ABSTRACT
Preservice student teachers enter their teacher education programs with differing perceptions of what they think their course should do for them in ‘teaching them to teach’. These perspectives may make it difficult for some to recognize that preservice education is only a starting point in learning about teaching, not an end unto itself. But these individuals all hold significant views about the nature of teaching and learning, and we believe it is essential to ‘meet them on their own terms’. We share a view that our practices as teacher educators must acknowledge, develop and challenge the various perspectives that preservice teachers bring to the task of learning to teach. We also believe that experience precedes full understanding, so that part of meeting new teachers on their own terms involves showing them how experience extends their understanding and enables them to use it to guide future teaching.
