This study focuses on teaching experience and practice in post-secondary education--an important and understudied topic. I conducted an in-depth qualitative study of instructor experience in the Metro Academies' Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs), which currently operate at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and San Francisco State University (SF State) in the Departments of Health Education and Child and Adolescent Development. As a Metro instructor and the facilitator of these FLCs, I worked with my colleagues and students, to apply Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) principles in the design and implementation of this research. Drawing from narratives of participating faculty gathered from in-depth interviews, I illustrate some of the most significant struggles that faculty face, including their persistent and pervasive fears of inadequacy and failure as teachers. This study also demonstrates the potentially promising role of FLCs in helping faculty embrace the inherent challenges of engaged and critical teaching, addressing their struggles as individual teachers, as well as their collective struggle as members of an FLC. The goal is to move from an isolated experience as a classroom instructor to a community-focused endeavor where critical pedagogy and reflection dominate discourse around teaching in post-secondary education. [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://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]