What matters most when it comes to increasing achievement and student success in the developmental classroom? Recent reform efforts in developmental education have brought sweeping changes in some states. New curricular pathways, redesigned courses, and a handful of new instructional delivery methodologies have been the result. Although these are important and needed, they are only a piece of what is necessary to yield meaningful results. In the midst of intense times of change, it is vital not to forget what matters most in any classroom--the instructor. The author, an instructor in the UCCSTeach program at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, a teacher-licensing program, discusses his strategies for using high-traction instructional strategies to increase student success.