Reflects on the author's 30 years as an English teacher. Ponders how and when the job turned into a professional career, and what it means to be a professional. Notes mentors along the way who promoted the enrichment of his teaching career. Encourages new teachers to take the step into professional opportunities and to stretch into new arenas of…

Describes the experiences of a first-year teacher who gave up a high-paying job in industry to teach laboratory technology. Includes excerpts from the journal she kept during her first few months of teaching. (JOW)

Excerpts from three speeches given at 1999 annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities focus on the current and future state of the professoriate. Notes that erosion of faculty governance, faculty prerogatives, and tenure-track positions have had a negative impact on the profession and have led to practices that exploit…

The primary purpose for evaluating novice teachers is to improve their performance. The paper presents a model for assessing and assisting novice teachers to have a broad variety of professional learning experiences, to acquire a wide repertoire of teaching competencies and skills, and to gain familiarity with the language and norms governing both…

The guiding of novices by experienced teachers is a principal component of the practicum in university-based teacher education programs, alternative routes to teacher certification, and programs of teacher induction and professional development. Novices learn by watching an expert teach and by being in turn observed and then receiving feedback on…

One way to develop well-qualified future teachers is to utilize the pool of exemplary veteran teachers. Teachers who can balance high expectations with competent, caring attitudes that prevent alienation of students have much to offer their colleagues. Higher educators can provide the scaffolding to support veteran teachers in public schools so…

Reports the essential findings of one phase of the assessment studies conducted during the California New Teacher Project, suggesting some implications from that study for the impending reform efforts. The paper concludes that California lacks a coherent, rigorous system of assessments guided by a clearly defined set of performance expectations.…

Tips to help new music teachers are presented. They include: learn the lay of the land; establish good relations with your superiors; use teaching methods with which you are familiar; get acquainted with the community; and beware of local politics. (RM)

Cites several factors undermining the value of "warranty" programs intended to ensure that teacher education institutions will stand behind their graduates and provide support to the districts that employ them. Suggests shifts in focus that could make first year teacher support programs effective. (PGD)

Survival tips and resources to make the first year teaching experience a better and more memorable one for music teachers are provided. (RM)

Includes "Mentoring in Agricultural Education" (Joerger); "Mentoring Student Teachers" (Jeffery); "We Stand upon the Shoulders of Giants" (Straquadine, Robin); "Mentoring from So Many..." (Foster); "A Mentoring Program that Is Coming into Its Own!" (Lindgren, Joerger); "Mentoring...The Profession Assumes a Greater Role in Teacher Preparation"…

Notes that one of the major challenges facing a new teacher is reconciling all of the education and research with moment-by-moment real-life classroom action. Converts what the authors have learned from students into a set of seven guidelines that should be given to every graduating student teacher. (SG)

Asserts that many beginning teachers leave teaching because they are overwhelmed by the duties and responsibilities of experienced teachers who often adopt a "sink or swim" attitude toward classroom novices. Offers advice on how to reduce new-teacher attrition with comprehensive induction and mentoring program. (PKP)

Profiles Robin Carney, American Vocational Association's 1994 Outstanding New Vocational Teacher, who introduced a principles of technology course to the Central Oklahoma Area Vocational-Technical School. (JOW)

Examines the dynamic process of "recherche" on new teacher learning, presenting collaborative research as a shared quest for understanding by participant and researcher. Describes reflective, interpretive research and reveals how the life histories of three new teachers, provided via their reflections upon their first months of teaching,…