Imagination-broadly defined here as narratives individuals construct about experience and possibility-is integral to helping people understand their lived experiences. In the context of teacher education, imagination is an indispensable dimension of developing one's self-conception as a teacher, and of defining what is and is not acceptable practice. Using the theoretical lens of imagination and employing interpretive methodologies with pre-service teachers interning in urban contexts, this study examines what it means for pre-service teachers to shift from pre-service to in-service teacher identities and the effects of those shifts on their practice. The study focuses on the role and effects of imagination with five participants who were learning to teach by focusing on the transition from student teacher to the self-identification as full-fledged teacher at the end of the internship, a phase of teacher development that I label "in-becoming." Two research questions frame this study: How do teachers in-becoming, as a function of imagination, form narratives around their experiences that constitute meaning for their practice? And, in what ways do teachers in-becoming use those meanings to imagine what is and is not possible in their practice as a consequence of how they understand themselves as teachers? Three primary conclusions are discussed in the context of the findings: first, the shaping of a self-conception as a teacher is an imaginative process drawn from narratives constructed in and about experiences. Second, imagination is essential in experiencing the effects of pre-service teaching and constructing boundaries of and possibilities for practice. And third, the becoming of a teacher is a unique phase of learning to teach wherein the pre-service teacher assumes an identity as a teacher and independently shapes his or her practice. The study concludes with a discussion about implications for teacher education and it advocates for the inclusion of imagination more holistically in learning to teach.
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