Microteaching Lesson Reflection

Mathematics - Stem and Leaf Display

- by Micaela Abigail Naidoo

Online teaching can have its ups and downs, however for most educators, it is an excitingly simple process.

What I liked about online teaching was that everything was at my disposal. When I needed to upload my lesson plan, it was under my file folder on my cell phone, and I was able to extract it from there and export it onto the online site that I was teaching on. For a face-to-face lesson I would have had to physically print out the lesson plan. Online teaching is easy, and it can take place through the use of a cell phone, which I had used for my microteaching lesson. It can also take place anywhere. For my micro teaching lesson, I got to be in the comfort of my own home. There was no need for me to go to one specific venue. It is also very cost effective as it saved me from paying for transport. Teaching online is convenient for all of the involved parties.

However, disliked the fact that the online microteaching was not face to face. That meant that I did not get to engage with the people watching and listening to my lesson. Network or other technological issues can also become extremely frustrating at times. For instance, at the start, my microphone was not working. That meant that I could not hear anyone speaking nor could I speak. I felt pressurised as I had to sort out the issue immediately or else, I would have missed my turn to teach. Thankfully that issue was sorted out in the end. Teaching online means that an individual must follow certain steps to get to the main aspect, which is teaching, whereas in a normal face to face lesson, there is nothing holding a person back from teaching.

Through this experience, I have learnt many new skills. I have learnt how to use blackboard collaborate to teach an online lesson. I have learnt how to upload my lesson plan and other resources that I would need to use when conducting an online lesson. This experience has also taught me how to teach without physically seeing anyone. I have learnt technological skills, how to be patient and persevere despite the obstacles that are thrown my way.

Truthfully, if there was anything that I could have done differently during my microteaching lesson, it would be not rushing through my microteaching lesson. Instead, I would have taken my time to explain how I would teach the lesson.

I have chosen the most appropriate tools to teach my online lesson. With the subject of mathematics, there is not much that can be done to make the lesson interesting. Therefore, every tool that was used to teach the lesson was to ensure that the mathematics lesson was as exciting as it could possibly be.

This experience has developed me for teaching in a school next year because I personally feel that the biggest development through the online teaching experience for me was confidence. When teaching online, no individual could see me. That made me feel comfortable because I did not have to worry about how I looked or was dressed. However, the lesson went well for me and because of the smoothness of the lesson, it has made me feel confident enough to stand in front of a number of learners to teach them.