Chapter 4: Preparing Teacher Educators in the Professional Development School Context

Twelve educators were sitting around a round table in the faculty room of one of our local schools discussing issues related to mentoring teacher candidates. Eight of the twelve were currently classroom teachers who were mentoring teacher candidates, and the other four were from the university—one was a full professor, two were doctoral students, and one was a classroom teacher who had been reassigned temporarily to be a teacher educator; at the time, I was one of those doctoral students in my final year on the brink of defending my dissertation. As the meeting adjourned and we all rose to leave, one of the teachers asked me how my process was going. At the time, I had just accepted a position at a research-intensive university and I was preparing for the “big day”—my defense. When I finished explaining, she said something that struck me cold; she said, “This is what happens. You get attached to people and then they leave.” And then it hit me—I was a member of the community and I was leaving. I just stared back at her blank and with disbelief because her words were so powerful. This teacher had just paid me a compliment; she had suggested that I was a member of the community, and to me, that status was very prized.