In this article, the author explores her teaching experiences in order to better understand the nature of the professional knowledge needed to make use of conflict and to manage a particular teaching dilemma. The author's intention is to show that such a personal inquiry can reveal ways in which her story is a telling case that may enable others to respond and make meaning out of their own experiences. Unraveling what constitutes professional knowledge in the practice of teaching is messy work, but the author hopes that when seen through the lens of one teacher's balancing act of managing dilemmas, blending the practical and theoretical, improvising, and reflecting on these processes, some clarity will be revealed. (Contains 2 endnotes.)