Every experience is a moving force: identity and growth through mentoring

This narrative of the experience of a native English speaking (NES) cooperating teacher working with a normative English speaking (NNES) student teacher in an MA Teaching English as a Second Language practicum begins with a discussion of teacher identity, then outlines the significance of caring in teacher-student relations Noddings (Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1984) and personal values and beliefs within those relations Johnston (Values in English Language Teaching, Lawrence Erlbaum, Malwah, NJ, 2002). These then frame an understanding of three critical incidents Tripp (Qual. Stud. Educ. 7(l) (1994) 65), and the emergent themes of language expertise, cultural ways of knowing and doing, and conflicting religious beliefs. It concludes with a discussion of the value of writing and sharing teacher narratives for professional development. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.