This case study aimed to examine the construction of teaching practices of a first-year science teacher in an urban school setting to illustrate the non-linear nature of teaching activity. The author contends that by examining the conflux of elements present in the settings where new teachers teach and the ways those elements work together to shape practice, teacher education researchers will help advance the field’s understanding of teacher learning as continually transforming in relation to the teacher’s own experiences, her students, the classroom and school context, and the broader state and federal policies that bear down on her teaching. The author concludes that non-linear conceptual and methodological frameworks turn the attention to the processes through which outcomes are produced.