Twenty-fifth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the effectiveness of using microteaching as a formative assessment for pre-service teachers in student teaching seminars. Qualitative evidence included analysis of approximately 100 students’ written reflections and instructors’ observations. Microteaching is a tool for teacher training used with pre and in-service teachers as a way to examine their teaching practice. Studies have found microteaching to be a high impact teaching practice in terms of student achievement. Typically, it involves teaching a portion of a lesson with a particular focus on a pre-determined teaching skill (i.e. leading discussions), video recording a portion of the lesson, and reviewing short clips with a group of peers and/or experts for analysis and reflection. By using microteaching videos with self and peer-review, student teachers can actually see what is happening rather than reflecting on what they thought happened. For this reason, our university has begun using microteaching in all student teaching seminars as a formative assessment - students analyze aspects of their teaching, reflect on their progress, and make plans for improvement. This study found that using facilitated video microteaching is an effective way to encourage student teachers to critically reflect on their emerging teacher practice.