While earning my master's degree in English at Northern Illinois University, I was offered a graduate teaching assistantship. The assistantship required teaching one or two sections of Rhetoric and Composition per semester.As a writing instructor, my goal was to help students craft their own voice while instilling evaluation skills. I did this by building the course around popular culture and media. I found students often have an easier time researching and generating ideas when the basis for it involved something they are invested in. I am committed to student’s leaving my instruction with a sense of purpose, interest in the writing process, with skills needed to write with intention.