The truth is, I've been reading a new book--Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Princess. I may or may not have anything to say about that one. It's the last of the series that I got hooked on a while back, and I'm glad it's the last, because I don't like Clare's worldview. I'm hoping it will tie up some loose ends in the series so that I don't have to continue with her Mortal Instruments series, which is pretty awful--engaging at its best, demonic and dangerously transgressive at its worst. Very disappointed.
I have also been sewing--first my daughters' Easter dresses, and then a casual dress for myself. I would like to make another dress for myself, and some hooded knit dresses for the girls. So basically, when I sew, and when I read, I am less inclined to blog. I should have timed things better so that I had a backlog of posts scheduled. Oh well! Hindsight and all...
So I mentioned that I don't like Frank. Perhaps this is why I have beaten around the bush for two full paragraphs before getting to the point. Since a dream that Claire had in Outlander about Frank in his "professor" role, I have been meaning to write a post about Frank's teaching persona. Teaching persona is something that I have thought a lot about. I have written about it formally and informally. It's how a teacher presents him- or herself to a class--on what his or her credibility rests, and how she or he establishes a rapport. When I was an undergraduate, I wanted professors who were experts. They were scholars. They knew everything, and I could drink of their wisdom. Ideally, I also wanted them to be approachable. I wanted to be able to ask a question and have a conversation as we walked back to his or her office. In grad school, I was taught that that model was outdated--students did not benefit from having experts, because being lectured to by an expert made them passive rather than active learners. I was never a passive learner. I was uncomfortable learning that the scholar/lecturer model was "outdated," because that was how I liked to learn. I soon grew into it, as I realized that that was not how I liked to teach. I like to be a co-collaborator and co-investigator with my students (when I have students). I like to explore the subject with them so that we're discovering new things. Frankly, I'm not confident enough to be a scholar/lecturer. I do not have an "expert" persona, because I am always so very aware of what I don't know that I can't rest on what I do know.
Gabaldon--who, as a former professor herself, has thought of this as well--gives a few cues as to Frank's teaching persona. And my assessment is that in this, as in everything, Frank is a bit of an ass.
The first thing to know, for our purposes, is that being a professor is all about literacy. It's why Roger is all about the archives (which, of course, has nothing to do with wanting to seduce the 6-foot tall redhead--no, I'm not talking about Jamie). It's why, at the beginning of their last conversation, Frank is in bed "reading with the book propped upon his knees" (265). Being a professor. It's a literacy vocation. Like printing--but that's Jamie's gig. That book-reading figures heavily in this scene. Every snarky comment is punctuated with a gesture involving the book, which is related to being a professor:
“But what good does thinking do?” he asked, sticking a bookmark in his book. “You’ve done whatever you could— worrying about it now won’t change … ah, well.” He shrugged irritably and closed the book. “I’ve said it all before.” (265)Though specifically in reference to Claire's thoughts about her patient, and the surgery she had recently performed, there is something that feels wrong--sarcastic on Frank's part, or ironic on the part of the author--with a professor asking what good thinking does. I rather feel as though it reflects back on his pedagogy in some way. Don't think--just accept what I tell you. The other angle is that it certainly sets his own vocation--one that involves thinking--above hers, which, by implication, only involves performing.
More to come in part 2...
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