In this article, the author contemplates two books dealing with developing a teaching persona. These books are Elaine Showalter's "Teaching Literature" and Jay Parini's "The Art of Teaching". Showalter and Parini present very different perspectives on the issue. Showalter addresses it in a section called "Personae: The Teaching Self," in which she argues that "critical beliefs" about the discipline of teaching should match teaching personae. She points out, as an example of inconsistency, literary critics whose generous critical perspectives are betrayed by their petty and harsh classroom behaviors. Parini does some analytic work on the word "persona," tracing its meaning to theater in the ancient world, and noting that its etymological roots imply a mask that one speaks through. Parini urges everyone to think deliberately about their teaching personae, even so far as to reflect on the clothes they wear in the classroom, which are always, in his words, "rhetorical choices." Drawing on both Showalter and Parini's perspectives, the author ventures two specific suggestions on teaching persona.