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candidates were able to utilize their microteach plans in field, so this provided
a sort of dress rehearsal for them where they received immediate feedback
and could make adjustments before working with kids.
Students expressed this same belief when sharing things such as “I liked how
they weren’t overly stressful. They were simple lessons. I also liked how we had
only two; I could see where more could get stressful.” Such comments reaffirmed
our decision to decrease the quantity of microteaches in favor of offering other
professional learning opportunities to balance the workload while still maximizing
the opportunities for our preservice teachers to learn and grow.

Continuing Challenges with Implementation
As with most change, however, came suggestions to continue refining the
processes and structures to support the growth of our preservice teachers. For
example, one student offered a suggestion about more directly connecting the
microteach opportunities to what they were doing in field:
I think during field experience it would
be nice to...match our microteach to a
standard that we have for that grade, not Our instructors aimed to
necessarily what we are doing in that class,
but to do something that is on grade level maximize chances to engage
to understand more what they are learning
and what level they are expected to be at. in both mastery and vicarious
Such a modification could help students more experiences while still
readily translate what they experience and learn
from the microteach to teaching practice in their maintaining a reasonable
classrooms, making the mastery experience more
impactful on their growth and development. balance between students’
Although it appeared the expectations
were more manageable in the second round on-campus and in-classroom
of implementation, instructors continued teaching expectations.
to contemplate the appropriate number of
microteaches to incorporate in the 6-week
experience. Our instructors aimed to maximize
chances to engage in both mastery and vicarious experiences while still maintaining
a reasonable balance between students’ on-campus and in-classroom teaching
expectations. As one instructor reflected,
Overall, holistically… I really saw growth, and I think it was better that we
pared down the number of microteaches. However, now that we’ve done it,
you know, a second time, I felt like maybe there was probably one too many
professional developments, …and we should add one more microteach and
take one professional development away, but again that’s just with how
we’re learning and growing with this.
Our students also identified the importance of finding the balance between
offering professional development and providing additional teaching opportunities.
One student shared,
I loved the microteaches and disliked the [professional learning] day we
relearned graphic organizers again. It was a day we all left class and thought
it was wasted time. In a semester when every in-classroom experience
matters, that day felt like it was wasted.

Schools Fostering a More Equitable World 31