Teacher’s life stories in different cultural Educational contexts, as a prerequisite for choice of Profession

The objective of this article is to identify, using teachers' descriptions of memories in elementary education, the experiences that contributed to their decision to become teachers. Memories were solicited from teachers participating in a continuing education program, who at the time of the study from 2014 to 2016, taught at four institutions in the metropolitan region of Curitiba in the Paraná state of Brazil. Hermeneutic phenomenology served as the basis for interpretation of the memories. The study identified that consciously recognizing inspirational moments in one's personal history allowed for understanding of and a better relationship to the one's work environment.