In addition to dealing with the more or less obvious variables that affect classroom dynamics, teachers need to learn how to deal with the far more difficult issues related to learning, identity, selfhood, and autonomy. In this article, the author first discusses classroom issues that are most visible and vivid for teachers. Next, the author discusses the unseen components of classroom dynamics that exist outside the range of the visible and that thus remain opaque to many teachers. The fact that teaching is first and foremost a "social" relationship, says the author, means that whatever social dynamics develop between students and teachers are more important than whatever happens between students and teachers on the academic front. The author goes on to discuss the "improbable" and "nearly imponderable" issues about learning, identity, selfhood, and autonomy. He concludes by stating his belief that conscientious and dedicated teachers who spark their students' minds, who call to their students' most honorable and decent instincts, and who know how simultaneously to challenge and support their students can sometimes make all the difference.