This study examined the teaching style and methods of Ana, a kindergarten teacher in Portugal, chosen because she is considered a master teacher by colleagues and parents and because she grew up in Portugal before democracy. The study attempted to answer the questions: (1) What are the commitments and competencies that distinguish Ana as a master teacher? (2) How has Ana's practice been influenced by her personal and professional biography? (3) How does her biography affect the curriculum she constructs with her children? Extensive observations and in-depth interviews were conducted across a 16-month period. A picture of Ana emerged as a teacher who builds a participatory democracy in the classroom by teaching her children to be active members of a community of learners. A large table in the center of the classroom at which discussion, planning, and problem solving occur served as a metaphor for this effort. Her curriculum was interpreted as constructivist, polycentric, and tied to the larger social life rather than to the classroom. Ana's teaching was also seen to be created out of the multiplicity of her private and professional selves, at the core of which was her moral self with a view of children rooted less in developmental and sociological theories than in fundamental caring and respect. (Contains 21 references.) (EV)