Student-centered pedagogy has been consistently emphasized in many reform documents. This paper traces the process of changing traditional teacher-centered instruction toward a student-centered approach in the Korean context. By looking closely at the teacher’s successes and struggles, the paper attempts to understand better what constitutes the process of implementing new ideals into actual classroom contexts. The paper also analyzes what has changed and not changed in this teaching practice in order to reveal culturally specific values and expectations of mathematics instruction. Given that teaching practices of Korea have rarely been studied in international contexts, this paper is expected to foster an increase in the recent interest in effective mathematics instruction across different education systems.