The Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley New Teacher Project--under the aegis of the New Teacher Center--devised a program to train teacher mentors to help new teachers incorporate the Common Core standards into their teaching. The three-year program yielded five critical lessons: Mentors need ongoing support to develop their readiness and willingness to…

Teacher educator returns to eighth-grade classroom. Despite student learning, realizes that something is missing from lesson plans: no relationship with the students. Makes conscious effort to improve relationship. Finds classroom teaching experience provides best education as teacher educator. Recommends that all teacher educators return to the…

Proposes a radical change in teacher preparation that abolishes college and university departments of education and requires prospective teachers to demonstrate adequate preparation based on the courses they take and on their scores on examinations. (MD)

In response to a California State education reform bill that requires professors of methods courses to return to the classroom once every three years, a university profesor of 15 years taught 9th-grade English in Watts. This essay presents nine tips for others who anticipate their own return to teaching. (IW)