Drawing on the work of Russian literary critic, Mikhail Bakhtin, this article explores how an inquiry-based social studies student teaching seminar helped three preservice teachers negotiate the pressures of standards-based reforms during student teaching. The author first examines how initial perceptions of standardization and high-stakes testing corroded images of powerful teaching and created an "ex post facto" relationship with teaching social studies. The author then explores how an inquiry-based seminar mitigated these initial impressions by (1) suspending the authority of accountability; (2) creating contact through collaborative inquiry; and (3) refracting practice.