This text offers a thorough, balanced description of the realities of teaching in today's standards-based environment, while encouraging prospective teachers to be as reflective, creative, and independent as possible throughout their careers. It introduces a new model of reflective action that addresses the need for teachers to plan curriculum with accepted standards in mind, and at the same time, to be proactive decision-makers, to develop a strong sense of community among their pupils, and to accommodate diversity with inclusion. Case studies throughout the text illustrate this model in action, with truly exhilarating stories of teachers who see national curriculum and testing standards not as a goal but as a baseline.