I just do not get this mentor issue.   In 1976 I started my first teaching position as an elementary music specialist and senior high choir director. I knew what I was doing when it came to teaching, discipline, ordering music, books, etc. I knew how to write a curriculum, I knew how to manage a classroom...WHY?  Because I got the proper, intense training at my college, Indiana University of Pennsylvania plus my student teaching experiences were spot on. I learned and practiced what I needed to know before I set foot in my own classroom. My question is "What is going on now in colleges of education and the student teaching experiences? But then again, I was raised in public schools that were strict with good teachers...I found this to be helpful when I became a teacher.