How to prepare a micro teach for interview
When you’re invited to an interview it’s likely you’ll be asked to present a micro teach. This is generally a 15 to 30 minute lesson that you’ll undertake in front of the interview panel and sometimes students too.
The purpose of a micro teach is to see how comfortable you are presenting and to demonstrate your ability to plan and deliver a lesson.
How to plan your micro teach
The idea of doing a micro teach can be intimidating, but it’s better to think of it as an opportunity to show your enthusiasm and knowledge around a particular subject.
It’s a good idea to plan your lesson in advance. We'd recommend setting aside at least an hour to make sure you feel prepared.
Here are some steps to help you to plan your micro teach:
1. How to structure your micro teach
A lesson should have a clear beginning, middle and end. It’s a good idea to create sections that your lesson would follow, for example an introduction about the topic or subject area, what you’re planning to teach and what you’re hoping the students will learn.
This is known as a ‘lesson plan’ and it will help you to create a structure to follow and base your lesson around.
It’s worth finding out before the interview what level the micro teach will be aimed at, as this will help you to assess what the audience should know at this stage.
No matter if you have been asked to present for 15 or 30 minutes, you should structure your micro teach in the context of a full lesson or around completing a task (about 1 hour long). That way when your time has ended you can explain what the rest of your lesson would include to the interviewers. You could demonstrate this further, by sharing the details of your lesson plan with them.
2. Involve the learners
Interaction between your students is a great way to show you want to engage with them and check their understanding.
A lecture style lesson where you stand at the front and teach is great, but creating interaction amongst learners and getting them to demonstrate their knowledge is a good way of getting everyone involved.
An example of this might be to ask them technical questions, getting them to summarise what they have been told or how they would solve a problem. It’s also important to consider how you could adapt your micro teach for different types of learners.
3. Practice your micro teach
It can be nerve wracking to talk in front of people, but practicing your micro teach lesson in advance of the interview can make you feel more confident.
- You could video yourself presenting the micro teach and watch it back, so you can check how long it takes you or if you miss any key information.
- Try to notice whether you’re looking at notes too often or if you could be using more open body language to learners.
- You could also present your micro teach to a friend or family member for their feedback and ask them what they understood at the end of the lesson.
4. Check what the audience has learned
An interactive quiz or set of questions printed out in advance is one way to demonstrate to the panel that your learners have taken onboard what you’re saying and have been listening throughout your micro teach.
The quiz could be as simple as asking the questions out loud to the group and looking for areas of knowledge gaps amongst the students.
5. Plan for things to go wrong
It’s rare that anything we plan goes perfectly; and it can put us off our stride if things don’t go exactly as planned.
Once you’ve got your lesson organised, think about what could happen to make things go wrong and how you might work around it.
For example:
- how would you plan for a technology or laptop issue (if you choose to present that way)?
- how can you get more audience participation if needed?
Job roles in Further Education can be advertised as ‘FE lecturers’ or ‘tutors’ too. Keep your search terms broad.
Read more tips on how to search for a teaching job
Tips for running a successful micro teach
1. Be yourself
The interview panel will expect you to be slightly nervous, and that’s fine. But remember to think positively, keep your body language open and avoid reading your notes too much.
If you’ve been asked to do a micro teach it’s likely the interview panel already see your potential as a teacher, so take encouragement from that.
2. Keep track of time
Whilst 10 or 15 minutes can seem a long time in the moment, it will pass very quickly. Sometimes participants will put a stopwatch in view to make sure they keep to time.
You won’t be cut-off as soon as your time is up, but it’s wise to try and keep to the timings as much as possible.
3. Check your wi-fi and laptop in advance
If you need a screen to present your micro teach or need access to the wi-fi network let your interview panel know in advance.
They will be able to grant you access to the internet and any other apparatus you might need.
Arrive for your interview with plenty of time beforehand to make sure any technology issues are sorted before you start.
4. Encourage feedback from the audience
A key part of the micro teach is to demonstrate interaction between you and the learners. If you can, try find a way to create a reason for the learners to work with each other and help each other learn.
This will be easier when in a practical environment like carpentry, mechanics or engineering.
But it’s still possible when teaching subjects like maths or English too.
5. Keep it simple
Your micro teach is meant to be a short demonstration of your skills and experience. So, you should try to avoid making the lesson overly complex.
Remember, you’re only expected to teach learners one thing; and the learners should demonstrate they’ve understood.
If you plan something too complicated, you could run out of time or create lack of understanding due to the time limits.
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