Proposals to improve teacher quality often focus on hiring teachers with the right combination of personality, values, and knowledge and skills. The author suggests that although these elements of teacher quality are important, schools also need to pay attention to the conditions of classroom life that can determine teaching quality. She identifies three such conditions: teachers' dependence on lesson props; interruptions to the classroom; and student behaviors. For example, the teachers she observed spent hundreds of hours making instructional materials to support their lessons. Although these materials are important, the author questions why teachers are obliged to make their own materials from scratch when they could use the time more profitably to plan and reflect on their teaching. The author suggests that schools provide professional development that helps teachers deal with real classroom conditions and changing school routines to honor the classroom teacher's needs.