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Mathematician or Educator?

A couple of weeks ago I was at an IMA organised Mathematics and Industry event at Rolls-Royce in Derby. One of the speakers posed the question “Are you a mathematician or educator?”. This has led me to think about where I stand on the related  “Mathematician or educator?” question.

Ultimately I would describe myself as a mathematician who teaches. Whilst I’m passionate about good teaching and teaching concepts in a way that everyone can understand I don’t feel that teaching defines my outlook on life. Whereas being a mathematician in some way seems to define how my brain works and how I look at the world. 

I think it is easy to forget the mathematician in the day-to-day world of teaching but I think I owe it to my students to let them see the mathematician side of me and not just the teacher side of me. 

I’m really interested to see what other maths teachers think, particularly those who didn’t do a maths degree. Please leave a comment or message on Twitter πŸ™‚ 

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