This paper reports the results of a deliberate effort to help preservice science teachers improve their ability to learn from experience and take charge of their own professional development as teachers. The study was conducted by a teacher educator who simultaneously taught a physics methods course and a 12th-grade physics class and thereby learned to "listen to his own experience" and listen to his students. Data sources for the study included small-group interviews with and personal journal entries by student teachers at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario (Canada). Student teachers were asked to "listen to yourself" (their own sense of good teaching and learning) and to "listen to your students" (what they say about good teaching and learning). The "before and after" story of a student teacher who became a physics and mathematics teacher is offered to illustrate the point that it is necessary to examine one's own teaching during the preservice program in order to be able to subsequently judge the impact of experience. Analysis of students' statements after their practicum experiences indicate that the "authority of experience" can be taught in a significant way to those entering the profession. (JDD)