Mentioning Teaching in SOP

[tinapickles]

I'm experiencing a bit of a quandary.

I know that it's advisable NOT to mention teaching experience in an SOP. However, my teaching experience, and specifically one class that I created, led directly to my current research interests. What I thought was a passing "Hey I want to use this book cause I love it!" turned into "Huh, there's a lot more going on here than I thought."

In that regards, is is "safe" to mention the class--specifically in the context to "while researching/preparing for this class I stumbled upon X which led me to start questioning Y" or is this still a big no-no?

[Strangefox]

I'm experiencing a bit of a quandary.

I know that it's advisable NOT to mention teaching experience in an SOP.

Frankly, I have not heard anything like that. Perhaps it is true about your field? You are free to mention it or not to do that - whatever you think is better. If your teaching led you to your current research interests - you can surely mention that in passing.

[blackshirt]

I also haven't heard that you should NOT mention your teaching experience; you definitely shouldn't focus on it exclusively, nor should it seem to be the main reason you're interested in a PhD, but I think the line of reasoning you propose is fine. Makes for a good narrative, I think.