Rather than battle these diversions, I have learned to manipulate and transform them into educative material. Tapping into the teenage world as a resource authenticates lessons for students, as those lessons have meaning and relevance to them. A fitting platform for such methods came about when I developed a unit called "Finding the Words to Change the World." My goals for student skills– discovering and utilizing the elements of persuasion, identifying and targeting audience, distinguishing fact from opinion, recognizing bias, and creating a piece of persuasive writing– exist in most language arts classrooms. However, I drew upon less standard means to achieve my ends. I focused on the students’ penchants for self discovery, media, music, consumerism, and adolescent argumentation. Students worked in self-selected groups and focused on the question, "What would you like to see changed in the world?"

My students exercised great agility in the realm of critical thinking when they felt that they were on their own turf. Drawing from genres that the students were comfortable with and invested in made for lessons that were naturally applicable to the world outside of the classroom's four walls. My aim is that they might practice learned techniques in real-world (and perhaps less cozy) settings with confidence and familiarity.