Micro-teaching is a teacher training and faculty development technique whereby the
teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
reviews a recording of a
teaching
Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the of an educational institution. Teaching is closely related ...
session, in order to get constructive feedback from peers or students about what has worked and what improvements can be made to their teaching technique. Micro-teaching was invented in 1963 at Stanford University by
Dwight W. Allen, and has subsequently been used to develop educators in all forms of education.
In the original process, a teacher was asked to prepare a short lesson (usually 20 minutes) for a small group of learners who may not have been his/her own students. This was then recorded on video. After the lesson, the teacher, teaching colleagues, a master teacher and the students together viewed the videotape and commented on what they saw happening, referencing the teacher's teaching objectives. Watching the video and getting comments from colleagues and students provide teachers with an often intense "under the microscope" view of their teaching.
A review of the evidence for micro-teaching, undertaken by
John Hattie
John Allan Clinton Hattie (born 1950) is a New Zealand education academic. He has been a professor of education and director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia, since March 2011. He was prev ...
as part of his
Visible Learning project, found it was the 6th most effective method for improving student outcomes.
Techniques
Since its inception in 1963, micro-teaching has become an established teacher-training procedure in many universities and school districts. This training procedure is geared towards simplification of the complexities of the regular teaching-learning process. Class size, time, task, and content are scaled down to provide optimal training environments.
The supervisor demonstrates the skill to be practiced. This may be live demonstration, or a video presentation of the skill.
Then, the group members select a topic and prepare a lesson of five to ten minutes.
The teacher trainee then has the opportunity to practice and evaluate his use of the skills. Practice takes the form of a ten-minute micro-teaching session in which five to ten pupils are involved.
In more recent years, the easy availability of recording equipment and the use of social media for dissemination have made micro-teaching more accessible.
Feedback
Feedback in micro-teaching is critical for teacher-trainee improvement. It is the information that a student receives concerning their attempts to imitate certain patterns of teaching. The built-in feedback mechanism in micro-teaching acquaints the trainee with the success of their performance and enables them to evaluate and to improve teaching.
See also
*
Evidence-based education
Evidence-based education (EBE) is the principle that education practices should be based on the best available scientific evidence, with randomised trials as the gold standard of evidence, rather than tradition, personal judgement, or other influe ...
References
External links
Modular Teaching and Learning Solutions for a needs based education
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Pedagogy