While concern for the environment has increased in recent decades, environmental education remains an underprioritized field of study in most U.S. schools, especially public and alternative schools. However, environmental educators can promote environmental literacy among students in a variety of contexts to help bring environmental education to educational settings in which it otherwise may not have been present. In attempt to help environmental educators better support environmental education, I investigate how I, as an environmental educator, can work to improve my educational practice using a self-study methodology with data sources including journal entries and a critical friend meeting. Findings focused on highlighting tensions that occurred between my teaching practice and the environmental content I taught, the context in which I taught, and the students whom I taught. These findings and subsequent practical implications demonstrate a progression in the development of my teaching practice, that other teacher educators and pre-service environmental educators may build upon to develop future early career environmental educators.