Cleo Droege has been a middle school language arts block teacher for eight years. After teaching for three years, she left public education to work with Dianne Ferguson at the University of Oregon, where she rounded out the research team as the “regular ed” person. During her four years at Oregon, she drew on the best of both worlds of education. Four years ago, Droege returned to teaching middle school. Now her classes are larger and include more needy students. She continues using the teaching practices she developed at the University of Oregon to teach her diverse population of students. Droege can be reached at Lincoln Middle School, 1565 South 4th Street, Cottage Grove, OR 97424-2999; phone: 541-942-3316; fax: 541-9801; e-mail: cdroege@lane.k12.or.us.