If emerging teachers are going to be something more than technicians, they need to reflect on their instructional worldviews, the mission of schools, and their role as autonomous professionals. In this article, the author shows how three pedagogical "moves" she made as a holistic mentor helped her student teachers forge and voice new-found professional identities and a sense of agency when engaged in literacy practices together. The model described here emphasizes the sense of agency that leads to reflection and resiliency. (Contains 2 figures.)