This book, a commentary on becoming a teacher, presents a set of essays based on observations of a group of young, white, middle class female teachers learning what it means to be alone at the head of the classroom. It presents a textured picture of the development of competence. The picture is organized around the complications of ordinary life in a classroom for these new teachers. They have had little experience with exercising authority and are not sure how to do it. They have to learn how to act as teachers--how to speak, dress, think, manage themselves and their classrooms, confront emotions, deal with parents and administrators, and react to a role and to situations that are different in important ways from what they expected and from what their experience had been. Nine chapters focus on: (1) "Gender, Age, and Teacher Induction"; (2) "Stephanie: The Paradox of Authority"; (3) "Helen: Professional Identity"; (4) "Paula: School Culture"; (5) "Beth: School Administration"; (6) "Karen: Professional Judgment"; (7) "Julie: Affirmation and Attainment"; (8) "Unpredictable Outcomes: Race, Ethnicity, and Class"; and (9) "Classrooms of Their Own." (Contains 85 references.) (SM)