Even though teacher identity is an important part of becoming a teacher, many teacher candidates and beginning teachers struggle to acquire a clear sense of who they are as a teacher. A sense of identity provides the professional with a sense of purpose and job satisfaction, the absence of which can result the teacher in leaving the profession or burnout. Current research fails to provide a clear understanding of how teacher candidates define their teacher identity and the factors which influence it's development. This study addresses two research questions: 1) What experiences do teacher candidates gain during internship that are critical to the development of their identity as "teacher?" and 2) How did these experiences influence the development of the teacher candidates' identity? To gain an understanding of the experiences teacher candidates' received during internship which influenced who they were becoming as teachers, seven teacher candidates completed an open-ended questionnaire about their experiences in internship. A deeper understanding of how these experiences influenced the teacher candidates' teacher identity was ascertained through a semi-structured interview. Four of the seven participants completed the in-depth interview. The data were collected analyzed using qualitative methods to acquire themes and meaning from the data. Participants' experiences in internship that challenged their beliefs about who they were becoming as teachers. All the incidents provided the teacher candidates opportunities to reflect on their beliefs about who they want to be as a teacher. Participants identified their dreams of becoming a teacher and the role models that inspired them. They also described the interpersonal characteristics of a teacher for which they inspired to be, in addition to their responses to failure in this area. Finally, the participants defined the type of environment and the nature of the relationships they wanted to build as teachers in their classrooms. These findings provide insight into what experiences and how these experiences shape teacher candidates' teacher identity, which could inform future training and professional development. [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.]