A project was designed so that two Ph.D candidates in English education at New York University (NYU), Bob and Betsy, could observe one another's classes and participate in the course, taking part in discussions and group work and even writing some of the assigned papers. For fifteen weeks, the teachers attended each other's freshman writing courses, each of which met twice a week for a total of three hours. Differences in student participation, behavior of the teacher, and lesson plans were observed, with Betsy's behavior and conscious actions setting up the kind of classroom culture that would encourage autonomous behavior within a community of writers. The hypothesis that it is possible to create a classroom culture developed. This hypothesis was tested when Bob began teaching a course at a community college whose spring semester started four weeks later than the one at NYU. Bob reconstructed his course outline to more closely resemble Betsy's, and the quality of his class improved. (DF)