This article is a compellation of my work with big ideas and my findings based on that work for the second semester of the 2006-2007 school year. I worked with three 11th grade students that have in the past struggled to pass the Global Studies Regents exam. The class was created as a RCT (Regents Competency Test) preparation course. The purpose of this class, as it was told to me in January, was to give these students the skills and motivation they needed to pass the Global Studies RCT in June. I encountered many obstacles along the way, attendance issues, IEP modifications, miscommunication between myself and administration, and poor student selfefficacy. My personal goal was to incorporate big ideas into every class in hopes that this method would combat some of the problems I was facing with the students. Having been a first year teacher during this experience, I still held much of my idealistic enthusiasm for teaching with big ideas. This article focuses on the struggles, successes and disappointments I faced incorporating big ideas into my work with this small group of struggling students.