ABSTRACT
Different preservice teachers are on different points on the continuum of needs, level of comfort, and have different skill sets. Mentoring is oriented toward the whole person during a time of change. Mentoring cannot take place in the absence of a personal relationship of trust. The novice selects a mentor based on qualities of respect, admiration, and inspiration. Trust is essential in growing into teaching. Without trust there will be no risk-taking. Without risk-taking there will be no growth. Coaches work with teachers in classrooms around teaching. The evaluative coaching model dominates education—not because it is better for teachers and students but because it serves an educational system that is oriented toward accountability and efficiency. The coaching model is very much in line with a teacher who values thoughtfully adaptive teaching in her own practices. It is found that teachers with this mindset about their own teaching fall quite naturally into the coaching model.
