Renita Schmidt and P. L. Thomas The guiding mission of the teacher
education program in the university where we teach is to create teachers
who are scholars and leaders. While the intent of that mission is
basically sound in theory--we instill the idea that teachers at all
levels are professionals, always learning and growing in knowledge--that
theory, that philosophical underpinning does not insure that the
students who complete our program are confident about the act or
performance of teaching. In our unique program, students work closely
with one teacher and classroom for the entire senior year and then are
supervised and mentored during their first semester of teaching; the
program is heavily field-based, and it depends on the effectiveness of
mentoring throughout the methods coursework and the first semester of
full-time teaching. Students tell us this guidance and support is
invaluable, and yet we feel the disjuncture between university and
school just as many of you in more traditional student teaching
settings. Students hear "best practice" information from us in methods
classes and they receive ample exposure to the research supporting our
field, but have a hard time implementing research-based practices in
their cla- room settings and an even harder time finding it in the
classrooms around them.