The "Micro Teach" - advice and guidance for teachers

Matt's Thunk - number 2
(Rather than a "thunk" - this is just a little bit of advice.)

Having sat through quite a host of "20 minute Micro Teaches" in FE (short sessions for teachers to show off their skills) , I thought I would share some advice; both as an observer and a student.

1. Introduce yourself to the class as soon as you can - then perhaps give them something to do while you set up ready for your micro teach (name badges, signs, a task sheet, a 1 minute chat about "X")
2. 20 minutes means 20 minutes - sort your resources out, take a deep breath and then signal you are ready to go . .  keep your eye on the clock
3. Be prepared to be the 6th teacher who has taught that same subject to the same group of learners that morning . . . . adapt it slightly, and turn it into a recap rather than a delivery session . . .  plan for the possibility of adaptation! 
4. Share a lesson plan & resources with the observers
5. Don't waste time on getting names from individuals unless you are going to use them. The classic waste of time is to ask everyone their name and then say "I probably won't remember any of them, so please forgive me"
6. HOWEVER, the students do like to be called their names! Why not ask everyone to write their name on a label, a post it on the desk, a little sign out of A4 paper - it shows that names are important - but you only have 20 minutes!!
7. The observers score you on certain things - so make sure you include these 2 things:

• introduce the lesson with some sort of aims, objectives e.g. what is the point of the next 20 minutes?
• sum up the lesson in the last few minutes - get the learners to recap & to check learning

1. Make sure you do the 2 things above in your session - even if you start to run out of time; the thing that gets forgotten most of the time is the recap - make sure you/your students sum up what you have learnt.
2. If you want to use IT, check the computer files will work - ring up in advance and ask.  ALWAYS have a back up - e.g. printouts, handouts, or something else up your sleeve
3. If you are not using IT, make sure any images or text can actually be seen by all in the classroom
4. Get students active . . . ask them to regroup while you set up . . . Active learning is a key thing to demonstrate . . . the students have probably been sat down for ages
5. Rather than spending ages loading up a powerpoint that just has 2 objectives on, write them down neatly on a piece of flip chart paper in BIG writing, and blue tack it to the board and get on with the lesson. Don't waste time on IT.
6. Engage the students in doing something write from the start
7. Question students to think further, outside the box and really challenge them to think hard - this is SO much better use of 20 minutes than ploughing through lots of content delivery.
8. Don't plan what you are going to do in the micro teach . . . plan what the learners are going to do, and check progress throughout
   

Some of you may have noticed that the numbering system above goes from 1-7, then 1-8.   This is a reminder that everything in the first 1-6 is what you should do for a micro teach . . . everything in the second 1-8 is what we should be doing in every lesson - regardless of length!

Good luck.  If you have any extra advice, add it in as a comment below.

Matt's Thunk - number 1

Matt's Thunk -  number 1

I started a conversation tonight with a student, age 11, who attends a very good secondary school.  Have a read:

:-) Happiness in education:

Me: Do you enjoy school?  Are you happy?

Student: Yeah.  I'm happy

Me:  Do you have lessons that you come away from thinking . . . yeah, that was Ok, enjoyed it, nothing special. . .?

Student: Yes.   

Me: So you're happy with school?

Student: Yeah!

Me: How many lessons a week do you come away from thinking . . .  that was boring, didnt' understand that, or what was the point of that hour?

Student: about 1 or 2 lessons a week

Me: How many lessons a week do you come away from thinking . .  that was great, amazing, loved it, learned loads, want more of that?

Student: about 2 to 3 lessons a week.




:-( This makes me sad.  (and this student is at a very good school!)

During a week, this 11 year old student (at this very good school) is still having a couple of lessons a week that are boring, and don't have any relevance to the student.  I think they have 6 lessons a day - so about 30 lessons a week.  About 7% of a week is wasted time. On the bright side, 10% of the time spent at school is really interesting and this student want's to learn more.

7% of school time, out of 40 weeks in a year is . . . . wait for it . . .  (reaching for calculator) . .  2.8 =  3 weeks of their time at school a year is wasted, boring, and no point . . . yet . . . THEY ARE HAPPY!!!!!?????

So when teachers ask students, are they happy, and they respond "yes",  is this good enough?


Teacher misses a trick!

A bit later, the student offered some more thought:

Student: "I've been thinking . . . there are some lessons which are really fun, and I love it, and would like to go back again . . . . but what was the point? - I didn't learn anything."

Me: Can you give me an example?

Student: A lesson yesterday.  Great fun.  Teacher listed 15 things we could take to a dessert island.  I  had to choose just 5 things to take.  Then I had to share my list with a friend and we decided our top 5.  We then had to share with another pair and agree our top 5.  We then had to tell the class and explain why we had chosen them.

Me: Sounds fun!

Student:  Yes . . . . but when would I ever be stuck on a desert island???  In fact none of us will probably ever get stuck on a dessert island!


The teacher had missed the most important part of the lesson - What did you learn?  What skills did you use and develop?  When might you use those skills as an adult, or in your exams, or with your friends?  Who found it hard?  What got in the way? . . . .



So, final thoughts:

1. Students can be happy with their learning - even if for 3 weeks of the year they are wasting theirs, and their teachers' time.  Should we be satisfied with this? . . . . NO - not as a student, not as a teacher, not as a school, not as a parent.

2. Students can have fun . . . if they have fun they will join in, want to come back, tell their friends - but it is the teachers job to make sure they learn something from the fun - that they value this learning . . . . .

If teachers made sure they don't miss the trick after fun, then the student might turn round soon and say:

"Most of my lessons are great, amazing, love it, learn loads, and want more of that.  Sometimes lessons are OK.  Hardly ever are they boring".

If more students said this, I believe we will getting closer to a better standard of education and developing young adults to their full potential.

Final quote:  from a student survey - I would love to see this more often about education:

"I attend my course every Monday through to Wednesday.  When I finish Wednesdays, I wish the rest of the week and weekend would be over quickly.  I love my course."