the process of management, teaching, learning, and analysis- easy, effective, and practically consolidated with one another. Check out the features here.
