Microteaching Evaluation
A microteaching lesson can be used to find out what works well in a lesson and what can be improved following feedback. Harvard University states “Microteaching is organized practice teaching. The goal is to give instructors confidence, support, and feedback by letting them try out among friends and colleagues a short slice of what they plan to do with their students. Ideally, microteaching sessions take place before the first day of class, and are videotaped for review individually with an experienced teaching consultant. Microteaching is a quick, efficient, proven, and fun way to help teachers get off to a strong start.”
For my microteaching session, I was observed teaching a group of apprentices using oxy fuel cutting techniques. This session started with safety and finished with practical demonstrations and observations. As my lesson was primarily workshop based, a lot of the teaching was demonstrations observations and oral questions and answers. At the time of my lesson, there were no classrooms available for the safety video I usually use as an introduction so I therefore had to adapt my lesson to suit the learning needs of the apprentices. Firstly, the usual lesson I would carry out would be completed over two days covering every aspect of oxy fuel cutting. As the group I was teaching had already completed manual handling of cylinders, I could remove sections of the lesson. I would also teach up to twelve learners, however during this lesson I only had four learners. This allowed me to shorten the lesson further. This was ideal because two members of the group have a small concentration span and benefitted more from a smaller shorter lesson. One leaner had previous experience of oxy fuel cutting from college so I had to assess his ability, knowledge and understanding along the way. I had to be prepared to offer this learner more work to meet his needs. Partner work was used in which I chose the pairs in
Bibliography: http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/microteaching.html - Accessed 15/08/12 Petty, G (2009) Teaching Today a Practical Guide, Nelson Thornes Ltd, Cheltenham