Grounded in the themes of the Lehman Urban Transformative Education approach, this course (EDC 756) invites teacher candidates to consider their roles as practitioners who, when preparing to meet their students' developmental needs, can inquire into the backgrounds, diversity, language assets, and community resources to meet those needs. The themes guiding the course are 1) empowering learners, 2) educating for equity, 3) realizing the potential of students, and 4) affirming diversity. Teacher candidates are asked to produce a statement of their teaching philosophy that attends to these themes, as well as write a case study that examines problems of practice related to them.