My Reflection in Micro Teaching Class (Part IV) -Teaching’s Practice-

I learned a lot of things about how to teach well in this class. In this time, we did some practice to conduct the class. The class was divided into two groups. In each group, they have to teach other friends in the group for 15 minutes; 5 minutes for set induction; 5 minutes for main activities; and 5 minutes for set closure. Then, they were observed by 2 students. It was so interesting because we had to apply what we have learned from the first semester up to now. We pretended as a teacher and others as students in elementary school, junior high school, or senior high school. In the end, we concluded some notes, they were:

1. The use of “pause”

ð Pause is very important to give time for students to absorb and comprehend what they have learned. Therefore, the teachers do not have to teach 2 hours continuously. It will make the students feel tired and stressful.

2. The use of translation and media

ð Teachers have to know when they have to translate the words or sentences in English to Indonesian or Indonesian to English. Teachers also have to be creative and innovative in using the media. Media is very important to encourage the students in learning something. It can motivate and attract the students to learn.

3. Pronunciation

ð Teachers have to pronounce the words in right way to make the students pronounce well, too.

4. Interaction style

ð Using many variation in interaction style is very important to avoid boredom both teachers and students.

5. Genre-based teaching

ð Teachers should know that the main point of reading is not only introducing the texts’ genre but they have to teach about the reading skills; how to skimming and scanning.

6. Minimum requirements

ð Teachers have to pay attention about the minimum requirements. If the teachers are wrong, then the students are also wrong in writing.

By seeing my friends’ performances, I know how I have to do when I have a chance in doing the microteaching. I can learn many things from my friends’ weaknesses.

My Reflection in Micro Teaching Class (Part III) -Classroom Management-

In the previous weeks, I have learned about the characteristics of being a good teacher and also the teaching’s skills. Then, in the third week, I learned about delivery and stimulus variation skills, reinforcement of student participation, and also questioning skills. These things are very important because those relate to the classroom management, how the teacher can manage and handle the class in teaching and learning process.

A. Delivery and stimulus variation skills

ð Purpose : the teacher’ skill to deliver the materials and to stimulate the students in teaching-learning activity in the class. Therefore, they can be more active and enthusiastic. These are also to avoid boredom and apathy.

In this part, I learned many things, from the small things up to the big things. I learned that being a teacher is not easy. Teachers have to manage the class well. They have to pay attention to their appearance and performance in the class because it will influence many things related to their students; for example, teacher’s movement, teacher’s gesture, teacher’s voice, teacher’s silence, interaction style, and also eye contact and movement.

1. Teacher’s Movement

è It involves overall physical movement in order to handle the class and also to make more intimate atmosphere in the teacher-student interrelationship.

Example: - Move freely and relaxed to control the students’ behavior.

- Never write on the board while talking to make the clear explanation to the students.

- Looking to the students while explaining the lesson.

- Move away from the student asking the question to encourage student to speak louder in order to make the other students hear the question.

- Move slowly from back to the front in order to observe the whole class.

2. Teacher’s gesture

è It is about the teacher’s body movement in order to communicate to the student using body language to make a meaningful idea from the lesson so that the students will be more understandable.

Example: - Moving the hands or finger when explaining.

- Nodding the head to show agreement.

- Raising the eyebrows high to show teacher interest and adoration.

- Clapping hands to attract student’s attention.

3. Teacher’s voice

è It is about the teacher’s style and pitch control voice.

Example: - Speak attractively and energetically.

- Speak loudly enough.

4. Teacher’s silence

è Silence does not mean anything, but it means everything. In this case, teacher silence is to make the students can grab and comprehend what the teacher has explained.

Example: - Using a short pause after explaining a long material.

5. Interaction style

è There are teacher-students interaction style, teacher-student interaction style, and students-students interaction style. Teacher has to make sure which one should be used in the class at the right time. It depends on the class condition and the subject.

6. Eye contact and Movement

è It has a purpose to make a good interaction among the teacher and students for arousing a good emotion between them.

Example: - Look at the students while explaining.

Those skills are really interesting because not all of the skills I met in all of my experiences when I was studying in elementary school till senior high school. Now, I understand that to be a teacher is not easy. I have to use all the things and skills to teach the class. I have to use all of my creativities to avoid boredom and also to make my students later on to comprehend what I have taught.

B. Reinforcement of student participation

ð Purpose: It is to gives positive feedbacks to encourage students to be enthusiast in teaching and learning process.

Reinforcement can be verbal (using words to compliment) and non-verbal (using gesture and facial expression).

In my opinion, reinforcement is really important because students will feel that the teacher pays attention to them when they are trying to answer the questions. Although the students’ answers are not precise, the reinforcement should be given to them to make that the teacher respects and appreciates their efforts in the teaching and learning process.

C. Questioning skills

Purpose: - To increase students’ participation (to be active in the teaching-learning process).

- To arouse the students interest and their curiosity.

- To guide students to find a good and correct answer.

- To help students concentrate on the topic.

The important factors in questioning skills:

a. Clarity and relevance

The questions must be short and clear to the students.

b. Speed and pauses

There is must have pause between one question to other questions to give the students time to think the answers.

c. Distribution of questions

The questions must be distributed for all students in the classroom, not just for several students.

d. Reinforcement techniques

The reinforcement should be used following the students’ answer so that they can be encouraged to participate in the teaching and learning process.

e. Prompting and probing

It is to increase the quantity and quality of the students’ answer.

