This study examined student and instructor reflection upon a 2-year teacher education seminar designed to provide experiential and theoretical grounding in democratic pedagogy. Through conversation-as-research, instructors interpreted group dynamics in their conversations during breaks, lunch hours, and evenings throughout the seminar. The central issues guiding the research-in action were: (1) how instructors might co-construct with students a 'democratic dynamic' in a seminar designed to present the topic in both content and method; and (2) how instructors might balance the goals of the seminar content with its process and with students' needs. Seminar participants were mostly graduate students and some undergraduate students; the graduate students were practicing teachers. Findings revealed that collaborative instruction was critical, that conversation was the principal medium for negotiated change, and that certain critical conversations were central to the development of democratic learning communication. (Contains 34 references.) (CK)