What is Microteaching?

Microteaching is a teaching laboratory in which small groups of five or six faculty and two facilitators explore the processes of teaching and learning by alternately teaching and responding as learners. We learn from feedback on our own teaching, from being “students” while others teach, and from the conversations about these experiences. The basic premise of microteaching is that there are many different ways to be an effective teacher and that we can expand our effectiveness by observing other teaching styles and strategies and by discussing shared issues of teaching and learning, no matter our discipline, unique style, or years of experience. In fact, we try to make sure that each small group has a wide diversity. In a sense, microteaching is a way of getting a mini-liberal arts education.

The process is as follows: each person teaches a seven-to-eight-minute segment of a class; others respond as “students.” You might think about bringing a visual (a slide, overhead transparency, painting, cartoon, chart, graph, etc.) or a short text (a half-page or less) that has power to evoke or illustrate a key concept. If you are using a handout, bring eight copies. In short though, be yourself. Do whatever it is you normally do in your classroom and treat the other participants as your regular students. Think of the seven-minute segment as a “slice” of a whole class; it will not be a complete class, nor will it be a condensed version of a complete class. Ideally, the slice should happen as if a group of people walked into your regular class for seven minutes. We hope that you will experiment with your teaching during the Workshop—at least on the final day, but perhaps in each session.

Those not presenting will listen and participate as students, and, when the teaching segment is finished, they will offer constructive feedback (see Guidelines). We will videotape both the teaching segment and the feedback session. This may at first seem a little awkward, but participants quickly become accustomed to the camera. Usually, a seven-minute slice of teaching easily generates thirty minutes or so of discussion (forty-five minutes, when we count the time needed to review the video of the teaching segment). Time goes very quickly, as you’ll see in you first segment. Facilitators will enforce time limits strictly, so that everyone has an equal chance to teach and to receive feedback.

At the workshop, most of us will be teaching in non-traditional, informal settings rather than “classrooms.” The informality of these settings is conducive to discussion, but you may want to keep in mind that you won’t be surrounded by twenty feet of chalkboard and 30 desks (though a board, screen, overhead, lectern, and computer projection will be available).

Our evaluations tell us that participants leave microteaching workshops with a clearer and more positive sense of their teaching, with a greater appreciation for the teaching styles of others, and with an enlarged sense of the possibilities offered by the classroom.

Before the Workshop, one of our facilitators will be calling you to answer questions that you may have about the process or types of teaching materials to bring.

Back to Summer Teaching Workshop Home