Online micro teaching blog

Reflections on my online micro teaching:

To start off in my online micro teaching, I was in a group with 2 other girls. This is extremely fortunate as it helps to ensure I could in depth comment on students work and they could do the same for me. I received amazing feedback which really assisted in my self evaluation.

In the group I was in, I was also placed with girls I know and am friends with. This was amazing as they gave helpful criticism, as well as built me up and interact in my lesson. This helped a lot with my nerves however the experience to teach maybe someone I don't know could have been beneficial to help assist in growing out of my comfort zone.

Onto the teaching component online. Preparing for this lesson was vital. I ensured preparation. however even with preparation things still did not go one hundred percent according to plan.

Navigating the platform was no problem at all for me. I was able to come online and teach smoothly, uploading my slides as well as accessing my game. However I was experiencing load shedding when my peers started presenting and lost signal. In the future I would begin using data instead of switching over, to avoid that pause online. I was however prepared and fixed the issue timelessly and it did not effect my 15 minute lesson slice.

Secondly, I enjoyed the online space, which I was at first so hesitant about. It is definitely practical and a lot easier to use than I had imagined. I enjoyed presenting beautiful and eye catching slides. Especially when hearing peers lessons, it was amazing to see eye catching slides in comparison to just a white board and marker within a classroom. With all the positives to the online space, I did however see negatives. These including not being able to see the chat box online where learners may comment while I was sharing my screen. And secondly not being able to see the learners faces. I say this as often learners will send a thumbs up even if they don't understand, but when you can see the learners face you are able to see when there is uncertainty.

I presented slides on the online space. From seeing my peers slides I came to realise there is definitely room for me to become better and more educated on creating slides. My slides were simple and worked however in future I would love to include animations as well as slides which move and are attractive.

A great part of this micro teaching was our peer reviews on the padlet forum. When reading these reviews I came to realise that my online game which was an English website was a great game and worked smoothly. However, it may have been to simple for a grade 3 learner and I could have challenged the learners more. In future I would keep this in mind. As well as maybe include different levelled activities, like my peers did to ensure all learners are challenged to the level of their own personal understandings.

To look at my lesson, step by step, taking into consideration my thoughts as well as my peers. Overall it is was positive.

Starting with my rationale. I completed everything I needed to and my message came across well. However in future, I would go an extra step and ensure a visual to my rationale. I feel this will be better as when I was speaking, learners were staring at a blank screen. To ensure more attention is paid I would have slides that are attractive, with my rationale planned out and displayed on them.

Next was my 15 minute slice of my lesson. I was well prepared and ready to present my lesson. This assisted in my confidence to teach. While presenting and teaching I spoke clearly, answered all questions and constantly ensured learners kept up and were understanding. As a whole I feel my lesson came across well and my lesson objectives were achieved.

I taught a lesson on homophones, which started with a question on what learners think a homophone is. This worked well as learners turned on their microphones and engaged with me. I as the educator was also able to see at what level learners understanding were at. I then followed on discussing homophones through slides which went well, with continuous questions being asked and answered by learners using their mics.

My next component was my online game, using English home language website for learners. The game went well, all the learners understood and it was easily accessible and easy to use. However as my peers mentioned to, my game may have been to easy for a Grade 3 learner. Therefore in the future I would ensure to have different levels of difficulty in games available for the learners to play. This way learners can be challenged where necessary.

The final improvement I will work on is time management. I went through my lesson quite quickly and had leftover time. Luckily I was able to think on my feet and added a quick game at the end using the chat box. This like I said worked so well and learners participated using their chat boxes. In future I would prepare an extra activity for the times a lesson ends early, to avoid the anxiety of making a plan on the spot.

To close, I feel that working on the online platform was useful, and I definitely learnt and grew from it. I feel better prepared and less nervous around the online space which is vital in todays world with pandemics and the possibility of online schooling returning. Overall this was a positive learning experience for me, I was able to learn to navigate a new platform as well as learn from myself and my peers in my group.

Thank you for reading my reflection as well as aiding in the creation of it. Please take a moment to leave your thoughts and add anything you feel I may have missed.