Purpose: This essay uses the author's experience with teacher evaluation as a point of departure to consider how narrative methods might be used to complicate contemporary trends in teacher evaluation. Ultimately, this piece hopes to contribute to a discussion about how storytelling might be implemented as a model of teacher evaluation that could speak back to instrumentalist or technical practices in schools that undermine the complexity of the teaching profession. Design/methodology/approach: This piece uses narrative inquiry to consider teacher evaluation. Findings: This piece uses narrative inquiry to consider more complex implementations of teacher evaluation. Originality/value: This piece is an original consideration of the potential forms of teacher evaluation.