Nine San Francisco (California) second-year teachers who had conducted structured weekly meetings during their preservice program continue to meet monthly with two Stanford University researchers. At these meetings they discuss emerging values, philosophies, and pedagogical practice. The meetings involve formal check-in times for individuals to report on their lives, followed by a charrette (a protocol borrowed from architecture involving presentation of a project to a critical cohort). As members introduce a charrette, they provide the context of their school and classroom and articulate the kind of feedback they would like. The experience offers the teachers a chance to deliberate in a caring environment and make sense of difficult situations. Three events illustrate the promise and tensions of critical friendship. In this study many instances of resistance and tension can be documented. Teachers had differing opinions of how critical friends should be and how friendly critics should be. Problems arose when teachers limited themselves to safe feedback or resisted hearing criticism. However, teachers had strong emotional support within the group and could expose and explore vulnerabilities among friends. It must be recognized that such a group outside a school or university setting may be unstable over time. (Contains 36 references). (SM)