A companion volume to "Diversity in the Classroom," this guide presents 13 cases designed to help individuals and groups reflect on teaching. Specifically, it offers the information needed to use these cases in structured professional development experiences.

"A picture of how teachers canlearn to challenge one anotherto reach standards of excellencein their work"
--from the Foreword by Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Brandeis University

Mentoring Teachers Toward Excellence offers thirteen succinct cases of teachers who are going through the National Board Certification process. Each case highlights common challenges encountered in teacher mentoring relationships, such as working toward a vision of accomplished practice, maintaining personal and professional boundaries, working through personality conflicts, defusing negative group dynamics, providing constructive criticism, and more. These cases include the thoughts and feelings of the practitioner-writers as they describe each set of events, and are rich with detail and dialogue about the challenges encountered. Each case is accompanied by commentaries from educators who provide different perspectives on the dilemmas presented in the cases and teaching notes that analyze the central issues of the case. All of these compelling narratives provide the vicarious experience of walking in another's shoes and engaging in self-reflection. In group discussions, the cases are especially powerful, eliciting differing points of view to be aired and examined. For that reason, they are consciously designed to provoke discussion that is engaging, demanding, and intellectually exciting.