My job as an educator is an exciting one with endless opportunities for innovation, collaboration, and growth alongside my students. Learning is a joint effort that cannot happen without the input of my students. I am dedicated to equipping them with the tools to be independent thinkers and doers, not imitators of what they see. I aim to teach students how to think, not what to think so they may encounter each new challenge in their life, whether inside the classroom or not, with confidence, compassion, and a moral compass in order to be positive, contributing members of society. Charles Judd, a curriculum theorist, argued that “by preparing students to deal with problems, not acquire or recall endless knowledge, [they] would be prepared to deal with the changing world and the problems they would encounter as adults." I follow in his footsteps of fostering individual and critical thinking supported by student choice and voice.