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Field Experience Reimagined: Integrating

Microteaches to Foster Preservice

Teachers’ Self-Efficacy

By Jennifer Lemke, Andrea Karpf, Paula Jakopovic, and Sheryl McGlamery

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on teacher preparation programs. With
field experiences being among the most effective pathways to connect theory to practice and
contributing significantly to preservice teachers’ self-efficacy development, teacher preparation
programs have had to reimagine these experiences. In this article, the authors share how their
teacher preparation program incorporated microteaches to continue fostering self-efficacy
during pandemic times and the potential implications of these programmatic adaptations.

n important goal of teacher preparation programs is to find ways to connect
Atheory with classroom application. Among the most effective bridges to connect
the two are field experience opportunities (Emerson et al., 2018). To maximize the
value of field experiences for preservice teachers, instructional teams must ensure
these are meaningful. This requires instructors in teacher preparation programs
to have a shared vision of effective teaching practices, to model these practices
throughout program courses, and to have clear standards that connect coursework
and field experiences (Darling-Hammond, 2014).
Boyd et al. (2009) found that field-based opportunities and experiences are the
most predictive indicators of teachers’ success in their first years. They serve as
a way for preservice teachers to apply coursework content in classrooms and to
build confidence in their delivery of instruction. A preservice teacher’s confidence
connects to the concept of self-efficacy, which Bandura (1997) defined as the “...
beliefs in one’s capacity to organize and execute the courses of action required
to produce given attainments” (p. 3). Bandura recognized four main sources of
efficacy: mastery experiences, verbal persuasion, vicarious experiences, and
physiological arousal. Mastery experiences are the hands-on teaching moments in
which preservice teachers can see their successes and failures with planning and
implementing lessons. Such experiences are considered the most powerful source
for a preservice teacher’s self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986). Verbal persuasion refers
to the process of receiving meaningful feedback from a reliable source. Vicarious
experiences are opportunities in which preservice teachers can imagine themselves
teaching or having the opportunity to observe another person participate in the
teaching process (Clark & Newberry, 2019). Finally, physiological arousal is
the emotional connection made to the teaching experience, which can influence a
person’s perception of his or her own performance (Howardson & Behrend, 2015).
Bandura (1997) found that self-efficacy can be more powerful than one’s ability
to execute a task. Tschannen-Moran and Johnson (2011) recognized the connection
between motivation and confidence and ascertained “...self-efficacy beliefs can
therefore become self-fulfilling prophesies validating either beliefs of capabilities
or of incompetence” (p. 751). Therefore, the significance of a preservice teacher’s
sense of being capable of delivering instruction cannot be overstated and further
stresses the importance of building self-efficacy during field experiences.

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