With the recent and increasing attention to accountability and standards, teacher preparation programs are more than ever in need of tools that vicariously acquaint future teachers with the difficult situations they will face. This book is the perfect catalyst for this sort of teacher development. The cases encourage students to immerse themselves in classroom situations before they begin their practice, helping them link theory and experience. All of the cases present relevant situations that replicate the complicated, multitasked, and interrelated realms of the teacher. After the introduction, Using Cases to Understand What It Means to Be a Teacher, the book contains the following chapters: (1) Dealing with Religious Intolerance (Lyn Miller-Lachmann, Judith Lessow-Hurley, Poonam C. Dev, and Harold Brathwaite); (2) Is the Teacher's Gender an Issue in a Kindergarten Classroom? (Ellen Moir, Barbara B. Levin, Jerry Rosiek, Becky M. Atkinson, Kristopher Wells, and Paul Axelrod); (3) Working with a Disruptive Child and His Family (Peter McLaren, Nathalia Jamarillo, Deborah J. Trumbull, David E. Wilson, Joy S. Ritchie, David Booth, and Janna Dresden); (4) Negotiating Different Styles When Two Teachers Share a Class (Rita Silverman, Cheryl J. Craig, and Ron Wideman); (5) Managing Conflict When Working with Educational Partners (Becky Wai-Ling Packard, Nancy L. Hutchinson, and Anne Jordan); (6) A Student Teacher Faces the Challenges of the Classroom (Tom Russell, William J. Hunter, Janet L. Miller, and D. Jean Clandinin); (7) Engaging in Action Research in the Classroom (Robert E. Stake, Stefinee Pinnegar, and Andrea K. Whittaker); (8) Evaluating a Teacher's Classroom Management Strategy (Elizabeth Campbell, Iain Munro, Frances Squire, and Jay Martin); (9) Balancing the Needs of All Students in an Inclusive Classroom (Anna Ershler Richert, Lynn M. Cavazos, Tania Madfes, and Linda F. Rhone); (10) Implications of Student Cheating for the Teaching Community (Jean McNiff, Aria Razfar, Michael Manley-Casimir, and James McCracken); (11) Challenges Teachers Face When Reentering the Classroom (Patrick M. Jenlink, Margaret Olson, and A. G. Rud); (2) Developing Appropriate Boundaries with a Troubled Student (John Loughran, Ardra L. Cole, Allen T. Pearson, and Janine Remillard); and (13) School Politics Divide a Community (Michael Dale, Elizabeth Jordan, Fred MacDonald, and Ron McNamara).