Overall, the author wanted to teach using culturally responsive approaches. The ELA teacher can fuel social justice teaching. In this article, the author discusses how their personal biases affected their classroom instruction and how they shifted their educational philosophy to consider the needs and interests of their students. In US education, there has been a tug of war within the ELA curriculum such as what texts should be taught and who should have the opportunity to attend school, usually based on socioeconomic status. Consequently, it is important to note that the ELA classroom then becomes a microcosm of society's ills. What we teach (authors, novels, drama, classic versus contemporary texts) or whom and what we do not teach reinforces the idea that some students, some texts, and some teachers do not belong in the ELA classroom. Through reading, discussing, writing, and analyzing literature, we can assist students in understanding there is another noteworthy and just as valid ideology about life, culture, society, and what it means to be human.