This qualitative critical multi-case study examines the nature of resistance as it emerges within the work of two urban secondary teachers acting as teacher educators, each teaching a secondary teacher preparation course within their own respective school context. Both research sites are discursively and functionally similar in terms of their status as a Professional Development School (PDS) and their work as Professional Learning Communities (PLC). The historical, social and political underpinnings of PDSs and PLCs are examined as they are now ubiquitous organizational structures that function largely as mechanisms of support and accountability for education reform, promoting a largely functionary role for teachers. After revisiting resistance as it is typically understood, that is, framed within overt acts of protest and dissent, I draw analysis from Misra (2009) who argues that all social movements occur from within organizational structures. Building on Misra (2009), I build a construct for understanding legitimacy, a necessary attribute of effective organizational membership, as an important location for teacher resistance. It is within legitimacy that I have theorized the lived theoretical space of microresistance and present multiple representations of enacted microresistance as they occur within legitimacy, a pedagogy of withinness, alliance building and compliance negotiation. The enactment of microresistance indicates that work is being done to seed and provide entry points to promote social justice in ways that widen cracks within the system; thus, promoting hope and possibility. This critical multi-case study suggests that secondary teaching and learning spaces are critically complemented by secondary teacher preparation. Challenging the functionary role of teacher leadership and the nature of school/university partnerships, this study presses for alliances between public schools and the university teacher preparation programs that serve them. Preparing teachers to read the value and politics of educational spaces they are prepared in--as opposed to preparing them to return to the schools and schooling practices of their childhood--creates a new vision and purpose for what teachers need to know and be able to do. Implications and recommendations for improved professional development, mentoring models and extended research are presented, as well as axiological recommendations for researching teacher resistance. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]