In my opinion, questioning skills are so important in the classroom. These skills build the interaction between teacher and students in the class and also arouse the students’ understanding about the topic which they are discussed in the class. Questioning skills also encourage the students to be critical when they are thinking. Moreover, the students can encourage the students to be active and brave in the classroom.

In this occasion, I also learned how to conduct the class. Based on my friend’s experience, as a teacher, I have to be more sensitive in the class. I have to know what my students needs so that it can be easy for me to conduct or manage the class. I also learned that as a teacher, I have to master the subject which I am going to teach. The preparation like handout, time allocation, and worksheet, should be prepared well.

My Reflection in Micro Teaching Class (Part II) “Why am I doing what I am doing?”

In the second week of micro teaching class, I learned about the teaching skills. It is about how teacher should do and consider when they are teaching. They are six skills:

1. SET INDUCTION SKILL

Set induction skill is the ability how to open the teaching and learning activities. There are four things which we can do to open the teaching and learning activities:

a. Greetings by showing eye-contact, smile, energetic, and cheerful.

b. Introducing the material by asking questions, giving example in form of storytelling, doing the games (but we have to consider the time allocation and the correlation between the games and the topic’s lesson), and using media (should be relevant, meaningful, and interesting).

c. Referring to the previous material.

d. Informing the students today’s lesson objectives.

2. SET CLOSURE SKILL

Set closure skill is the ability how to close the lesson. There are four things which we can do to close the lesson:

a. Summarizing by asking questions.

b. Giving assignments or homework.

c. Informing the next lesson (relating today’s lesson with the next one).

d. Concluding remarks. For example: saying ‘good bye’ or ‘thank you’.

3. EXPLAINING SKILL

Explaining skill is the ability how to explain the lesson. In this case, we have to master the subject in order to explain the lesson well.

4. STIMULUS-VARIATION SKILL

Stimulus-variation skill is the ability how to stimulate students to learn. In this case, teacher should be creative in teaching.

5. QUESTIONING SKILL

Questioning skill is the ability how to provide the question which is really good for student to learn the subject. In this case, we should remain the Bloom’s taxonomy (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation).

6. REINFORCEMENT SKILL

Reinforcement skill can be punishment.

I also learned about the interaction style which can be done in the class, they are:

1. Teacher-the whole class

2. Teacher-one student

3. Student-student(s) (It can be group discussion or presentation in front of the class)

In the following meeting in micro teaching class, I practiced how to teach one student for fifteen minutes. This part was really exciting because I could pretend myself as a teacher. I also knew what I had to do to improve teaching’s skill. This activity was cooperative activity because my friend and I could learn how to teach well by giving comments for each others.

From my friend’s comment, I have done the set induction very well by opening the class using games to grab the student’s attention to follow the class. I gave a good game for my student because the game related to the material. However, I had to improve my set closure skill because I forgot to review one part of my materials. I also had to improve the concluding remarks, as my friend said to me; I was like a television presenter when I closed the class. For the last, I had to give the clear and specific objectives.

In my conclusion, preparation and mastery the subject are the most important things which should be considered by teacher. Those things can make the teachers become more confident when they are teaching.

My Reflection in Micro Teaching Class (Part I)

Most people say that teacher is a hero. I agree with this statement because teacher is a person who can guide us to be a human being who has an ability to learn something. In my opinion, being a teacher is not easy, I have observed it based on my father’s and my sister’s experiences. They are teachers. When they are teaching, they have to make sure that all of their students understand about the lesson. It is not easy because the students have many different abilities to comprehend the lesson.

Now, I have been taking a micro teaching class as a requirement course for me who is a student from English language education study program. I hope this class will guide me to be a good teacher like my father and my sister.

In micro teaching class, I study how to be a good teacher, especially for English teacher. In the first meeting of this course, I learned about how a teacher has to get dress. For men, they have to wear the appropriate shirts, trousers, and shoes, and also they have to have a short hair. For women, they have to wear blouses, skirts, and high heel shoes. Both men and women do not allow to colour their hair. Then, I also learned about the characteristics of a good teacher.

A good teacher should:

1. Be discipline

2. Master the subject

3. Appreciate or respect his/her students

4. Be patient

5. Be friendly

6. Be attractive

7. Be aware of students’ needs

8. Be creative/ motivating

9. Be honest

10. Be objective

11. Be open-minded

12. Be responsible

In the first meeting, I experienced that class discussion was a good way to make the students active to take a part in teaching and learning activities in the classroom. For example, when the lecturer opened the question session, there were many students who raised their hands to ask questions about the course. That activity also happened in the following activities. The summary of the teacher’s characteristics was found by the students in the class by discussion. However, class discussion activity is not enough. Group discussion is a good activity which has to do in the class to make the students cooperative. Perhaps, the group discussion can be done before the class discussion.

In my conclusion, I learn that my dress in the first meeting was not appropriate therefore I have to dress properly for the next meeting. Besides, I also have to pay attention about my characteristics. I have to improve myself to be creative and friendly because I want to be a good teacher for mu students later on.

(Ratnasari Nugraheni)