The
statement of objectives should be relevant, clear, observable and
measurable. Instructional objectives should contain a clearly stated
verb that describes a definite action. For example the following verbs
should not be used for instructional objectives: to know, to understand,
to comprehend, to love, to like, to grasp, to believe, to appreciate,
to value, to think, to realize, to familiarize and to cope with. These
verbs are not measurable. Instead, the teacher should use the verbs that
are measurable such as: to identify, to choose, to mention, to read, to
add, to draw, to complete, to separate, to locate, to explain, to
analyze, to interpret, to differentiate and to elucidate.
Different
teachers /lecturers use a variety of lesson plans. This implies that
there is no rigid format for lesson plans which is suitable for every
condition. The format of writing lesson plan depends on the teacher’s
training, orientation, reference texts and the available resources. In
spite of the variations in writing lesson plans, there are essential
principal elements/components that should feature in lesson plan. Also,
there is need to harmonize the variation so as to reduce the student
teachers’ stress during micro-teaching and teaching practice. Many of
them get stranded as they are confused on what format to adapt for their
training. This theoretical research has gone through many texts and has
considered many authors’ contention on the format of lesson plan. Apart
from the fact that the elements in each text differ, the orderliness is
not the same.
Two types of formats were identified by Ajelabi
(2005). They are: Vertical (Traditional) format and Horizontal (Modern)
format. Both vertical and horizontal formats are made up of three
bodies:
1. Preliminary biographic data/introduction: Name, number, date, school, subject, class, age and duration.
2.
Intermediary information: General topic, specific lesson topic,
reference sources, instructional materials, instructional objectives,
behavioural objectives and previous knowledge.
3. Lesson movement: Lesson introduction, step by step presentation, conclusion, evaluation and assignment.
Another
microteaching skill is set induction. Set induction skill is the act of
introducing a lesson to awaken learners’ interest in the lesson and
create an atmosphere of curiosity and motivation in the class. According
to Isave (2012), set induction is a teaching skill used by the teacher
for learners’ induction to attend and learn. The teacher is a powerful
agent to set the learners into the right mind so as to prepare the class
for the lesson. Set induction is any method, procedure or strategy a
teacher adopts at the beginning of a lesson or instructional program so
as to induce learners to be very attentive for better learning and
achievement of set objectives. Set induction skill is a special skill
used by the teacher at the beginning of a lesson to establish a rapport
between the teacher and his pupils. A good beginning is most likely to
bring about good ending. Set induction attracts attention of learners
towards making them mentally and physically ready to accomplish any
task.
The Skill of stimulus variation deals with presentation of
variety of stimulus that can help the learners to overcome boredom in a
lesson. It involves changing from time to time. Everyone has a limit to
which his attention can be sustained in any given task. Maheshwari
(2011) described stimulus variation skill as skillful change in stimuli.
The learners are stimulated to increase their active participation.
Stimulus variation helps to extend he limit of attention of individuals.
Classroom teachers can help learners to remain actively interested in
the lesson by varying classroom situation such as teaching style,
learning experiences and other teaching behaviors. Some of the specific
things that teacher can adopt to ensure the skill of variety and
variation are: movement and gesture, different mode of communication,
pacing of lesson, change in interactional style and pattern, different
mode of reinforcement and change of style in questioning and
distribution.
Furthermore, Communication skill is another
indispensable skill in microteaching. Communication is the act of giving
information or message from one person to another. It is a way of
making ones idea, concept, principles and information clear to others.
According to Adegbija (2009), when one shares a message, information,
idea, skills or attitude with another person, such person establishes
commonness with that person. A good teacher must possess communication
skill to make his explanation clear to his students. For his lesson to
be explicit to the learners, he should be a good communicator. It is the
communication skill that will aid the interaction between him and his
students in the process of imparting and acquisition of knowledge and
skills. To be able to convey message efficiently to the learners, the
teacher should develop communication skills. He should adopt both verbal
and non-verbal communication to facilitate teaching-learning process
and achievement of set objectives.
There are two types of
communication; the verbal and non-verbal. The verbal communication
relates to spoken words or speech used to convey information and express
action. Verbal communication has to do with the information and
quantity of spoken language. Communication is used at all facets of
life. There is family communication, campus communication, community
communication and organizational communication. At the education sector,
communication is the transmission or the process of conveying
information, idea, facts and knowledge from the teacher to the learners.
A teacher must be a good communicator. At the school level, information
takes place between the teachers to the pupils, school authority to the
pupils, pupils to the teachers and school authority as well as from
pupils to pupils. At the classroom level, the teacher’s speech should be
of good standard in terms of correctness of grammar, tenses,
punctuation and pronunciation.
Ajileye (2012) explained the
qualities of spoken language. They are: accuracy (this has to do with
correctness of spoken language without errors), audibility (this has to
do with how loud and clearly someone can be heard when speaking),
clarity (clarity has to do with how correctly and clearly words are
pronounced during speaking or teaching) and tone (tone of speech refers
to the capability of voice with regards to quality and strength of
produced sound).
