This paper describes a series of attempts by a novice teacher educator to foster reflective talk among interns in a weekly seminar. Drawing on Dewey's dilemma of bridging the child's inclinations with the demands of the curriculum, the paper explores the challenge of connecting interns' needs with teacher educators' goals. The paper advocates the importance of reflection by teacher educators, recommends that teacher educators be explicit about the content and process for discussions about teaching and raises questions about structures, sequencing and selection of content to promote reflection among pre-service teachers. (Contains 1 note.)