In our current moment there is a resurgence of interest in pedagogy as an object of research and policy. In this context the Redesigning Pedagogies in the North (RPiN) project sought to improve educational outcomes for students from low-socioeconomic status communities by researching teachers' efforts to develop more connected pedagogies. However, difficulties were encountered during collaborative theory building with teachers. Except for repeated suggestions that pedagogy is "all about relationships", teachers struggled to develop theoretical accounts of their practice. Using data obtained within the RPiN project, I draw on Massumi's (2002) notion of "expanded empiricism" and Bauman's (1995) concept of "being-for" the other to analyze this difficulty. I argue that the condition for pedagogy becoming an ethical experience inheres in an affective dimension of the teacher-student relationship that cannot be translated into a stable object of discursive knowledge. However, this condition is substantive and requires further attention in research and policy.