Microteaching Log

Hi fellow teachers and teachers in training!

I recently taught my first ever online lesson, which was on non-unit fractions for Grade 3 Term 3, and have a lot of thoughts and feelings surrounding it, so I thought why not share my reflection with you all for some highly valued feedback and advice.

I have both likes and dislikes regarding online teaching. I like the flexibility, resource availability, global connectivity opportunities, personalized learning options, and enhanced communication that online teaching provides. I dislike the absence of direct learner interaction, technical issues, such as connectivity issues, challenges in engaging learners, challenges in grasping and keeping learners attention, and major limitations in and lack off hands-on learning.

As I was preparing for my online lesson I had to practice and learn new skills. One of the new skills I learnt was how to effectively and efficiently use the online teaching and learning platform Blackboard Collaborate. In the past I had used Blackboard Collaborate, but I was the student in the lesson. For this lesson I was the teacher, and had to navigate the platform and figure out how to properly use all the features in order to maximize the teaching and learning opportunities in my lesson. I learnt how to share my slides, screenshare, navigate between online tabs while teaching, communicate via mic and the comment section, and how to allow learners to access alternate online learning platforms, such as a Kahoot quiz.

In my lesson I made use of multiple other different digital tools, such as PowerPoint Presentation, Kahoot, Classroom Secrets (for an online interactive game), and of course the online teaching platform itself, Blackboard Collaborate. In the past I only made slideshows for my assignments at school and university, but for this lesson I had to practice making slides to teach an entire lesson introduction topic, all while making sure I didn't overload or underload the slides with information, as well as making them Grade 3 age appropriate and attention grabbing, all while not distracting them too much. I have played many Kahoot quizzes in the past as a student, but have never made one by myself, so learning to create one with appropriate questions and timing was interesting.

I believe that my lesson made use of appropriate digital tools to teach my online lesson, because my Kahoot quiz was interactive so it required direct learner engagement. I was able to track the learners and their answers as they were doing the quiz live. I was also able to review the learners complete quiz answers after, which I can use as an informal assessment on the learners understanding of the concept, as well as how well I was able to reach my lesson objectives and how successful my teaching was as a whole for the lesson. The other game I played with the learners, the Classroom Secrets game, was also very interactive, as I called on learners by name and was able to see their understanding of the concept "on their feet"/live. I believe that these tools were appropriate for my online lesson, as a major concern of many teachers when teaching online is learner engagement, and both my quiz and game encouraged and required active learner engagement.

I would change some aspects of my online lesson, specifically taking a bit longer to recap the learners prior knowledge of fractions, unit fractions, numerators, and denominators. I believe spending longer on the recap with the learners will refresh their memories better, which will help them in grasping the new lesson concept. I would also provide a few more examples of non-unit fractions, just to reiterate to the learners what makes them different from unit fractions.

I believe that this experience has developed me for teaching in a school, because I am more aware of how to make slideshows that are the right amount of attention grabbing, content rich, and engaging, that promote effective and efficient teaching and learning, which can be used both in a physical classroom and online. Even though we are out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic has taught me that things can change overnight, so if something were to arise that would effect physical classrooms and teaching I believe I am more prepared than I was a year ago to teach effectively online.

Before my online lesson I was very nervous and scared, but today as I write this reflection I am grateful for the learning opportunity that it put me in, because I believe that I have developed some valuable teaching skills. I still have a lot to learn and discover about online teaching, but overall I believe this experience was worth it to push me in the right direction to grow more as a well-rounded teacher!