Online Microteaching Log

Reflection

What did I like about the lesson:

What I enjoyed about this lesson was the new experience. Even though it was challenging, I did enjoy finding creative ways to teach content on an online platform. Fractions is a very complicated topic to teach (even during face-to-face lessons) and so I did challenge myself in trying to teach this lesson online. However, the challenge was very enjoyable as I had to try figure out the best way to adapt the lesson online and easy for learners to engage with. I enjoy being creative with my lessons whether it is face to face or online, and so I enjoyed finding ways to be creative in my micro lesson and make it enjoyable for the learners as well as myself. I as the teacher need to enjoy what I am teaching and the main way of achieving this is through how we choose to teach the content. I enjoyed making my slides super creative and interactive so that both learners and I enjoy the content being taught, I enjoyed using the mathematics online tool as it is a shift away from traditional hands-on fraction learning and rather working online to learn about fractions. I thoroughly enjoyed being creative with this lesson and finding ways in which I can enjoy it (as I went in with a negative mindset about micro teaching, I made it enjoyable by choosing to be creative in how I teach the content).

What skills did you learn with this experience:

I learnt three important skills from this experience. The first one is time management. We are always given 60 minutes to teach a lesson in which we decide how to split up teaching the content. However, in this case we were only giving 15 minutes in which we had to decide what to teach, how to teach it, and sticking to the specific time frame. I learnt how to use my time within an online space, which is a lot more difficult than in a classroom. I say this because in a classroom you get feedback and interaction with learners easily, however with an online platform there is a slight delay in which we often battle to communicate with one another and wait for responses, and it results in taking away a lot of our teaching time. And so, with that that said I learnt the important of time management within an online space (versus time management in a classroom space).

I then learnt basic computer skills. In this era of teaching, we must adapt to the newest forms or ways of teaching and that would be through technology. I learnt how to navigate the computer with ease, speed, and position, I learnt how to work PowerPoint, an online platform and how to navigate online teaching tools and resources. These are important skills to have as a teacher as we need to be able to incorporate this into our teaching style as technology is becoming a big part of the learning process and so these skills will benefit me and the way I teach content.

I learnt the importance of communication skills. On an online platform it is difficult to communicate content knowledge especially to young learners. And so, through this experience I learnt how to communicate content to learners by using visual aids and explaining knowledge to learners in the most short and simple way (this means avoiding difficult vocabulary and long sentences). I learnt how to explain content to learners in a short and simple way by using visual aids to assist me, so learners do not feel overwhelmed or confused.

What would you do differently:

If I could change one thing about my lesson, it would be to be stay calm. As this was a new and unknown experience for me, I felt nervous about something going wrong during the online experience that I didn’t know how to fix as well as running out of time. And so, as I started the lesson, I felt calm, but as the lesson went on, I became more aware of what I was doing and started to panic and so it made me lose my words a few times. As I am now reflecting, I am realising how easy and fun it was, and so I would stay a lot calmer and more composed so that in future online experiences I will avoid any technological malfunctions or losing my train thought. The second thing I would do differently is change the phase of my lesson. Although I did manage to teach my introduction within the 15minute slice of the online lesson, I felt that I could have gone into more detail and played the game longer if I had to move this part of the lesson to the main teaching and learning phase of the lesson (to allow an in-depth experience and understanding of fractions).

Did you choose appropriate tools to teach online lesson, explain why:

I believe I did choose appropriate tools to teach an online lesson. The reason I say this is because the PowerPoint slides displayed all the necessary information, images, and examples that were necessary to teach the fractions lesson. They were easy to follow through on a grade 3 level, they were insightful (it did not have an overflow of information, it had just enough for learners to observe and listen to me for a detailed and further explanation). The slideshow was also creative and enjoyable for learners as it was animated and pretty (as stated from my collaboration peers). It was also easy for me to navigate through allowing me to flow from one concept to the next (giving me enough information to further explain in detail). I was also able to easily work the slideshow and had no difficulty accessing it and working through it.

The online mathematics tools I used was also a fantastic way to display, explain, and compare fractions while asking learners questions and displaying their answers for everyone to analyse and discuss. It was easy to use, and learner were able to understand how to analyse the fractions and give me answers, they were also then engaging in the lesson. I do feel if I had more time, we could’ve used this tool more and further enhance learners understanding of fractions. It was also a different way of learning as we usually use Kahoot to test learners’ knowledge and understanding, however this specific tool is good for a fraction lesson because it we alter and manipulate fractions to how we would like to assess learners’ knowledge.

How has this experience developed you for teaching in a school:

Being able to be flexible and adaptable. These two things are every important when teaching in a school because teachers need to be flexible and adaptable when teaching and these micro lessons taught me how to incorporate these skills or experiences into our teaching. Although I did not experience any problems displaying or accessing my tools during the online experience, some of the peers in my group did. And it was from their experience that I learnt how important it is to be flexible and adapt to the situations. My peers were so calm about the situation and when their links or slides did not work, they continued to try solve the problem, and when they couldn’t they then adapted their lesson and way of thinking to address the situation and came up with different ways to continue with the lesson. I thought this was a very important skill they executed well and so it has now taught me an important skill to take with me to a school and learning environment. So, when something does not go right or the way we planned, we need to be flexible and move things in our lessons around or even adapt to the situation or learners and quickly problem solve and continue with the lesson (so we do not disrupt learners flow of learning).

This experience has also developed me for teaching in schools to use more online tools in my lessons. This is because online tools help break away from traditional teaching and allows learners to have a ‘break’ from these lessons and engage in new and exciting ways of learning.