The desired outcome for any science teacher is to help the student build a set of well developed critical thinking skills that form the basis for any scientific investigation and real world, evidence-based decision making. In my experience, teaching only works when both the instructor and the student share a passion for the subject matter. This is the only way to achieve the necessary flow of information and provide both with opportunities to fully engage and explore the range of possibilities, probabilities, and likelihoods. Hands-on experience is critical and cannot be replaced by any amount of virtual or remote learning, unless it is heavily supplemented by field and lab work. The real world does not conform to norms or expected outcomes and the sooner that reality is accepted, the easier it is to wrap one's head around what is actually happening. To these ends, my teaching focuses on exposing students to a wide variety of situations using a diverse array of data and working through observations and interpretations based on what can be empirically documented. In the field of geology and ichnology, this takes the form of fieldtrips, core workshops, and hand specimen investigation coupled with supplementary lectures and virtual fieldtrips. "Question everything" is the basis for my own research and I seek to instill that in students.