Okay, so HOW do we prepare teachers to be experts?

Lots of great comments on what makes an expert teacher, some of which I highlight here:

"Anyone interested in chess can pick up a book that describes various ways to counter the Caro-Kann or French or whatever. Experts know this information in the same way an expert violinist knows how to play a piece. With this knowledge safely tucked away in long-term memory, it no longer intrudes heavily on their thinking, such that they can find new moves, strategies, or tactics, or focus their attention on the nuances of the music, the emotion, the tone of individual notes, etc. The first step in making expert teachers is building up, and making accessible, a store of knowledge about all the individual components of teaching, such that best practices can emerge."

And

"You have a schooling part in which the professional amasses the STRUCTURE of the compiled knowledge as well as the basics of that knowledge. Afterward there is a period of Observation and mentoring in which the gaps of knowledge are filled in. The result at the end of many years of practice is an expertise, built upon a systematic domain specific knowledge base coupled with actual work and feedback from other experienced professionals.

To me, what seems to be lacking is both a well-organized domain knowledge on teaching-not subject matter knowledge, but knowledge about teaching as a skill/art. At the same time, there is not the long term mentoring/feedback/evaluative process in teaching present in other professions."

Very good, and I agree. Educators don't have a lot of information about HOW to take content knowledge and teach it to kids. That kind of work requires that you break down the knowledge you have to smaller chunks of knowledge, using each as a building block. Teachers need to understand why students might MISunderstand and then be ready to help them learn.

But here's what I need for my class this week: HOW can we design a structure that will prepare new teachers to enter the classroom as competent practitioners, and also provide the foundation so they can ultimately become expert teachers?