Dwight W. Allen - Microteaching

Microteaching

Microteaching was developed in the early and mid 1960s by Allen and his colleagues at the Stanford Teacher Education Program. It was designed to enhance teaching via open collegial discussion about teaching performance. The original Stanford model took a “teach → review & reflect → re-teach approach”, using actual school students as an authentic audience. The model has been adapted to college and university teacher training programs where it has been used most often to elicit a concentrated, focused form of peer feedback. The rationale of Microteaching is to apply collegial constructive criticisms to improve one's own teaching/learning strategies and, through assuming the student role, to sharpen one's insight into students' teaching/learning needs and expectations.

The core of microteaching is the presentation of two 10-minute micro lessons by each participant. When one participant presents a lesson as an instructor, the other participants become students for that lesson. A timer is used to keep to the STRICTLY ENFORCED 10-minute time limit so that everyone can participate fully. Because of the strict time limit, it is impossible and unnecessary to cram an entire body of knowledge into 10 minutes; the 10-minute lesson can be excerpted from the beginning, middle or end of one lesson. This is designed to provide a snapshot of the teaching method or style of a participant in order to get a fresh perspectives on it from peers. Originally, a micro lesson was video-taped so that the presenter could review it and reflect on it after the presentation. Other participants also would review the tape and provide their feedback on the presentation. Based on his/her own reflections and peers' feedback on the micro lesson, the presenter would re-teach the same 10-minute lesson.

Years ago, Allen simplified the process of microteaching by incorporating the 2+2 performance appraisal system. The new microteaching model doesn't require video-taping the presentation. Participants are divided into small groups. When one group member does the presentation, other group members act as his/her students. After the presentation, these "students" provide feedback (oral or written) for the "teacher" on the lesson which includes 2 compliments and 2 suggestions (2+2). Based on his/her own reflections and peers' feedback, the presenter would re-teach the same micro lesson.

A micro lesson is an opportunity to present a sample “snapshot” of what/how a participant (teacher or pre-teacher) teaches and to get different feedback from colleagues/peers about how it was received. For half a century, microteaching has been used widely in many teacher training programs in many countries, and it has been proven to be an effective approach in preparing and training effective teachers.