Teacher to Teacher Mentality

This text focuses upon professional discourse that revolves around induction efforts resulting from educators working together to inform one another’s practice. Teacher to teacher mentality is the product of purposeful practice as educators serve to inform one another’s preparation and development. Further, such mentality transcends boundaries to reach all levels of education and across contexts with cutting edge research and applications that promote the classroom teacher as associated teacher educator in the process. Therefore, this text is meant as a reflection of the current state of the profession and future research and development prospects pertaining to the concept of classroom teachers as associated teacher educators who through teacher to teacher mentality inform purposeful practice. This text serves also as a tool for promoting professional discourse concerning the classroom teachers as associated teacher educators in this regard. This is such an important discussion to be had, and yet only recently has the teacher education profession more fully realized, acknowledged and emphasized the integral impact of teacher to teacher mentality of classroom teachers as associated teacher educators engaged in purposeful practice. Such dynamic interchanges of teacher to teacher mentality extend to teacher candidates, novice classroom teachers, and teacher educators.

As teacher education appropriately focuses more and more on the importance of clinical practice, this practical yet intellectual approach outlines vital elements of true partnership between university and clinical partners. The powerful learning communities that form, allowing mentors to develop needed leadership skills, are studied and replicable field-specific practices are identified throughout., As we think about teachers and all the skills they must possess to address our students’ multiple and many diverse needs, we must continue to remind ourselves of the key role teachers play in shaping students’ futures and that of our society. Likewise, we must not forget that teachers need ongoing professional support and engagements that are not only limited to, but also extend beyond school sites. As a teacher educator, I always recap with my students that there is no such a thing as a perfect curriculum, but there is such a thing as a perfect teacher.  Indeed, perfect teachers make everything possible; but, they do not augment or sustain their perfection in isolation – they rely on their fellow teachers through collaborations, peer engagements as well as mentorship, and support from learning communities that help cultivate teacher to teacher mentality. This edited volume highlights what it truly takes to foster supportive environments for practicing teachers., It has often been said that the teaching profession can be described as a very lonely profession as we enter our classrooms, close our doors and practice our profession with little professional interaction with other teachers or teacher educators. This book dispels these notions and provides examples of how all of us, as teacher educators, can work together to improve not only our practice and the practice of fellow teachers and teacher educators but also to improve the field of teacher education. Whether it be thru the development of professional learning communities or strengthening the student teaching triad, this book provides examples of how purposeful practice is important in our profession.

Caroline M. Crawford is an associate professor of instructional design and learning technologies at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. She focuses her areas of impact upon instructional design, performance improvement, and learning theories within communities of learning, communities of practice and the appropriate and successful integration of technologies into differentiated learning environments of distributed including online and mobile, hybrid and traditional.Sandra L. Hardy is founder and executive director of Hardy Education Resources. Her primary areas of focus include research and development pertaining to leadership and induction of K-12 and higher education educators, administrators, and other educational professionals’ development and related programs. Her services are based on the unique needs of the individual teacher as learner in connection to promoting effective communities of practice through dynamic collaborations while identifying and securing the required multilevel resources.