ONLINE MICROTEACHING

Teaching my online microteaching lesson was an enriching and eye-opening experience. It allowed me to put pedagogical theory into practice in an online setting. My lesson was on the Colonisation of the Cape: 17^th-18th Centuries from the Grade 7 Social Sciences (History) CAPS curriculum. I focused on revising the lifestyles of the San, Khoi, and African Farmers. This 10–15-minute segment formed part of the introductory phase of a 45-minute lesson.

One of the greatest successes of my online microteaching lesson was how engaged the learners were. I used Kahoot! as a gamified formative assessment tool which captured their attention and made the lesson exciting. I am particularly proud of my patience and adaptability during the lesson. There was a moment when I thought the Kahoot! quiz might not work, but instead of panicking, I managed to resolve the issue quickly without wasting too much time. The learners were eager to compete in the quiz and think about what they knew. This made the revision process enjoyable and meaningful. I also used pictures and visuals to represent each indigenous group, such as rock art for the San and homesteads for African Farmers. This helped learners understand and connect with the content. My scaffolded questioning also encouraged them to recall prior knowledge from Grade 5 and link it to the new history concepts.   

One of the main challenges I encountered was managing technical difficulties and keeping learners engaged. Learning from home makes it easy for students to get distracted, especially without face-to-face contact. This pushed me to be creative in my lesson design. Despite the challenge, I believe I was able to keep learners engaged by balancing teaching the key content with giving them opportunities to interact. I focused on the most important concepts and kept instructions clear and simple. This ensured that the lesson remained focused and time efficient.

The technical difficulties highlighted how unreliable technology can be. Even though I had tested the Kahoot! and Microsoft Teams platform before the lesson, issues still arose. This experience showed me the importance of being adaptable in an online setting. To manage the problem, I kept communication open by asking questions like, “Can you see my screen?” or “Is it working on your side?”

I believe the lesson would have achieved its learning objectives if I had taught the entire lesson. However, since I only taught a segment, learners would have mainly been able to recall the key characteristics of the San, Khoi, and African Farmers. If I had taught the full lesson, they would also have been able to analyse and compare these groups through guided questioning and discussion. The higher scores in the post-lesson Kahoot! would have shown that learners had a stronger understanding of the content. The interactive and reflective activities would also have encouraged learners to think about their own progress, fulfilling the evaluation part of my lesson objectives.   

The ICT tools I chose, mainly Kahoot! and PowerPoint, worked very well for teaching this lesson online. Kahoot! allowed learners to take part in quizzes, get instant feedback, and stay actively involved. PowerPoint helped me present the content in a clear and organized way. These tools worked well together and suited different learning styles. Kahoot! especially made the lesson more fun and motivating because of its competitive, game-like format, making it very useful for online teaching.

This experience taught me the importance of adaptability and being clear when teaching online. I learned that keeping learners connected and engaged through questions, visuals, and interactive activities is key to maintaining focus and motivation. One great thing about this lesson is that it can easily be adapted for a physical classroom. The main difference is that it is delivered in person rather than through a screen, although learners would still need their devices for the Kahoot! quiz. I also learned the importance of having a backup plan for technical problems. For example, I could prepare a paper version of the quiz in case of internet issues or, for an online lesson like this one, add screenshots of the Kahoot! questions to the PowerPoint.

Peer and mentor feedback was very valuable in helping me improve my lesson. My peers noted that I gave clear instructions and maintained a good pace. However, they suggested allowing learners more time to respond, as I seemed to rush through the slides which was partly due to nerves and time constraints. I will use this feedback to adjust my lesson by adding short pauses after each question and image. They also recommended providing discussion prompts to keep the conversation going and deepen learners’ thinking, which I will include in my revised lesson plan. This feedback helped me reflect on my teaching and be more intentional about balancing talking with giving learners opportunities to participate.    

Overall, my online microteaching experience boosted my confidence in using technology for teaching. It also showed me how important it is to make lessons interactive and support learners through scaffolding. Despite minor challenges, the lesson met its objectives and gave me useful ideas on how digital tools can improve teaching and learning. This experience has prepared me to plan future lessons, both online and in-person, with more flexibility, creativity, and focus on the learners.