Online Micro Teaching Reflection

What did you like about online teaching?

Teaching is my passion and I believe it is a work of heart as teachers are the role models of society and the anchors for modern-day civilisation as they teach learners the importance of perseverance. Thereby, online teaching teaches learners how to manage their time better as they have to ''show'' up to the class on an assigned day. What I liked best about online teaching was the accessibility available to them as they were given a time and they attended no matter the location as well as it provided learners with a variety of learning styles as I enjoyed using a slide show for the visual learners, and I spoke through the audio for the auditory learners. Furthermore, the online teaching provided the learners with a perfect stimulating learning environment that was suited to the needs of each learner. I enjoyed the efficiency of the online teaching as it provided different tools to deliver lessons i.e., videos, slide shows, podcasts. I enjoyed how engaging my lesson was, and how all the learners gave their opinions in which broadened the range of perspectives as they felt comfortable. However, there were students who were quiet and may have felt uncomfortable to speak but I made quizzes to ensure every student was engaged. Furthermore, I like that during online teaching one can easily split the learners into groups without shuffling the classroom furniture around and creating a disturbance in the students learning. In addition, I like that online teaching allows the learners and teachers to access a variety of modern day tools that they will be able to use in the future. I thoroughly enjoyed online teaching.

What did you dislike about online teaching?

When introducing a new topic to the learners, I like to ensure that they fully understand the topic for successful teaching and learning, however with online teaching, time restraints occur as the teacher has a rigid schedule and has a lot to get through therefore she cannot spend too much time on one topic. Furthermore, during my online teaching there was not enough time to ensure that the learners fully understood the topic and activity. In addition, during online teaching learners with special needs are not considered as all the students are learning the same content with the same material at the same time and the teacher cannot provide extra assistance to the special needs child only as she needs to get through the curriculum online with all learners together therefore, the special needs learner will fall behind and not understand the content. Foundation Phase learners get bored very easily and lose concentration fast therefore, during online teaching there will be a low attention span of the students as they are used to ''playground breaks'' whereby, they have a brain break and play with their friends but their friends are on the other side of the computer screen which also emotionally impacts the learners. Furthermore, during an online lesson a teacher is unable to complete an assessment or project as the likeliness of the learners completing it by themselves are slim, therefore, the teacher will not be able to test their knowledge through online teaching. Foundation phase learners are very young and having to utilise technology may be a problem as they are not familiar with the device thereby, they may constantly leave the lessons and join another platform on the device and miss the actual lesson as there may be no parent supervision and the teacher has no control. In addition, with load shedding in South Africa most homes do not have extra power supply which will result in the learners being ''absent'' for class on a regular basis as there will be no network and this will cause learners to fall behind in the curriculum. The teacher has no control on online teaching other than an audio and the learners may not listen and constantly disrupt the lesson as they are young individuals and take this new way of learning as a fun game rather than a stimulating learning lesson. I miss seeing the learners faces and during my lesson, the learners did not use their cameras therefore, everything was based off of audio, and writing in the check box which made it impersonal and I was not sure who required additional assistance. Furthermore, the chances of technical difficulties occurring within the lesson are high as all the learners are attending the classes from different regions.

What new skills did you learn through this experience?

During this online teaching experience, I have learned how to utilise technology in a way fun and interactive way that grabs the grade 3's attention and makes them excited for the lesson. I learnt how to become more confident in the way that I speak and explain content to the learners as I never really knew how to simplify explanations online but now I do. I learnt how to use new platforms i.e., Canva which assisted me in creating a fun and interactive slide show for the lesson which made the lesson very enjoyable. Furthermore, I also learnt that even though it is a new way of learning there is still time that needs to be followed with regards to the content being covered in a certain amount of time i.e., my lesson was 20 minutes long. In addition, because they are young and in grade 3 they do not want to get bored in front of a screen I learned that I need to make the lesson engaging i.e., I asked the learners questions individually to make sure that they are listening and understanding the content as well as I learnt that during online teaching there needs to be classroom behavioural rules established as the learners tend to lose their manners and disrupt other learners i.e., constantly shouting out answers and not giving other learners a chance. Therefore, I learned that as a foundation phase teacher and teaching online, I need to constantly check in with the learners and ask them to put a ''thumbs up'' in the check box to see if they are okay and managing with the lesson alone on the other side of the screen. Furthermore, I really enjoyed this experience and learnt many new skills.

What would you do differently?

During this online teaching lesson, I would have wanted the learners to put on their cameras and introduce themselves to make it more interactive in the beginning but the learners did not participate and did not want to show themselves. Furthermore, I would have wanted the learners to order more ''recycle bins'' from greatest-smallest and smallest-greatest but time had run out. Therefore, I would take some recycling information out of the slides, but I wanted to cover all the learning styles i.e., auditory for a poem that was said for protecting our land and visual for all the pictures. I would have wanted the learners to correct their own mistakes when I asked questions on the recycling information as well as the mathematics within the ''recycling bin''.

In addition, I would not rush through some slides but rather ensure that the learners completely understand the information on each. Furthermore, I would have wanted the learners to speak at the end of the lesson and tell me what their favourite part of the lesson was and if they enjoyed it to ensure successful teaching and learning. However, overall I do believe the learners were engaged as they were answering questions.

Did you choose appropriate tools to teach your online lesson, explain why?

As a foundation phase teacher, I believe the more interactive and engaging you make the lesson the more the learners will want to learn and actively participate. The tools I chose was a slide show, Powerpoint slide and a quiz and that worked extremely well in order to achieve the lesson objectives. The learners felt very engage as I constantly asked if they were okay (they should place a thumbs up or a thumbs down). The quiz helped as it allowed me to know if the learners understood the content or not as well as the Powerpoint slide in which helped me structure my slide show that I created on Canva. Furthermore, I used practical examples in the beginning of the lesson to make the learners get excited i.e., paper cup, glass bottle and plastic bottle and they loved this and they had to guess what I was tapping a stick on thus, this helped the auditory learners succeed as well. My lesson went well and there were no technical difficulties involved in which created no disturbances for the learners and this allowed for an effective lesson.

How has this experience developed you for teaching in a school?

This online teaching experience has provided me with an important understanding that I will be able to utilise in my future classroom one day as I will be able to successfully utilise technology and should a pandemic occur again I will be able to effectively integrate technology in the classroom. By having an online lesson, I have had to find online methods that will make the learners interested and stay focused during the entire lesson as sitting behind a device can mess with their concentration. Furthermore, it has prepared me for any situation in teaching as I am able to create a stimulus virtual learning classroom as well as a face-to-face classroom in which I am very grateful for. I really enjoyed teaching this lesson.