I am veteran, secondary education language arts and television/film production teacher. I have taught in American public schools highly populated with second language learners. Additionally, for nineteen years I taught a college preparation reading and writing course for the University of Miami Upward Bound Program. As a National Board Certified teacher (NBCT), I serve as a teacher leader and mentor for new and veteran educators and facilitate professional development workshops. I embrace a holistic approach to education that acknowledges the individual and the collective group. I acknowledge that all students should be given the opportunity to be treated as individuals while learning how to communicate, interact, and cooperate with others. Each should be allowed the freedom to learn and grow at their individual pace with the support of qualified, knowledgeable, and nurturing educators who are skillful practitioners as opposed to technicians who execute lessons from tightly scripted pacing guides and curriculums that ignore the individual learner and ignore the need for time and space for individual and collective inquiry, problem solving, and discovery.