For aspiring teachers, there's one lesson no textbook can fully teach.

What it's like to be responsible for a classroom.

The sheer number of choices teachers make each day can be exhausting at first, especially when each one can affect the students in front of them.

In Washington, B.E.S.T., the Beginning Educator Support .. is a teacher residency program putting future educators alongside experienced teachers for hundreds, even thousands of hours of mentorship and hands on learning.

Washington teaching candidates are learning to plan lessons, manage a classroom, and perhaps most importantly, respond when things don't go according to plan.

Real classrooms are complicated.

Students have different needs.

Lessons sometimes miss the mark, and new teachers have to learn to adapt in real time.

These hours of practice time are one of the most critical experiences on the journey to becoming a teacher.

More information is available at CascadePBS.org/GoldenApple.

This Golden Apple Moment made possible by Pemco Insurance.