This book explores the power of narrative in understanding the complexities and contradictions of what it means to develop as a teacher. It argues that the development of a professional identity is inextricable from personal identity, suggesting that when teachers have the opportunity to compose their own stories of learning within a supportive community, they can begin to compose new narratives of identity and practice. Through case study profiles of teachers coping with change in their teaching and their lives, the book demonstrates how teachers' narrative constructions serve to define their teaching practice and identities. The nine chapters are: (1) "The Interplay of Subjectivity, Experience, and Narrative in Teacher Development"; (2) "Dual Apprenticeships: Conflicting Narratives in Teacher Preparation"; (3) "Untheorized Experience: Crisis of Authority"; (4) "Reclaiming and Revising Personal and Professional Identities"; (5) "Renaming as an Act of Resistance" (Carol MacDaniels); (6) "Claiming Authority: Learning to Trust My Questions" (Toni Siedel); (7) "Privilege as Possibility" (John Skretta); (8) "Retracing My Journey toward Self-Acceptance and Effectiveness as a Lesbian Teacher" (Ruth Kupfer); and (9) "Toward Supporting Resistance and Revision." (Contains approximately 90 references.) (SM)