In this paper I present my rationale for the development and use of a spiral-threads-of-transition model in the doctoral study that I completed this year. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach I examined the lived experiences of ten immigrant students in their mathematics classrooms at an Auckland secondary school. The study focused on these students' perceptions of their experiences rather than how their experiences might have been theorised. This approach gained its impetus from the notion that for teaching and learning, our most valuable resources are not abstract theories and principles but the untapped experiences of real students in the classroom (Sanchez, 2007).