Walter Levis is a journalist, writer and teacher at Fieldston Upper School. His first job was as a journalist and in 2007, he began teaching part-time at Fieldston. All those who have taken class with Mr. Levis admire his enthusiasm for teaching and his encouragement to his students to question the surrounding world.
During his time as a journalist, Mr. Levis covered crime in upstate New York. Early on in his career he “saw a lot of upsetting things.” After interviewing a distraught mother whose son had been murdered, his waning interest in journalism finally came to an end. Realizing he no longer wanted to pursue journalism, Mr. Levis turned to ghostwriting. A ghostwriter is hired to do the writing that is credited to another person. Soon after, he heard about a part time teaching job at Fieldston.
Through his wife, Mr. Levis found a job at Fieldston. She used to work in the Upper School and told him of an open part time job in the ethics department. He took it and has never looked back since. Also, Mr. Levis’ daughter attended Fieldston from pre-k through twelfth grade. Mr. Levis stated, “I have always been part time but my heart is in the school in a deep way. My wife worked at the school for many years and my daughter went through the school.” While she attended Fieldston, Mr. Levis’ daughter was a “big athlete,” and when he went to her games, Mr. Levis would practice the guitar while he watched. Aside from volunteering, playing music and of course being a Michael Sandel lookalike (a running joke in many of Mr. Levis’ ethics classes), he also played low level professional tennis in his 20s.
When asked about his favorite aspects of teaching, Mr. Levis compared it to journalism. Mr. Levis explained, “The similarity between journalism and teaching is inquiry, you have to be willing to ask good questions of people you don’t really know.” He continued, “I hope that I am inspiring students to question their assumptions. We all bring our whole selves into the classroom so I would hope that a student isn’t trying to figure out what I want to hear. I hope that my personal biases aren’t the point. The point is to think critically about all of [the material] and about ourselves.” Mr. Levis also said one of the things he loves about teaching is that it’s about the curiosity and, “taking the world in as a question.”
In his free time, Mr. Levis loves to play music. “The great joy of my life, that many people don’t know, is that I play music in nursing homes and hospitals,” said Mr. Levis. He works with an organization called Musicians On Call. He loves to “go into unusual places and play music.” Mr. Levis comes from a musical family. His mother was a music teacher and she inspired him to start playing music. He enjoys playing the guitar and singing. One of his favorite songs to play is “Fly Me to the Moon,” by Frank Sinatra.
In response to asking what his favorite class to teach is, Mr. Levis said “I don’t have a real favorite in that way. But what I could say at this stage of my career is that I feel very lucky that I get to teach two electives that are close to my heart. One of them is ethical issues in sports. The goal of the class is to get students thinking critically about something they already like.” Mr. Levis’ love of athletics and ethics merge together in this elective, which he teaches alongside money and morals. Talking about his money and morals class, Mr. Levis said “We’re not keeping it real if we don’t acknowledge our range of wealth at the Fieldston School. Maturity is appreciating more and more complexity. I’m after helping people appreciate the complexity. In this class, we ask some difficult questions about how money fits into life.”
Mr. Levis has countless experiences from the real world. He uses each of them in his classroom. “It’s about being able to teach those classes that I feel connected to,” said Mr. Levis. Mr. Levis’ personal views on his curriculum are not the point, something he greatly stressed,“I would hope that my personal biases aren’t the point. The point is to think critically about all of it, about ourselves.”
Mr. Levis is a one of a kind teacher. His numerous career experiences are priceless and teaching ethics at Fieldston is only one of Mr. Levis’ many passions. From journalism to teaching, he has always been doing something he loves and his passion is inspirational and rare. Part of what makes Mr. Levis so special, is his connection to Fieldston. Fieldston is a huge part of not only his life but his family’s life too. His connection to the school makes him care even more about his students. As he continues to teach, he hopes students will learn from him and always question the world around them.
