Without a doubt, the movement toward corporatized, standardized, and even sanitized education models in K-12 education impacts the way students at the higher education level view teaching and learning. New York City public school teachers have been trained to focus entirely on measurable outcomes. Writing is taught as a well-structured paragraph with an introductory sentence, three supporting details, and summarizing conclusion as opposed to a platform for communicating important thoughts and ideas. Learning has become a product, rather than process for students and teachers alike. Sarah Cacicio has come to believe that her City University of New York students' experience as pre-service and inservice teachers in an outcomes-oriented schooling environment, where they seemingly have no say, directly impacts their experience as learners in my graduate classroom. This realization called Cacicio to action; she resolved to design a midterm project that would engage students in a real, meaningful process of inquiry and creative transformation. The goal was to reinvigorate learning as a process of questioning that leads to change in knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, and even attitudes. Her hope was that the assignment would motivate K-12 teachers to take back their profession as educators rather than deliverers of pre-packaged, scripted, Common Core-aligned curriculum. This article examines the learning process involved in designing, assigning, and inevitably, assessing the problems posed by the midterm project. In an effort to promote learning and writing as a social practice, Cacicio asked one of her students, Uyen Uyen Le, to document her experience and co-write this piece, and she accepted with enthusiasm. Uyen's story is essential in reevaluating how higher educators define, promote, and measure student learning in the context of corporate-based K-12 education models.