A study examined the interaction of teacher and student in a methods preparation course for undergraduate special education majors. The course was structured around several projects, two types of writing logs, and readings. Fieldnotes from an observer participant, records of a debriefing meeting, students' weekly entries on content learning logs and process response logs, instructors' responses to students' writing, and students' end-of-term written evaluations were the data that informed the instructor's analysis. Results indicated that: (1) the instructor's teaching of the course was about the construction of relationships with his students--it was the personal, the connected-to-life issues, and the emotions that guided the class; (2) in several situations, the students and the instructor experienced disagreement and conflict; (3) the instructor's reflexive moves of turning issues of concern into a learning experience made the student uncomfortable; and (4) the instructor identified several behavioral and emotional response patterns that he used to make sense of the classroom experience. The instructor concluded that a metaphor that seems to fit is teaching as shamanism--a shamanic teacher is connected to the heart of the class culture, is grounded in the ways of students, yet is also connected to other ways of knowing. (Eighteen references are attached.) (RS)