MICRO TEACHING SKILLS

You have studied the concept of micro-teaching and are aware of the significance
of microteaching in teacher training programmes. It is essential to practise the
teaching skills in order to become better teachers. A teaching skill is a set of
teaching behaviours of the teacher which is especially effective in bringing about
desired changes in pupils’ behaviour.
Allen and Ryan in 1966 identified 20 teaching skills at Stanford University. This list
has now increased to 37 teaching skills. These skills can be assessed by means of
an observation scales.
MICRO TEACHING SKILLS
It is not possible to train all the pupil teachers in all these skills in any training
programme because of the constraints of time and funds. Therefore a set of teaching
skills which cuts across the subject areas has been identified. They have been found
very useful for every teacher. The set of these skills are : 1. Skill of Probing
Questions, 2. Skill of Explaining, 3. Skill of Illustrating with Examples, 4. Skill of
Reinforcement, 5. Skill of Stimulus Variation, 6. Skill of Classroom Management and
7. Skill of using Blackboard.
SKILL OF PROBING QUESTIONS
Introduction
When the teacher asks questions from the pupils in his class different situations
arise.
They are :
1. The pupil may give no response,
2. The pupil may give incorrect,
3. The pupil may give partially correct response and
4. The pupil may give correct response.
How to deal with all these situations effectively is the main theme of this skill. In case
of no response or incorrect response the teacher goes deep into pupil's responses
by asking many questions he already knows and to lead him to the correct response.
When the response is correct the teacher may help the pupil to go deep into the
content by asking questions of how, why and sometimes of what types also.
What are the qualities of good questions? You are correct
The question should be simple, concise, and grammatically correct. It should be
addressed to the whole class instead of one pupil only. This is because the purpose
of the question is to make the whole class think on the point under discussion. The
pupils should be given some time to think and then the teacher should point towards
one pupil to respond.
How to deal out with different situations pointed out in the beginning ?
Let us discuss different techniques for different situations
2.3.2 Components of Skill
1. Prompting technique.
2. Seeking further information technique.
3. Redirection technique.
4. Refocusing technique.
5. Increasing critical awareness technique.
Prompting technique : This technique means to go deep into the pupil’s response
when it is incorrect or no response. Then a series of hints or prompts are given to
pupil through step by step questioning in order to lead the pupil to the desired correct
response.
T : What are the functions of Municipality ?
P : No response.
T : Who supplies water to the city ?
P : Municipality.
Seeking Further Information : This technique is used when the response of pupil is
incomplete or partially correct. The teacher helps the pupil to clarify or elaborate or
explain his initial response by asking more small questions or creating situation in
which the pupil is made to think and respond. Example : T : What are the functions of
Municipality ?
P : To supply water to the whole city.
T : What are the other functions ?
Redirection : This technique involves asking the same question from another pupil.
The main purpose of this technique is to increase more and more pupil participation.
When the situation is of no response or incorrect response prompting should be
preferred to redirection.
Example : T : What are the characteristic of oxygen ?
Ram : No response
Sohan : It helps burning (Redirection)
Refocusing : It is used when the pupil’s response is correct. This involves
comparing the phenomena in his response with other phenomena either for
similarity/difference or relationship between the two situations. How one thing in
point is different from the other thing ? How one response of the pupil is related to
any other point ? How one thing is similar to another thing ? Such type of questions
are put to the pupil.
Increasing Critical Awareness : This technique is used when the pupil’s response
is correct. The teacher puts higher order questions to stimulate the pupil to think
beyond what the pupil knows. This involves the ‘how’ and ‘why’ and sometimes
‘what’ type of questions on the point under discussion.
Example : 1. Why oxygen is necessary for living beings ?
2. How oxygen helps in burning ? etc.
Now you have understood the skill and its components.

2.4 SKILL OF EXPLAINING

You must have experienced that during the teaching-learning process of some
concepts, principles and phenomena, mere description of theme does not make
them understandable to the pupils. He has to give proper explanation and reasons to
bring clarity and proper understanding of what is being taught. Let us discuss the
components of the skill.
