How can we best prepare pre-service teachers to succeed in the classroom--and to stay in teaching over time? The one-size-fits-all model of traditional teacher education programs has been widely criticized, yet the most popular alternative--fast-track programs--have at best a mixed record of success. An increasing number of districts and charter networks are trying to fill this void with a third option: "grow-your-own" teacher preparation programs tailored to specific school contexts and the needs of the populations they serve. In "Inspiring Teaching," leading teacher educator Sharon Feiman-Nemser and her colleagues investigate this "context-specific" approach to teacher education. They draw on the Choosing to Teach study, a detailed multiyear investigation of three selective, mission-driven teacher preparation programs--the Urban Teacher Education Program at the University of Chicago, the Alliance for Catholic Education at the University of Notre Dame, and the Day School Leadership through Teaching program at Brandeis University--that traces each program's impact on graduates during their first few years of teaching. Feiman-Nemser and her colleagues show how teacher education programs like these can help teachers develop the understanding, commitment, tools, and strategies they need to teach in specific settings. By tracking the professional growth of teachers in these programs and documenting the challenges they encounter in their respective school sectors, the book explores and illustrates the ways in which these mission-driven programs select and prepare teachers for particular school environments. Contents include: (1) Teacher Preparation in Context (Sharon Feiman-Nemser); (2) Preparing Teachers for the Chicago Public Schools: The Urban Teacher Education Program, University of Chicago (Kavita Kapadia Matsko and Karen Hammerness); (3) Preparing Teachers for Urban and Rural Catholic Schools: The Alliance for Catholic Education Service Through Teaching Program, University of Notre Dame (Christian Dallavis and Anthony Holter); (4) Preparing Teachers for Jewish Day Schools: The Day School Leadership Through Teaching Program, Brandeis University (Sharon Feiman-Nemser); (5) Choosing to Teach: Identity and Agency among Beginning Teachers (Bethamie Horowitz); (6) Visions of Good Teaching: Variation, Coherence, and Opportunity to Learn (Karen Hammerness); (7) Exemplary Teaching: Putting Principles into Practice (Eran Tamir and Karen Hammerness); (8) Support for New Teachers: Principal Leadership and School Culture (Eran Tamir); (9) Teacher Retention and Career Commitment: Staying, Moving, or Leaving (Eran Tamir); and (10) Inspiring Teaching (Sharon Feiman-Nemser). An index is included.