Thinking in curves

Thinking in curves leads to serendipitous learning. A willingness to accept that learning (and life in general) is mostly non-linear means that you are more willing / likely to stray off the beaten track / go off on a tangent / think outside the box.

It's not about losing sight of the main goal, it's about realising that there are many different ways to reach that goal, and that the journey, and the unexpected finds along the way, are just as important as reaching your destination.

Muizenissen?

"Whence, why and what for?" I hear you ask. Well...

'Muizenissen', according to my Dutch-English dictionary (Van Dale Groot Woordenboek Nederlands - Engels (derde druk), 1999), can be translated as 'troubles, cares, worries, bother(ation)s'. In that sense it's not entirely dissimilar to the 'musings' mentioned in the title. More specifically, 'muizenissen in het hoofd hebben' means 'to have a lot on one's mind'. And that definitely sounds about right.

But really it's to do with the nickname my grandad gave me - Piepmuis (= squeaky mouse). Doesn't sound like a nickname you'd be proud or fond of, but proud and fond of it I am (but that's another story). So in this context, 'muizenissen' simply stands for my thoughts on a whole range of subjects - from teaching to languages to mothering to gardening and back again. Expect posts on my golden rules of teaching, 'jolly' phonics, the point of life and what it means to be a One-Eyed Queen.

Hope you enjoy them.

Teacher

I teach at the University of Hull. A little bit of Dutch, but mostly about language learning and teaching. To the uninitiated, that makes me a lecturer. However, that title is reserved for those engaged in 'teaching and research', whilst I'm employed on the 'teaching and scholarship' scale. In plain English, I'm a teaching bod. Which suits me fine, as teaching's what I love and what I'm good at (or so I like to think).

According to my contract, I'm a 'tutor', but I prefer 'teacher', a term which seems to be regarded with suspicion if not downrigh animosity in Higher Education circles. For example, when I attended a faculty learning and teaching committee meeting last year, the one comment one of my colleagues had to make about the University's new Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Strategy was that they objected to the use of the word 'teacher' in it: "I'm a lecturer, not a teacher. They're very different things." Really? Does this strategy not relate to that part of your job which is concerned with teaching, and is 'teacher' therefore not a highly appropriate word in this context? Apparently not, as in the final version of the document, it has been replaced with 'academic staff'.

Educational specialists, too, seem to object to the term. They tend to equate it with someone who engages in 'knowledge transmission', i.e. just spouts a lot of info at students which they then passively consume (remind you of anyone?). Their word of choice is 'facilitator', which refers to someone who guides the students in their learning. This is certainly what I strive to do, but the term makes me come out in a rash, as it is yet another way of saying "we are not teachers", as if there was something inherently wrong with that word.

Why then do I insist on calling myself a teacher? Well, quite simply, because teaching's what I do. And a good teacher understands that sometimes full-frontal lecturing or explaining is what's required. Facilitation doesn't always work (trust me). It all depends on what you're trying to teach, and even more so on the students you're dealing with. They're the ones who are at the heart of things.

Of course, it doesn't really matter what you call yourself - lecturer, tutor, facilitator, teacher - so long as you know what (and who) is important. I just like to be contrary...