In this article, a beginning teacher, experienced teacher, and teacher educator reflect upon their experiences with qualitative self-studies of language and literacy in teacher education courses. The goal of these course projects was to introduce teachers to sociocultural theories, qualitative research, and "new" literacies. Sharing excerpts from teachers' self-studies of blogging and a massively multi-player on-line role-playing game, we illustrate how small-scale self-studies may help teachers begin to develop notions of language and literacy as social practices, demystify educational research, and bridge perceived "theory" and "practice" divides in teacher education. We offer individual and collective reflections on our work to help teacher educators consider how qualitative self-study might make sociocultural perspectives and new literacies more accessible and tangible to practicing teachers.