Components of the Skill
1. Beginning statement;
2. Explaining links;
3. Concluding statement;
4. Questions to test pupils' understanding;
Don’ts
5. Irrelevant statement,
6. Lacking in continuity,
7. Vague words and phrases.
Let us discuss them one by one.
Beginning Statement : The purpose of this statement is to create readiness among
the pupils to pay attention to the point being explained. It is the introductory
statement to begin explanation.
Explaining Links : These are words and phrases which are mostly conjunctions and
prepositions and are generally used by the teachers to make his explanation
effective.
These are :
the result of the cause of such that the consequence of the
function of hereafter due to so that
as a result of this is how therefore before
in order to hence after since but thus
because the purpose of next
Example : The cause of bodies falling towards earth is the gravitational force.
Concluding Statement : This is the statement made at the end of the explanation. It
includes the summary of all the main results of the explanation.
Questions to Test Pupils' Understanding : These are short questions put to the
pupils to test their understanding of the concept after the explanation. The main
purpose is simply to judge whether the pupils have understood or not.
Irrelevant Statements : These are statements sometimes made by the teacher
during explanation which have nothing to do with the present concept. These
statements do not contribute to understanding rather create confusion in the minds
of the students.
Lacking in Continuity : It happens when the sentences remain incomplete or are
reformulated in the middle of the statement and there are other causes also like :
 a statement is not logically related to the previous statement.
 when a topic of previously taught content is referred without showing the
relationship to what is being explained.
 when there is no sequence of space or place.
 use of inappropriate vocabulary of technical terms which are quite unknown to
pupils.
 use of vague words and phrases. Some of these words and phrases are :
Some much seems many something somewhat
In addition to these words there are words and phrases like “you see”, “Okey”,
“correct” etc. which are parts of teachers' mannerism. Now you have understood this
skill and its components very clearly.
SKILL OF STIMULUS VARIATION
For the success of any lesson it is essential to secure and sustain the attention of the
pupils-learning is optimum when the pupils are fully attentive to the teaching-learning
process. How to secure and sustain the attention is main theme of this skill. It is
known on the basis of psychological experiments that attention of the individual
tends to shift from one stimulus to other very quickly. It is very difficult for an
individual to attend to the same stimulus for more than a few seconds. Therefore, for
securing and sustaining the attention of the pupils to the lesson it is imperative to
make variations in the stimulus. This is because attention is the necessary pre-
requisite for learning.
How can you secure and sustain attention of pupils ?
Components of Skill
1. Movements.
2. Gestures.
3. Change in Speech Pattern.
4. Change in Interactions Style.
5. Focusing.
6. Pausing.
7. Oral-visual Switching.
Do you know the meaning and purpose of these components in the context of the
skill of stimulus variation ? Let us discuss.
Movements : Making movements from one place to another with some purpose.
(For writing on the black board; to conduct experiment; to explain the chart or model;
to pay attention to the pupil who is responding to some question etc.)
Gestures : These include movements of head, hand and body parts to arrest
attention, to express emotions or to indicate shapes, sizes and movements. All these
acts are performed to become more expressive.
Change in Speech Pattern : When the teacher wants show emotions or to put
emphasis on a particular point, sudden or radical changes in tone, volume or speed
of the verbal presentation are brought out. The change in the speech pattern makes
the pupils attentive and creates interest in the lesson.
Change in Interaction Style : When two or more persons communicate their views
with each other, they are said to be interacting.
In the classroom the following three styles of interaction are possible :
1. Teacher ↔ class (Teacher talks to class and vice versa)
2. Teacher ↔ Pupil (Teacher talks to pupil and vice versa)
3. Pupil ↔ pupil (Pupil talks to pupil)
All types of interaction should go side by side to secure and sustain pupils’ attention.
Focusing : The teacher draws the attention of the pupils to the particular point in the
lesson either by using verbal or gestural focusing. In verbal focusing the teacher
makes statements like, “look here” “listen to me” “note it carefully”.
In gestural focusing pointing towards some object with fingers or underlining the
important words on the black board.
Pausing : This means “stop talking” by the teacher for a moment. When the teacher
becomes silent during teaching, it at once draws the attention of the pupils with
curiosity towards the teacher. The message given at this point is easily received by
the pupils.
