I believe all students have a right to learn. A right independent of their ethnic background, level of preparation, physical abilities, or any other trait that could be used to explain their perceived “inability to learn.” In my experience, having taught at every level from middle school to university, setting elevated expectations of all students frequently proves extremely productive. This is a guiding principle in my teaching philosophy, one informed by both hard knocks and fulfilling achievements. So much of my early teaching experience happened in some of the most disadvantaged schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, which taught me to over- prepare my lessons and to be ready to quickly adjust to unforeseen circumstances. During my first three years of teaching tenth- and twelfth-grade English, I had at least four lockdown situations and one death threat. But I also had dozens of students whom I was able to help get into community college, or to find scholarships, many of whom had been ready to sign up for the military due to what they perceived was a lack of options for their future beyond high school. I would not change any of these experiences, because they prepared me for the pedagogical challenges I have since had teaching at the university level. My early educational experiences motivate my work to meet pupils where they are, to help them absorb as much knowledge as they can, as painlessly as possible. I employ a variety of techniques to communicate concepts and related ideas to students’ general circumstances. In one example from an ESL class, I taught the prewriting strategies of outlining by laying out its organizational concept, and then pairing students to “outline” each other’s outfits by material, brand, location purchased, and so on. In any class I teach I always make sure to have at least one guest speaker from an underrepresented group so that all students can interact with professionals that may help stretch everyone’s opinions of what is possible. I have been deeply influenced by scholar educators such as Paulo Freire and Marva Collins, their pupil centered approach where one is called to be more of a coach on the side, than a sage on a stage has been a hallmark of my teaching style. A belief that there is no “best” way to reach all students is a guiding principle in my teaching and so I deploy a variety of techniques to communicate concepts and relate ideas to students’ daily lives. Embracing a teaching philosophy that privileges the spectrum over the binary in any given class, I may move from leading Socratic discussion, to scaffolded and moderated debate. And I try to do this with intellectual and academic humility, because I believe that a teacher who does not learn from their students cannot completely or even effectively mentor, instruct, or advise. ​This brings me to the most essential element that I try to bring to my teaching: intellectual and academic humility. I believe that a professor who does not want to learn cannot completely or effectively sponsor, mentor, instruct, or advise a diverse student population. Academic humility for me, in all its forms, is what keeps me open to new epistemes. This is why I use student evaluations not simply to reflect on the efficiency of what I have done in a given class but as a blueprint of how to improve my upcoming ones. I do my best to help struggling students become better writers by bringing them into office hours to talk about their work and by setting short-term achievable goals. With more advanced students I often give specific suggestions for advanced readings and challenge them to write beyond the minimum requirements.