Teaching Philosophy: “Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry.  When we consider a book, we mustn’t ask ourselves what it says but what it means…” Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose.  For me, in questioning what a book means, discovering the underlying and often universal truths found within the pages, is where truth in ourselves and our connections to other lives.   If one can look inside the pages to find different perceptions from our own, it is in putting these pieces together that true learning through literature can begin.  How can we find answers for ourselves through other people’s lives and experiences?  We can only do this if we care to discover their perceptions, their rights, their truths, their faults and see how it relates to our own world, our own vision of truth.   This discovery can only begin if one is engaged in the literature and in the world itself.  One must ask questions and seek to find answers to those questions—and yet be comfortable in not finding the “right” answer.  My role as the teacher is to help facilitate this process, encourage questioning, and ultimately help students read the world better.  This is what is beautiful about literature and even when narrations seem vague, characters seem confused, lines of truth and lies are blurred—and maybe because of all of these things and not despite them—can one see the universal truth that can be learned from every story.