Micro-Teaching Topic + Lesson Plan + Post-lesson Reflection

TOPIC: 

 For the micro-teaching lesson plan activity, I would like to introduce: basic piping (decorating) techniques for baked goods. 

LESSON PLAN:

*Edit: Added lesson plan October 11

Objective: By the end of the lesson, each person should feel comfortable attempting basic piping designs. 

Materials:

- Ziploc Bag

- Rubber Band 

- Icing

- Scissors

- Tape

- Pattern sheets: beginner and intermediate

Time Structure:

(Pre-lesson): Prepare icing in the ziploc bags. The tape will be used over the joint of the ziploc, so the bag doesn't split when pressure is applied later. 

(During lesson - 8 minutes): Hand out sheets and icing bags. Use the scissors to snip off the tip as it is handed to each person. Discuss some of the questions below. Allow students to get started, and then correct technique (to fix instinct). Continue discussion while students practice. For anyone that finishes early, allow them to work on the intermediate sheets. 

(End of lesson - 2 minutes): Collect materials, show them explicitly what techniques they learned and how it can be applied to other designs, and ask for any further questions. 

Talking points: 

(Starting lesson): Determine beginners and experienced. Discuss difference between frosting and icing. 

(During lesson): How to hold the bag. Brief history of icing. Advice on pressure, speed, hand angle. Discuss different types of frosting and variables that affect it. 

(End of lesson): Ask to return materials. Talk about angles, waves, overlaps, edges, and dots. Explain how those features apply to other designs. 

Assessment:

Formative: Measure engagement, check if students are using better technique, comment on how their designs are turning out. 

Accomodations:

Left handed students will work from right -> left. 

POST-LESSON REFLECTION:

* Edit: Added Reflection on October 11

For this micro-teaching lesson, I was blown away by how quickly 10 minutes can pass by. During the preparation period, I found it difficult to go the usual route, since the extra seconds lost in set-up or transitions or vocal fillers made a big difference. I was pleased with the handouts created, because they contained all the basic transferable skills and challenges. I did also think that the activity would have gone by faster, since I gauged it according to my speeds. As a result, I prepared extra materials for those who had additional time and speaking points to slow the group down. However, that wasn't the case. 

The speaking points ended up slowing down the learners who required more focus to succeed at the task, and the faster learners were still able to get further ahead. That created a bigger divide in instruction than I anticipated. Additionally, since I was guiding the tandem discussion, I was less able to directly assist the learners who required further guidance. 

That was key for me to notice, because as a student (and instructor), my approachability often leads to tangential (but relevant!) conversations. Generally, since the conversations enhance students' comfortability or understanding of the broader concepts, this is relatively easy to recover and redirect. That said, it's easy to recover because I have the means to assist the struggling learners, whereas in this scenario it became really difficult due to time. It's interesting, because everything I had rehearsed was exactly on topic and related to the lesson! I just didn't properly account for time spent multi-tasking. 

For myself, icing techniques are muscle memory, so I don't need to worry about multitasking. But that's the problem- I planned by thinking on my current experiences, not from when I was a beginner too. For students that are new to the task, I should have scaffolded it better and decreased as much distraction as possible. Separating the lesson into discussion blocks and activity blocks may have been a more effective approach. 

Overall, I was extremely pleased with how everyone did! It's not as easy as it seems, but everyone adapted to the differences really well and picked up so much during the 10 minutes.