Non-verbal communication is a way of communicating
without talking. It can also be referred to as silence skill. It can be
referred to as body or sign language. In school setting, non-verbal
communication refers to an action by the teacher that gives learners the
signal to say do or not do something. Klinzin (2002) argued that the
use of microteaching in teacher training and in-service education lead
to positive and long term effects in the acquisition of verbal and
non-verbal behavioral patterns.
There are 3 aspects of non-verbal
communication: silence, visual media and nonverbal cues. While using
silence teacher may be communicating with the students in silence. This
can be used to cut down the amount of unnecessary talking he does to
increase student’s participation. In silence, there is absence of sound.
The teacher neither speaks, talks, answers nor does something. For
example, there may be distinct pause which prepare students for the next
statement or action by the teacher. When a teacher wants the learners
to write something, he pauses briefly his discussion so as to allow
learners to put down or write down some points. His silence is a signal
to the learners that they should write.
While using visual media
teacher can display visual media without necessary talking. The media
convey information and meaning that aid understanding. Non-verbal cues
or gestures refer to the signal we give others with parts of our body
which convey intended meanings. Okon (2011) submitted that people’s
daily non-verbal behaviors reveal who they are. A teacher’s facial
expression, eyes, voice, movement and gesture convey confidence and
control. Eye contact and movements refer to where the teacher focuses,
gaze or look. People are generally sensitive to looks of others because
the look of the eyes can be an expression of the inner self. The look of
an eye connotes friendly, unfriendly, anger, approval and disapproval
of behaviors. The teacher can use eye contact and movement to contend
and communicate with disciplinary problems in the classroom.
Questioning
skill is a very interesting skill which a teacher cannot do without for
good job to be done. It is a very important skill for micro-teaching.
Questioning is used to draw out ideas from his students. According to
Ajibade (2009), questioning is the skill that is used to elicit
feedback, to stimulate thinking and reasoning and to develop
understanding. It is used to determine students’ entry behavior,
personal characteristics and understanding of a given lesson.
Questioning is a valuable tool for determining achievement and finding
out if the set objectives of a lesson have been achieved or not. While
using questioning skill, the teacher should not call a student before
asking his question and should not ask more than one question at a time.
The teacher should also distribute his questions evenly. Questions
may be asked to arouse the students’ interest at the beginning of the
lesson and to find out learners’ knowledge level at the beginning of the
lesson or at any stage of the lesson. Questions may be asked to sustain
learners’ interest throughout the lesson to curb boredom/disinterest
and to probe learners’ thought. Questions may be asked to apply
knowledge acquired as in the case of application of principles or
formula already learnt.
According to Achuonye (2007), there are
different types of questioning. The simplest type is referred to as
lower order questions. These are questions that do not task the memory
before they can be answered. They are mere recall questions. It is
either the student knows the answer or he does not. How many states are
in Nigeria? Such questions require definite answers. Another type of
questioning is middle order questions. These are the questions that help
to indicate if a learner’s behavior has been modified or changed by an
instruction. It shows whether the learner is able to transfer what he
has learnt in a situation to another. At the primary school level, most
of the tasks in verbal and quantitative reasoning are in the category of
middle lower questions. Higher order questions are used at higher
level. These are questions which cannot be answered merely from memory.
This kind of question requires the students to go beyond the factual
answer and begin to generalize, relate, infer, compare, perceive the
cause effects and make value judgement.
Furthermore, reinforcement
is another microteaching skill. During micro-teaching lesson, student
teachers ask questions at different stages of a lesson just like in a
classroom setting. The student teacher encourages responses from his
students by using positive comments such as ‘good’, ‘okay’, ‘well-done’,
‘correct’, ‘excellent’ etc. The teacher can also use positive gestures
like handshake and nodding. This motivates the students and learning.
The teacher is to encourage all her students and not only the good ones.
He should also encourage shy, timid and slow students to participate in
the lesson. Non-verbal reinforcements like clapping can be used for
correct responses. The teacher must tactfully reinforce the in-correct
responses such as ‘that is a good contribution’, ‘can someone put it
better’? Or ‘I admire your effort but you didn’t quite hit the point’,
or ‘you are on the way, try more’.
Abifarin (2004) noted that there
are two types of reinforcements: positive and negative reinforcement.
Positive reinforcement can be referred to as the response of the teacher
to learners’ behavior under the school setting so that the
re-occurrence of an approved behavior at a subsequent time is increased.
Positive reinforcement refers to reward which motives learners to learn
better. Generally, learners need approval of their behavior to show
they are appreciated by the teacher for good conduct or for answering
questions intelligently. Commendations could include a simple ‘thank
you’, gifts and promotion. Negative reinforcement discourages
unacceptable behavior patterns. This is when punishment is applied such
that the re-occurrence of unwanted behavior is reduced or does not
occur. When a teacher responds to a learner’s unwanted conduct or wrong
answer negatively, negative reinforcement is applied. It may also be
withholding of reward or application of punishment. It is a corrective
measure inform of scolding, denials or punishment.
