My first experience teaching Advanced Placement Biology was likely not much different from many of yours. Even as a student teacher, I was eager to work with AP students and my “rockstar” mentor teacher. However, my excitement quickly faded as I realized that as visionary as my mentor was, her AP course was more about covering material than teaching students.

When my time in front of a class came, I did as she had shown me. I tried to tell her story her way, word for word, slide for slide – and it flopped. Horribly. I tried to teach like her and didn't deviate from the script. Frustrated that I didn't get to tell my story, I told her I wanted to try to teach differently. She wrote in my evaluation that doing so would compromise her ability to prepare her students. I was devastated. I couldn't believe that the...

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