How to list non-standard forms of 'teaching'?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader writes:

I have a question about how to categorize a type of teaching that occurs outside the classroom. I have a student who wants to study a particular text with me outside of class, and I am going to guide them through the text and teach it to them. It will be a semester long project, and I have taken it on. It's not quite a reading group, and obviously not a course. Is this worth putting on a CV? How should it be categorized?

A postdoc submitted the following reply:

It might be too late in the semester bureaucratically (or maybe this isn't something your university allows), but I would look into whether you can get it registered as an independent study course. This is what I'm doing with an undergrad this semester: we're meeting regularly about a text, and he'll write a paper at the end of the semester. I think this can be an attractive option for students, because it'll count for course credit and be a place where they can do some independent thinking and writing without it being a thesis-level project. If you were reading texts on, say, Buddhist ethics, you could list it as "Buddhist Ethics (Independent Study Course)" along with your other courses for Fall 2021. I don't think making it an independent study course would be more work than what you're doing already; you can decide how long the final paper would need to be and you'd have to grade that, but the readings and discussion are the largest part of it.

But the OP responded:

I can't actually do an independent study at this point in the semester, and we wanted to start right away. So if that's not an option, is there any way to describe and categorize such teaching on a CV?

Good question. I think the thing to do here may be to list it under Service, specifically (assuming the OP has other service) under a sub-heading Student Engagement and Mentoring. Here's why. My sense is that one should normally only list under 'Teaching' courses that one has formally taught. All additional stuff outside of the classroom doesn't seem to fall under teaching, per se. Rather, in this case, one is taking the time to do philosophy with a student (i.e. reading and understanding a text outside of formal teaching duties), and it's a case where you are going well beyond formal teaching and mentoring a student directly. So, 'Service / Student Engagement and Mentoring' seems to me more appropriate. But, maybe I'm wrong about this. What do you all think?

Comments

[Tim]

I agree with Marcus' proposal. Consider an analogy. PhD supervisors normally (though not always) work closely with their students, teaching them. But such work is not normally listed under 'Teaching' or 'Courses Taught,' but in a separate category. I think the same thing would apply here. Some category under Service/Outreach would seem most natural.

[from here]

I think when people are led to ask these questions they are beginning to lose sight of the forest for the twigs. First, it strikes me as a case of mentioning the scout badges you earned. It is so relatively unimportant that it will never have any impact on you getting a job. And in fact, drawing a lot of attention to something relatively small will make it look like you either do not know what you are doing, or you are trying to make something very small look big. Second, focus attention in your teaching part of your cv on your formal in-class teaching. That is what most institutions want to see. Because that is what they are going to ask you to do, if you are hired.

[anon anon anon]

Agree with "from here", except just want to point out that you want a way for your own institution to be tracking this, because it may well matter if you have merit or yearly reviews, etc. So, I'd put it on an "internal" cv (if that's the way you communicate what you've done each year to your admin/chair), or mention it in an internal review, but it seems unnecessary to hand-wring about where to put it on an external-facing cv. (Though, I don't think it will actually hurt you to enter it as a very short entry in your service section as others suggest. I just don't think there's much of a point of doing so, and I suppose there is some chance someone will find it annoying, especially if your cv is not full of other service/teaching.)