This article investigates the use of co-constructed narrative strands to better understand the function of institutional narratives in teacher education. It uses data drawn from a large ethnographic study of talk in interaction in teacher education coursework. The analysis demonstrates how a series of similar small stories functions together to create a larger message about social categories in schooling. Narratives created by preservice teachers, through shared understanding of category systems like gender and disability, penetrate stories told in coursework and impact understandings of students in schools.