The extent to which our students, and indeed we, are manipulated by popular culture and a normative perception of an ideal way to be is an issue of increasing import. The changes we make to our teaching to engage students in this issue must be conducive to meaningful learning and subsequent academic achievement. The changes we make are based on not only research into what works, or what has worked for our colleagues, but also on effective reflection. We cannot be reflective without having made changes and thus taking risks to our practice and we cannot take risks without reflecting. This paper is a reflection on a successful unit of Year 12 Poetry and focuses on how to encourage students to appreciate language and its purpose. By looking at the bigger picture and their place in this, students find meaning in the work of Sage Francis, an American lyricist and selected work from the Beat poets. This paper focuses on a unit that encourages students to take responsibility of their ideas and focus on their choice of language in order to best represent something for which they are passionate and involved, developing independent voice and accountability. (Contains 1 note.)