A study examined autobiographical narratives written by preservice English teachers who described their new experiences in student teaching. Subjects, 18 young men and women enrolled in a one-year combination teaching credential and masters degree program at Stanford University, described in writing a major classroom experience. Fourteen of the 18 students completed the assignment. Results indicated that: (1) 10 of the 14 narratives conveyed in metaphor that the classroom is a closed system in which the teacher's purpose is to win students over to the teacher's way of seeing the world and doing the world of school; and (2) 4 of the 14 narratives evoked a "convergence" metaphor in which teachers and students are common participants in a learning event. Findings suggest that such narratives can be potent instructional vehicles for working with neophyte teachers, for the very elements that identify these texts as narratives carry cultural and political assumptions that in part constitute teaching. (RS)