I was recently listening to a book How Learning Works on Audible while traveling for work. One of the sections in the chapter focuses on the integration of active learning into the classroom and specifically references two examples of faculty struggling with active learning activities in the course. One example focused on a faculty member who provided a case study around immigration in their course that led to an uncomfortable conversation among students in the class. In reflecting on the chapter on authentic pedagogy, I reflected quite a bit on my teaching in the classroom and my use of active learning activities and game-base learning. Specifically, I had to really reflect on how my use of authentic pedagogy has advanced the longer I have taught in the discipline. When I first started teaching the didactic approach was easier for me to provide the knowledge I had learned to students through lecture. Furthermore, the classroom that I walked into was oriented toward a didactic approach with students sitting at tables in rows and a projector in the middle of the rooms shining on a screen in the front of the room. Additionally, there was a teacher workstation oriented at the front of the room. However, as I lectured more and more and watched those folks in the back of the class, a generalization I know, slowly fade into a state of sleep and/or blank stares I, I thought to myself how can I get my students more engaged. As I started look into professional development to improve my teaching, I decided there was a need to focus more on authentic pedagogy to engage my student more in their learning. Moreover, as I learned more about teaching I began to look further at my outcomes and how they aligned with course materials and course assessments. I began to think more deeply about what I cared about as a subject matter expert as opposed to just plopping the learning outcomes provided, the course shell provided from my department, and the ready made assessments at the ready. In doing this reflection and learning as an instructor, I also began to care more deeply about what my students should be getting out of my class and decided I wanted them to move further along in Bloom's taxonomy from a place of simply learning what I had to say (remembering) and knowing what the concepts meant (understanding) to being able to apply the material and analyze it and moreover in some higher level courses further evaluate and create their own materials. As I began my journey along Bloom's taxonomy I found myself relying on active learning activities and therefore authentic learning more in my classes to prepare my students for their assessments where they would later be asked to apply the principles they learned. I began to address the architectonic nature of my classroom moving tables to make small groups for discussions and activities. I created more discursive opportunities for students to share their lived experiences with each other. I adjusted my epistemological approach providing students with case studies or asking them to find/provide real world experiences. As this journey continued over many years, I found that I became a better authentic learner and teacher and was able to address little issues that arose around difficult subjects as addressed in the book mentioned above. While it was never easy and more difficult then it would have been to just continue in my original didactic approach, I know that I have become a better instructor for it and my students have learned more from me as well as learned how to become better learners from my authentic approach. Authentic pedagogy has allowed me in unison with other pedagogical techniques allowed me to help my students move further along Bloom's taxonomy to higher levels of learning. Realistically, isn't this what we all strive for in our instruction?