Introduction

Teaching, especially in schools, can be lonely and frustrating. There is comfort in knowing that others before us have struggled as the authors do. Some were famous; others remained long unheralded. A number compensated for their own troubled childhoods. Several were both forceful and effective. Some achieved powerful results through humility and persistence. People in Europe and in those places once under European cultural domination, including the Americas, have constructed their world views through extensive reading in Greco-Roman-based liberal arts and humanities. Teacher education in the Americas has been and continues to be strongly influenced by this tradition. Educators who know how to talk about their own praxis (practice) in these traditional terms have an advantage over those who must search for other communication bridges.