Current traditional reflective practices in teacher preparation may be failing to address the needs of teacher candidates in terms of their identity formation as teachers. This qualitative study, utilizing a participant group of six graduate students in their student teaching internships at a small public liberal arts university, explored whether writing stories could enable student teachers to make better sense of their internship experiences and develop understanding of who they are as teachers. After an initial training session on story, data were collected at three key points during the student teacher internship. This data consisted of participants\u27 written stories, focus group discussions, and individual exit interviews. The data were then systematically coded using grounded theory methodology. The six themes resulting from this study indicate support for written stories as an alternative or parallel reflective tool to traditional journaling in teacher preparation
