My college coursework gave me the framework on which to build my expertise as a teacher, but it did not prepare me for what I must do as a teacher.

The methods classes and instrumental pedagogy classes were taught by instructors who were not impacted daily by the setting in which I actually would work, so there were the expected weaknesses that scenario causes.

After the shock of the first year of teaching, I began to realize that I had so much more to learn from sheer teaching effort. No course could have proven that, nor provided that understanding. I would not have listened anyway, because back then, I thought I knew everything.

As the years continued, I reconnected with the perpetual learner in me. That is when my teaching improved, my ego got out of the way, and I truly began to love what I can do as a teacher.

Nevertheless, there needs to be some designation for this aspect of teacher education, because the word "preparation" gives the impression that when one is finished with the course work, they will be "prepared" to teach. Maybe we should call it "learner preparation", since we spend the remainder of our careers learning ways to become more effective, nurturing and expert in our craft.

I went to one of the best universities for teacher preparation. I had many field experiences, but I learned more in my first week of teaching than all four years of college combined. Teacher preparation prepares you for the methodology of teaching. You are able to learn formal lesson planning (which most of us don't use even close to) and learn about your chosen content areas. You gain insight into brain development and current teaching practices. Throughout my college coursework, a theme that was hammered into our brains was that students "learn best by doing." This also holds true for educators. Aren't we, too, learners in our trade?

I had field experiences in each grade level that I am certified to teacher under my licensure. This prepared me more for my time in the classroom than any lectures could have come close to. Learning about how to effectively deal with children and, more importantly, gaining the confidence to be a leader in their education, came with time. It takes practice to get better at anything we do in life. I think teacher preparation should involve more of a long mentorship with a current teacher with similar certification, mirroring the first year teacher mentorship that my state requires.

I too have had the same thoughts about my college education. Educators definitely learn better by doing rather than lecture after lecture. Many of the professors I had in college were intellectually very gifted, but I always felt that they probably couldn't make it in the classroom, so they became professors at a university. Learning a 100 different ways to do lesson plans sure conflicted with my experiences I had in the various schools I did my four week observations in. I too gained more from my imersions in school classrooms than in the university classrooms.

I'm in my 10th year of teaching and I frequently work with preservice teachers from a local university. Their program places them in a school from the first day of the year until the last. They have the opportunity to see everything that goes on. I wish I had had such an extensive program when I was certifying. I feel that my program did a reasonable job, but these new teachers are infinitely better prepared than I was.

I an a RN and was a "Lateral Entry" teacher, therefore I had no preparation prior to entering the classroom. However, I had done student teaching as a school nurse, had volunteered in the classroom in my own children's schools, and was not 21 years old!!

My first year was interesting; I worked in a low performing school and had almost every trick in the book pulled on me. However, I had a great mentor and she was the reason I survived. I am in in my 13th year of teaching, have earned my Master's, and am a National Board Certified Teacher.

Hi: I was a lateral entry teacher so I had no "standard" teacher training, only over two decades of work experience, largely as a supervisor and manager. Classroom management is no worse for me, however, than for the teachers I work with, some with over 30 years experience. Currently, I also instruct new-teachers-to-be for NCTeach, letting them know what to expect and how to deal with much of it. As I watch my wife work through her traditional coursework for teacher training (yes, we are really getting into education), I realize that the traditional training does not prepare one for the realities of the students...but I don't think anything but immersion really prepares you for this. To me, this is where an effective mentor is so important, giving the new teacher a chance to ask questions, seek support, etc.

I completed my teacher preparation between 1978-1982. I had very grounded education professors who did an excellent job teaching me educational theory. However, my practical experience was very limited. I saw the inside of a classroom twice during my teacher preparation program. First, during my Intro to Education course and at the end when I student taught. Schools and classroom were very different in those days and more practical experience was probably not as much of a concern.

My teacher preparation in college was adequate in that we were encouraged to volunteer, observe and teach lessons in classrooms throughout the program. The true on-the-job experiences were fully realized in my own classroom, however. Under the guidance of the principal and teachers at my first school is where the real learning began. They were the ones who gave me the hands-on mentoring that allowed me to become a confident teacher. Mentoring is essential to ensure success for beginning teachers.

I am a veteran in my 43rd year as an educator. My career has led me to many places and many schools. My preparation as an elementary teacher was adequate in all areas but the teaching of reading. I prepared to teach in the middle grades and have never been a classroom teacher below grade three. I had a semester of observation during my junior year and 8 weeks of practice during my last semester of college. In addition, my mother was an elementary teacher, and I had helped in a program in high school like Future Teachers which was not available at the time in my school. I also had done babysitting since the age of 12. All of these combined experiences plus much reading and studying on my own have made me the educator I am today.
My university library courses helped me somewhat to be a school librarian during my last 22 years, but I felt more inadequate as a beginner in that area than for the preparation for classroom teaching.
I agree that teachers of today need more time for mentoring. I think more of them would stick with it. They need some shadowing time early in their education in order to be sure it is truly what they want to do. I was fortunate that my mom was a teacher, and I had her experience and mentoring to help me. I also knew about her trials and successes before I went to college, so I had her to shadow even though I was not in her classroom.

I did not begin a formal teacher preparation program until my second year in the classroom. Because of this I was ineligible for any support or mentorship in that first year - when I really needed it. I then enrolled in an internship program to complete my teacher preparation while I continued teaching. This enabled me to connect my studies with what was really going on in my classroom, but I still found that the course work did not really provide what I needed to become a better teacher. For example, I already knew that I needed to differentiate, but received limited support in creating and managing differentiated instruction in the classroom.