Mirror, Lens and Window: A Workbook on Journaling for Namibian Teachers in Training, by Dorian Haarhoff

Mirror, Lens and Window: A Workbook on Journaling for Namibian Teachers in Training, by Dorian Haarhoff. Basler Afrika Bibliographien. Switzerland, Basel 2014. Namibia Resource Centre & Southern Africa Library. ISBN 9783905758351 / ISBN 978-3-905758-35-1

This workbook 'Mirror, Lens and Window' on keeping a journal aims to helps Namibian teachers in training to develop conversations with themselves (self-reflection), and with others, around teaching and its challenges. The Latin origin of the word 'conversation' means 'to turn with'. It opens us to the universe. Author Dorian Haarhoff encourages readers to experiment and try out the exercises.

Dorian Haarhoff  

These journal entry exercises aim to stimulate observation, introduce symbolic thought, and work on identity. I hope that you will cultivate your creativity, encourage consciousness and develop your writing and storytelling skills. You can use these skills across the curriculum. The quality of the person who is presenting the teaching conveys many messages. You are not merely imparting information. You are offering a living example of someone who is also growing and responding to challenges. Keeping a journal is one way of attending to this all-important calling. If you can develop this habit you can become a living stream that the children drink from rather than a stagnant pool. Many teachers become cynical. Keeping the journal can keep you hopeful because you are attending to your own growth. And as Gandhi reminds us, 'Be the change you want to see in the world.' This workbook arises from a sponsorship and partnership with Basler Afrika Bibliographien and the Carl Schlettwein Foundation. I am grateful for this support. The teaching gene is strong in me and it was a delight to teach in this context in Namibia. For the past four years (2008-2011) the Carl Schlettwein Foundation has supported journal and creative writing workshops at the Windhoek College of Education (incorporated into the University of Namibia as from 2011). The idea of this publication is to marry two concepts - journaling and education, in one text. I wish to collate this experience and include material gathered during the workshops. In these workshops we worked experientially through active participative learning - modelling the way students and staff could engage in their own teaching. I encouraged group work so that fellow students and staff colleagues could become each other's teachers. I also drew part of the theory from Bruce Copley's 'Cogmotics', a holistic way of making learning surprising, fun, relevant and personal (www.aahalearning.com). While much of what I have written about the journal process could apply to any situation or country, the individual contributions are from the mouths and pens of Namibians as they reflect on upbringing, schooling, and the impact of the socio-political forces and the environment. This gives the book its Namibian bias. The word journal' comes from the Old French 'day'. So it is a daily encounter with yourself. 'Journal' echoes the word journey', and so you become a traveller of inner and outer regions, writing in your travelogue. Here are some of the dictionary meanings for journal:

• A personal record of occurrences, experiences and reflections kept on a regular basis, a diary.
• An official record of daily proceedings, as of a legislative body. Nautical : a ship's log.
• An accounting book of original entry in a double-entry system listing all transactions and indicating the accounts.
• A periodical presenting articles on a particular subject.
• A serious magazine for professionals like the British Medical Journal. [...]

This is an excerpt from the book: Mirror, Lens and Window: A Workbook on Journaling for Namibian Teachers in Training, by Dorian Haarhoff.

Title: Mirror, Lens and Window
Subtitle: A Workbook on Journaling for Namibian Teachers in Training
Author: Dorian Haarhoff
Publisher: Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Switzerland, Baslel 2014
Namibia Resource Centre & Southern Africa Library
ISBN 9783905758351 / ISBN 978-3-905758-35-1
Softcover, 17 x 24 cm, 132 pages