This article identifies how a cohort of preservice teachers educated during the No Child Left Behind Era thought about the teaching of writing when they entered a secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teacher preparation program. Most participants shared the beliefs that: (1) writing was primarily the demonstration of specific skills, often on a standardized test; (2) alternatives to the five-paragraph essay would be extra, with formulaic writing central to instruction; (3) teachers had little role in student writing development beyond assigning writing; (4) feedback on writing should be ‘objective’ and tied to a grade; and (5) the purpose of ELA is primarily to teach literature. Authors believe identifying preservice teachers’ beliefs about writing and the role of the writing teacher at the beginning of a program can help teacher educators design experiences to expand students’ notions of literacy and of writing instruction.

As more classes are moving from the brick and mortar environs to online instructional spaces, the experiences of future teachers with communication technologies in online contexts merit attention. The authors describe the study of an Online Writing Partnership to examine participants' beliefs about the efficacy of online instruction and the quality of student/teacher relationships that are built via online means. Findings indicated four contextual threads of particular salience to the participants of the study, threads which contributed to a general sense of frustration with the online context for teaching: (1) social presence between participants; (2) the nature of relationships established between teachers and students; (3) the role and authority of a teacher in those relationships; and (4) their preconceived expectations of learning environments. Preparing future teachers for experiences in online teaching and learning may require providing avenues for examining their beliefs about the work required to form effective student/teacher relationships in virtual spaces.