What's democracy got to do with teaching? To answer this question, the author recollects the personal experiences through which she came to understand the connections between democracy and teaching. Sustaining democracy requires its citizens--teachers, parents, and students, in the case of schooling--to fight for it intelligently. The way teachers are educated, like the way K-12 students are educated, will have a great impact on whether efforts for greater voice and influence in government are productive. Unionization was a critical, if petty, first step in that direction--one that took courage and risk, and remains vulnerable. But there's the next step, and it can't be accomplished unless students and novice teachers at some time "see what democracy looks and sounds like." Schools of education, as well as schools themselves, must become communities that introduce the next generation to the democracy project.