Oral-Visual Switching : The teacher gives information to the class verbally about
something. This is called oral medium. When the teacher is showing maps, charts
and object without saying something. This is called visual medium. If the teacher is
giving information to the pupils through any one medium (oral, visual, oral visual) for
a long time., it is possible that the students may lose attention to what the teacher is
conveying to them. Therefore it is essential for the teacher to change medium rapidly
in order to secure and sustain pupils’ attention to what he says.
There are three types media : 1) Oral ⇄ oral –visual :- when the teacher while
speaking shows objects, charts and models and explains their various parts. It is
switching from oral to oral-visual.
2) Oral ⇄ visual :- when the teacher while speaking, shows objects, maps, charts,
globe etc. It is switching form oral to visual.
3) Visual ⇄ oral – visual when the teacher demonstrates the experiment silently and
then explains the phenomenon with the help of charts, maps, diagram etc. It is
visual-oral switching.
These devices are used interchangeably to secure and sustain pupils’ attention to
the lesson.
SKILL OF USING BLACK BOARD
You are aware of the black board as a visual teaching aid and its significance in the
teaching-learning process.
Can you suggest the ways to make the black board work attractive, instructive and
effective ?
The following components of the skill like
(1) Legibility of Handwriting
(2) Neatness of Black Board Work
(3) Appropriateness of Black Board Work
Legibility of Handwriting :
How will you increase the legibility of your handwriting on the black board ?
(1) Each letter should be distinct : There should be no confusion in the shape of
the letters such as c, e, l , t.
(2) Adequate spacing between two letters and two words.
(3) The slantness of each letter should be nearly vertical.
(4) Size of the letters should be such that they are legible from the end of the class.
(5) The size of small letters should be same and size of the capital letters should
also be same.
(6) The size of the capital letters should be slightly greater than that of the small
letters.
(7) Thickness of the lines should be of same width.
Neatness in Black Board Works : You can make your Black Board neat and clean
if you follow the following points :
(1) Straightness of lines : The neatness of the black board increases if you write in
straight lines parallel to the base of the black board.
(2) Adequate Spacing between the Lines : (i ) The words/sentences should be
written in straight lines parallel to the base of the black board. (ii) There should be
adequate spacing between the lines.
(3) Avoidance of Overwriting : In order to keep the black board work neat and
clean there should be no over writing.
(4) Focusing the Relevant Matter : In order to keep the black board neat and clean
(i) Erase the unrelated and irrelevant work and work not required.
(ii) Retain the relevant matter.
(5) Appropriateness of Black Board Work : The appropriateness of black board
work includes the following points :
(i) Continuity in points : The points of the lesson should be logically
arranged one after the other in a sequence.
(ii) Brevity and simplicity : Write only the salient points in a simple and clear
language.
(iii) Drawing attention and Focusing : Underline the important points or use
coloured chalk for drawing the pupils’ attention.
(iv) Illustrations and Diagrams : Illustrations and diagrams should be simple,
large and clear to convey the idea easily and conveniently. As this skill needs
long practice to achieve the goal and so no micro-lesson plan is given.
THINGS TO REMEMBER  Core skills are those teaching skill which cut across the
subject areas. These are useful for every teacher teaching any subject.
 Teaching skill is a set of teaching behaviours of the teacher which facilitates
learning of pupils.
 Probing question skill involves going deep into pupils’ responses. Its components
are : Prompting seeking further information, redirection, refocusing and increasing
critical awareness.
 Skill of explaining is used to bring clarity and proper understanding of concepts,
principles and phenomena. Its components are : Beginning statement, explaining
links, concluding statement.
 Skill of stimulus variation is used to secure and sustain pupils’ attention. Its
components are : movements, gestures, change in speech pattern, change in
interaction style, focusing, pausing, oral-visual switching.
 Skill of using black board is a very significant teaching aid. Its components are :
Legibility of handwriting, neatness of black board work, and appropriateness of black
board work. 
All these teaching skills can be integrated to make teaching very effective and
interesting. 2.12