How can we avoid the "why new teachers cry" phenomenon and the high dropout rate for beginning teachers? Start teacher preparation with an introductory foundations class that is experience based and allows students to study themselves and their preferences for teaching styles, learning styles, and classroom management by living through case studies of sample lessons and classroom simulations. The author describes the nature of the course and presents research showing the effectiveness of the course for five academic years: 2000-1 through 2004-5. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)