David Reinhart
April 14, 2021
Video by Jeffrey Pohorski
In Great Teaching, David Reinhart, a lecturer of philosophy and religious studies at UW-Whitewater, talks about giving the students in his Religious Studies 365 class, "Perspectives on Death and Dying," the option of creating an artwork for their final essay.
"When I see a student create something as a result of something they learned in the classroom… Sometimes the question is, ‘why do you teach?’ That's what comes to mind,” he said. “Several students chose to create some art — photography, paintings, drawings, sonnets — and one student wrote a song and performed it. Seeing a student take an idea and run with it and do something that was totally unexpected, and they didn't even have to do it, right, but it made sense, it connected with them."
(UW-Whitewater video by Jeffrey Pohorski)
WHY I TEACH is a series about the dedicated professionals at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, including professors, coaches, advisors and other staff members, who make every day a teachable moment — and every place a learning place — by their expertise and example.