The document discusses micro teaching, which examines teacher education programs. Micro teaching involves student teachers practicing teaching skills like movement, gestures, voice modulation, focusing student attention, questioning students, and providing feedback, by teaching short lessons to small groups. Key skills discussed include changing speech patterns, redirecting questions, prompting students with hints, seeking more information from students, and relating answers to other topics. The goal is for student teachers to practice and improve specific observable teaching techniques.

1. Micro Teaching
By
Dr. I. Uma Maheswari
iuma_maheswari@yahoo.co.in

2. Micro teaching
Micro teaching examines the teacher education programmes with
special reference to student teacher in India and abroad.

3. Teacher education in India and Abroad
The quality of a nation is judged by the quality of the
citizens.
The quality of the citizens is judged by the efficiency of
the teaching.
The quality of these teachers depends upon the
soundness of the teacher education programmes.

4.  The educationists and administrator have
expressed dissatisfaction regarding the present
teacher education programme and have
recommended measures for improvement.
 There have been a few innovative alternatives
for teacher educators to adopt, like micro
teaching techniques competency / performance
based teaching education programs, role-
playing, self-confrontation, and such others.

5. Among them, the most popular ones are
micro teaching and
competency/performance based teacher
education programme.
Micro teaching is a training technique
which requires student teachers to teach a
single concept using specified teaching skill
to a small number of pupils in a short
duration of time.

6. The most important point in micro teaching is that
teaching is practiced in terms of definable,
observable, measurable and controllable teaching
skills.

7. Skill of stimulus variation
 Teacher Movement
 Teacher Gesture
 Change in speech pattern
 Change in sensory focus
 Pupil talk
 Pupil movement

8. Teacher Movement
Teacher moves in the class but every movement
has a purpose (i.e.)
to check what pupils at the back are doing.
to write something on the board.
to remove boredom.
to sustain attention of pupils who will be
observing the teacher standing near the table for
a long time.

9. Teacher Gesture
The various gestures that we use in the class is to
draw pupil’s attention are head, hand and body
movements.
Gestures will be more expressive and dynamic in
our presentation in class.
Gestures can be made by movement of the parts
of the body to direct attention, to emphasize
importance, to explain emotions, or to indicate
shapes, sizes, movements, etc.

10. Change in speech pattern
 Whenever we want to express emotions or feelings,
we can modulate our voice. This sudden variation in
this stimulus will attract attention of the pupils.
 While reading a lesson, a teacher has to read certain
sentences emphasizing anger.
 The teacher can increase the volume of his voice,
and suddenly slow down. These sudden changes in
the pitch of the voice will make pupils to be
attentive.

11. Change in sensory focus
Behaviors that direct or focus pupils’
attention to a particular point which the
pupils have to notice or observe.
Certain verbal statement (verbal focusing),
or gestures or movements (gestural
focusing), and both verbal statement and
gestures (verbal and gestural focusing)

12. Verbal focusing: When we say “Look at this
Diagram”, “ Listen carefully to this” I.e. directing
pupils’ attention to that particular aspect which
we are emphasizing.
Gestural focusing: This involves focusing or
directing pupil’s attention to particular points in
the lesson by using only gestures – head, hand
and body movement.

13. The teacher can point out a key in the keyboard or
important words on the blackboard.
Verbal and gestural focusing: This focus the pupils’
attention both by pointing to a figure and saying
verbally “Look at this Figure”. (I.e) verbal and gestural
focusing is found by experience to be ;more effective
than either of them singly used.

14. Pupil talk
When two or more pupils’ talk or response for the
teacher’s question.
Asking questions to an individual.
Questions are asked and without commenting
redirect the question by pointing to another pupil.
Asking the students to write down certain points on
the blackboard.

15. Pupil movement
 Asking the students to show an apparatus.
 Making them to identify certain item.
 Making them to come to the black board to write the syntax of a
statement.

16. Skill of Reinforcement
 Positive verbal reinforcement
 Positive non-verbal reinforcement
 Negative verbal reinforcement
 Negative non-verbal reinforcement
 Writing pupils answer on the black board

17. Positive verbal reinforcement
Encouraging remarks such as
“that’s good”, “right”,
“yes”, “correct”,
“fine”, “excellent”,
“splendid”, “well done”,
“I like what you are doing”, “continue”,
“go-ahead with what you are saying”,
“carry on”, etc

18. Positive non-verbal reinforcement
Non verbal expressions like
 nodding of head, smiling,
 moving towards the responding pupil,
 keeping eyes on the pupil,
 giving ears to the pupil indicating that attention is being
paid to the pupil’s words,
 writing the response of the pupil on the blackboard,
 any other nonverbal action indicating pleasure at the
pupil’s response.

19. Negative verbal reinforcement
Avoid discouraging expressions such as
“I do not like what you are doing”,
“Do something else”, “nonsense”, “you are not
good”, “no”, “wrong”, “incorrect”, “stop it”,
“that’s not”, etc.,
Discouraging cues and voice tones as “humph”
in sarcastic voice

20. Negative non-verbal reinforcement
 Frowning,
 moving away from the responding pupil,
 keeping eyes on the pupil with discouraging looks,
 hard and disapproving stares,
 not looking at the responding pupil,
 tapping foot impatiently and walking around, etc.

21. Writing pupils answer on the
black board
 Writing the correct answers.
 Writing the important points.
 Drawing the circuit diagram.
 Making the students to verify the Circuit diagram drawn on
the blackboard.

22. Skill of Probing Questions
 Prompting
 Seeking further information
 Redirecting
 Refocusing
 Increasing critical awareness

23. Prompting
 This involves the teacher to give clues or hints
to the pupil and ask leading questions.
This technique is used when the pupil gives
(a) “I do not know” or “I am not sure” response,
(b) very weak or wrong response.
 The teacher helps the pupil to arrive at the
criterion response by means of systematic and
step-by-step questioning process.

24. Seeking further information
 If the initial response of a pupil is either
incomplete or partially correct, then the teacher
helps the pupil to clarify, elaborate, or explain his
initial response.

25.  The teacher elicits more information and
meaning or seeks further clarification from
the pupil by asking questions, like
 What do you mean by the term “input” used by
you in this statement?
 Can you put it in other words to make it clearer
what you mean?
 Can you clarify your answer further?

26.  When the pupil is not wrong, but the answer
does not match the criterion response. In this
instance the teacher asks the pupil to complete
his response by asking questions like.
 What else can you add to your response?
 Is there any other answer also to the problem?
 Please state it in other words.
 How can you make your answer clearer?

27.  When the pupil is answering by guessing.
 This technique helps to remove any faulty
assumptions underlying the pupil’s answer.
 Example
 Will you tell me why do you think that you are right?
 Will you please elaborate your answer?
 Will you give an example to support your view?

28. Redirecting
 Redirection technique involves putting or directing the
same question to several pupils for response.
 When there is ‘no response’ we may redirect the same
question to other pupil.

29. Refocusing
 This technique is generally used when the pupil gives a
correct response.
 The teacher relates present answer with the topic
already covered in the class.
 This technique requires the pupil to relate a complete
acceptable answer to other topics already studied by
him.

30.  Example
 In what way is this different from ……?
 How does it relate to ……?
 In what way is it similar to ……?
 If you examine it from the view point of …..?

31. Increasing critical awareness
 This technique mainly involves asking ‘how’ and ‘why’ of a
complete correct or expected response.
 The teacher asks the pupil to justify his response rationally.