The Advantages of Microteaching

The Benefit of Micro Teaching Learning Microteaching manifests itself in this chapter as: *a reduced situation; *a training and practice situation; *a simulated situation. In this sense, the advantages that microteaching has over other traditional teacher training programs are obvious. These advantages are summarized as follows: (a) Microteaching is a training opportunity and the students can profit from all of the advantages of the situation. (b) Microteaching provides the student with a much less complex learning milieu than, e.g., school practice. (c) It offers the student the opportunity to more easily and purposefully practice teaching skills during the presentation of micro-lessons. (d) It provides the student with a context in which his primary responsibility is to learn to teach more effectively without the urgency of taking into account the needs and demands of pupils. (e) It offers the student the opportunity to systematically analyze and evaluate his teaching. (f) It offers the student the opportunity to practice particular teaching skills until they are mastered before the more complex real teaching situation is dared. (g) The systematic practice of teaching skills creates the possibility of forming a bridge between theory and practice. (h) Implementing interaction-analysis instruments offers the opportunity to objectively analyze particular activities and makes the student sensitive to part-activities that the skill manifests. 129 (i) The fact that the micro-lesson takes a short time gives the student the opportunity to better identify the elements of the learning contents and then further design his micro-lesson around them. (j) The student himself, or under the guidance of a teacher educator, can easily correct problems or errors that arise because the variables he has to take into account are limited (a-j: Calitz, 1981: 46). (k) It gives each student the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the improvement of his fellow students and at the same time it puts a great deal of responsibility on his shoulders. (l) To present a micro-lesson to fellow students in the same subject area gives him the opportunity to present his micro-lesson on any grade level. (m) It provides the opportunity to students to put themselves, as far as possible, in the position of the pupils with whom they must try to deal. (n) The student who presents the micro-lesson is challenged to communicate with his "pupils" about the content on an appropriate learning level even though he presents his micro-lesson to fellow students. The greatest value of microteaching is the changes it brings about in students regarding their teaching. The greatest changes brought about by microteaching are: *a greater grasp of teaching as a complex, challenging profession; *a greater interest in and enthusiasm for teaching; *an increased self-confidence; *a greater concern for improving and evaluating his own teaching. (Turney, et al, 1973: 8).