My Microteaching Experience

For three consecutive days this past week I had the opportunity to teach 15 8th graders at Tyrone High School. I was able to put into practice a variety of the teaching strategies and techniques that we have been learning about this past semester. It was quite the experience! It was not only difficult utilizing these new strategies that I just learned, but it was also a challenge testing them out with rowdy 8th graders.

The first day was the most easy going. The students were just warming up to me and they weren't quite sure how I would interact with them. One student was having a difficult morning and so before class I talked with him out in the shop to assure him that we were going to have a great day. After asking him if he was excited for class he said, "Well I am, but you see I'm not sure if you are cool or not yet." He was a fun and interesting character to say the least. He had a few behavioral issues but I was so glad to have him in class. He helped me to see how I would react as a teacher to difficult situations.

As days 2 and 3 progressed, my students very quickly warmed up to me, which means the chatter and questions of all sorts began. I don't consider chatter to be a bad thing unless it is disrupting me or other students. In fact I encourage it because it allows them to collaborate and they challenge each other. I saw this numerous times while microteaching and I loved seeing the wheels of their creative minds turning! There were times when I had to use my "teacher look." I was pretty proud of the "look" because it worked, and I felt that I had unleashed a hidden superpower that got all 15 8th graders to listen in a matter of 5 seconds flat. Perfect! The challenge was conditioning them to understand when it was appropriate to converse and share ideas and when they should be listening quietly to me. For 8th graders this was a challenge, but they did great! They all respected me as their teacher and I greatly appreciated their willingness to do all they activities I had planned for them, especially since I was a stranger coming into their classroom. They were truly a diverse bunch and I loved getting to know to work with each of them.

Overall, I found microteaching to be so motivational.After each day of teaching I felt so empowered to go back and teach. There is something about seeing all those light bulbs in your students' heads light up after a lesson. You know for a fact that they learned something. I call this an "aha" moment. I love these "aha" moments and they are what push me to become a better teacher. How can I encourage an "aha" moment for each of my students? This is probably a cliché statement made by all teachers but I truly love when students learn something new that will positively impact their lives. It's empowering and it reminds me of why I strive to be a teacher. My microteaching experience helped me to see this first hand, as I engaged myself in the classroom and put into practice the teacher role.