Brent Sams

Who I am…

I have been teaching French and moderating French Club at Rockhurst since 2010. Before that, I was a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Kansas while working on my M.A. in French. Since starting at Rockhurst, I have taught all levels of French, from elementary to advanced. It is a career which constantly keeps me on my toes and pushes me to remain a lifelong learner.

I have also been on three international trips with students through various organizations at Rockhurst in recent years. With Luke McLellan and the Outdoors Club, I went to Ecuador and the Galapagos in the summer of 2013 and to Switzerland in the summer of 2015. I led a smaller group of students from French Club on a tour of Paris and Brittany in the summer of 2014 with colleagues and students from the Blue Valley School District. Recently, I have been appointed to the position of assistant golf coach, reconnecting me to the sport of my youth.

My passions include: language, art, history, literature, architecture, personal finance and home improvement projects.

My academic philosophy…

Great teachers make great teachers for the future…

As an educator now, I look back on the men and women who have brought me this far with a great sense of respect and gratitude. In my personal experience, great French teachers in high school and in middle school gave me the foundation I needed to continue on in school. They chaperoned trips to France and planned and held a variety of activities and cultural celebrations to supplement language learning. There are few people who have the opportunities that teachers do by having such an impact on others and allowing them to grow and change. Therefore, my raison d’être to teach comes from my desire to instill growth and change in my students. In my opinion there is no field more challenging and rewarding than one which aspires to wisdom, generosity, patience, perseverance and character for both the mediator and the scholar. Passions are among the hardest things to recognize without a catalyst; the catalyst is a good teacher.

My dream classroom…

Since I have started teaching in the new classroom, the things which make it a dream space are students being engaged, energized, inquisitive and eager to learn. It is a place where learning is student-centered and meaningful discussion and analysis can occur. There must also be access to the authentic multimedia resources which are invaluable to language learning, such as audio/video activities. The new classroom provides this well through the mobile furniture, fine quality sound system and multiple video screens.