AET Micro Teach: Your Comprehensive Guide
The Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET) is the first step towards starting your teaching career. One key component of the qualification is the AET micro teach. It is a chance to engage a cohort of like-minded trainee teachers in a topic of your choosing and gain priceless experience. Although this section could seem intimidating at first, especially for beginners, it’s not a difficult task. In this guide, I’ll be taking you through the micro teach and how you can best prepare.
What is an AET Micro-Teach?
An AET micro-teach is a short-form lesson. In essence, you’re going to be giving a short lesson to other trainee tutors completing the AET course. Within the micro-teach, it lets you focus on a specific subject. Not only that, but you can also focus on teaching skills such as lesson planning, delivery, and student engagement. These are all great skills to have, and the micro-teach is a great start to using them effectively.
What Can I Teach In My Micro Teach?
So we know what an AET micro-teach is, but now what can you teach? That is completely up to you! You can teach something from your specific area. For example, if you’re a hairdresser, you can do a lesson on hairstyles or different types of hair. If you work in interpretation, you can do a lesson on basic sign language or the history of it.
However, sometimes it’s better for you as a practitioner to come away from what you do. You can use your hobby as a lesson; for example, are you good at crocheting, sewing, or baking? Or you could use something you’re interested in. You could know a lot about a specific topic in history, geography, or even English!
When I completed my micro-teach, I made sure I did it on a topic I knew I could speak about and that I was confident in as well. I may have been nervous to conduct the AET micro-teach in itself, but I knew I could speak confidently about my topic as I knew it inside out.
What is The Average Duration of a Micro Teach?
We often get asked about the duration of the AET micro teach. Being a short lesson, it should be 15 minutes and no longer than 20. It’s important to have a structure for your micro teach and plan how long each section is. We recommend you use a stopwatch, this will help keep you on track. Most modern mobile phones have this feature, or you could use the clock on your PC as a reference.
Remember to plan out the following in your AET micro teach:
- A self-introduction of yourself and the topic
- Housekeeping rules – When it is okay to ask questions, be respectful to other attendees, etc
- Each section of your lesson
It’s important you estimate how long it will take to cover the main part of the lesson. If there is an interactive element, take into account how long you’ll give the learners to do the task. If you have time, you may want to do an extension challenge. These are all really good things to think about when it comes to time planning.
Now, things may not always go according to plan. You may go over your planned times; however, it’s always good to keep an eye on the time! Backups are also really important; you’ll need to plan if things go wrong.
A great tip for staying within your time limit during your micro-teach is to practice. Try presenting to family or friends and time yourself. If that’s not possible, imagine someone you know and pretend to teach them. With a few practice rounds, you’ll feel much more confident. Plus, it’ll ensure you finish your AET micro teach in 15 minutes.
AET Micro Teach Presentation Tips
Use notes, but make sure it doesn’t look like you’re reading off of them. This applies if you’re doing a PowerPoint presentation as well. Don’t make it look like you’re just reading off the slides. We all know about death by PowerPoint, so it’s important to have a balance between text and images. Some learners may find it more beneficial to have images so they can visually see what you’re explaining. For example, if you’re talking about politics or LGBTQ+ issues, it’ll be helpful to see images of rallies and marches as well as the flags that symbolise this issue.
Alternatively, you don’t even have to use PowerPoint! You can talk and demonstrate with your hands; this could be if you’re teaching a language. You could be teaching a lesson on the basics of German counting. Then you would use relay and repetition within the lesson, as well as using your hands to count. You could also include a short video for them to watch. It all depends on the subject matter of your lesson and how you perceive it would be best presented.
Rest assured that all resources necessary to ensure the success of your AET micro-teach will be accessible if you are enrolled in our AET course. However, if enrolment with us is not the case, there is no need to worry. You can pick up our lesson plan template and 20-page guide.
You Can Overcome The Anxiety!
This isn’t something that you should be stressed or anxious about. The micro teach is only a small part of the AET. A micro-teach is a great opportunity to show off your skills and also learn from your peers. What helped me was practising with family and friends. You can get them to time you as you deliver the lesson. At the end, they can also give you feedback, so you have room to improve.
It isn’t as bad as you think it is when you start. You’ll be given time to set yourself up before you start delivering the lesson. There are also some extremely good resources that Brooks and Kirk have to help you with the AET micro-teach. Especially if you’re planning your lesson. You won’t be left in the dark at all when it comes to the AET course.