Online Micro Teaching

Throughout my micro teaching experience, I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with learners on a digital space whereby all learners interacted with me. I enjoyed making use of online tools that could be used to keep the learners attention focused on the lesson that is being taught through making the lesson exciting. However, I dislike not being able to physically see and interact with the learners. As all of the learners were behind a screen with their cameras off, I was unable to see the learners facial expressions, meaning that I could not see if they were confused with a certain topic, as they were ‘hiding’ behind the screen.

Through participating in the online microteaching lesson, I learnt that I need to constantly ask the learners questions to ensure that I have their attention. It was made clear to me through my peer reflection that some learners would lose focus when teaching whilst using the tool of a PowerPoint presentation. However, by asking questions about work previously covered (prior knowledge), I identified that the learners were able to remember the concepts and therefore able to interact more and feel more confident in their work.

In the future, I will integrate more real-life examples of different components of the lesson. For example: a real-life circle could be a pizza and a sphere could be a tennis ball. This will make it easier for the learners to make a connection with what they are being taught and what they see on a daily basis. This will optimise their knowledge and future success.

After reflecting on the comments that my peers have left me, I have identified that the online tool that I made use of was suitable for the lesson, however they felt as if more interaction was needed in the quiz component of my lesson. When using a PowerPoint presentation, I was unable to see the chat box on blackboard collaborate. This problem was resolved by setting rules into place prior to the start of the lesson and sharing my page, to ensure that the learners make use of their microphones in place of simply typing in the chatbot. From what I have observed, I would use a more interactive tool in the future which allows me to see the progression of each of the learners and to see if they are actively participating.

I feel as if this experience developed and readied me for teaching in the schooling environment as teaching online is seen as a harder component. I was able to receive feedback from my peers, in which I was provided with enlightening information on what they suggest will or will not work within the classroom setting. This has helped me identify my strengths and weaknesses in teaching a lesson. Strengths: testing for prior knowledge, keeping the learners engaged, and weaknesses: selecting a confusing online tool for the age group taught. By viewing my peers lessons, I was able to identify strategies in which I would like to incorporate some of these aspects into my future lessons as I believe that they are the aid for optimum education. Some examples of these would be asking the learners to physically go and source an object relating to the lesson, or the number of questions that I ask and the rate and speed at which I speak for the learners to be able to take the most amount of information away from the lesson.