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Teacher: Are you Still Jenny from the Block?
It's been said that to know where you're going, you must know where you've been. Maintaining a connection to the past serves as a reminder of who you were, of who you are. Our society spent countless hours glued to the television, mesmerized by Alex Haley's connection to his past in the miniseries Roots. Unraveling the past as the key to the present is common practice in our personal lives. What about in our professional lives? As nurse educators, do we maintain the connection to the past as we practice in the present? Do we remember what it was like when we were on the other side of the desk?
Nurse educators play a critical role in shaping the nursing profession (www.nursesource.org). Educated and clinically sound, we prepare students for the roles they will assume upon program completion. Serving as role models, nurse educators set the tone for the future. We are actively engaged in curriculum design, program development, and outcome evaluation (www.nln.org). Balancing teaching, scholarly, and leadership roles, we strive for excellence in the classroom and clinical area. We strive for excellence for our students, for ourselves.
Integral to this role is the interpersonal relationship with the student. This teacher-student relationship is supported by personal learning styles and strengths. In presenting content, we incorporate a variety of teaching strategies by focusing on the domains of learning. Identified by Bloom (1956) the three domains of learning are cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. Thought processes and intellectual abilities are identified in the cognitive domain; the psychomotor domain targets skills performance. These domains are emphasized and reinforced through lecture, discussion, demonstration, and return demonstration.
Characterizing the emotional arena and humanistic side of learning brings to mind the affective domain. Encompassing feelings, beliefs, attitudes, and values, the affective domain incorporates the human emotional response to learning. Strategies such as one to one or group discussion, role-playing, and modeling target the affective domain. Serving as a role model, the nurse educator encourages active learner participation in a safe, non-threatening environment, while encouraging self-reflection of beliefs and emotions. While feelings may be addressed in the clinical area as we care for our clients, it is not often "the flavor of the day" in the classroom, and may be overlooked as the nurse educator strives to meet course objectives.
It is precisely these feelings, beliefs, attitudes, and values, however that shape the learning experience. Not only what is brought to the classroom by the student, but what is exchanged with the teacher throughout the learning process. The ability to focus on the affective domain of learning may depend upon the nurse educator's ability to reconnect with past experiences as the student, and the desire to reveal it in the classroom. Nursing students have a need to feel a connection with their teacher. By sharing their memory of life in the role of student, the nurse educator may facilitate socialization to the role of the registered professional nurse. The caring role of the registered nurse is exemplified by the nurse educator who demonstrates a willingness to connect the dots between the past and the present.
It may be said that no one can truly relate to life as a nursing student unless it has been experienced firsthand. While families and friends may be supportive, they cannot truly understand how it feels to sit in those chairs day after day. The lived experience of life as the nursing student must be just that: lived. The transition from layperson to professional nurse is a stressful, taxing path that often tears at the soul as it drains the mind. As nurse educators, have we forgotten just how difficult this whole process was, or rather have we voluntarily tucked it away into the recesses of our mind.
The art of reflection, a conscious analysis of what one has done, may be the missing link in nursing education. It is not the focus of curriculum design or outcome evaluation. Introducing a self-reflective process in the classroom is not central to successful program completion. Reflecting on past experiences as the student, supports reminiscence of the learning process in the present. It allows us to delve into our past experiences and bring to the forefront the feelings, beliefs, attitudes, and values we experienced when in that role. We have all gone through what our students are now experiencing. Been there, done that! It is precisely this connection, this common thread that should be brought into the classroom. As nurse educators, we should share this piece of ourselves in an attempt to make personal the process of becoming a registered professional nurse. It serves to humble us.
Contributing to the personal growth of nurse educators, self-reflection therefore, supports learning effectiveness (Cole, Barker, Kolodner, Williamson, Wright, Kern, 2004). Identification of the commonality between teacher and learner bridges the gap. Tapping into our personal experiences makes us real. It supports humanistic teaching and facilitates student empowerment. One cannot arrive at point B without going through point A. We must remain mindful of this fact, and bring this piece into the classroom if we are to be effective educators. Staying focused in the present by remembering the past, never forgetting where we have come from supports who we are as nurses and as educators.As nurse educators, can we say that we are still Jenny from the block?
References
Bloom, B.S. (Ed.). (1956). Taxonomy of education objectives. Book 1, cognitive domain. New York: Longman
Cole K.A., Barker L.R., Kolodner K., Williamson P., Wright S.M., Kern D.E.(2004) Faculty development in teaching skills: An intensive longitudinal model. Academic Medicine, May 79 (5) 469-480
Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 3/11/05. http://www.nursesource.org/nurse_educator.html
Position Statement: The Preparation of Nurse Educators. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 3/11/05. http://www.nln.org/aboutnln/PositionSTatements/prepofnursed02.htm
MaryAnn Edelman, MS, CNS, RN is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nursing at Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, New York. My area of expertise is in Adult Health: Diabetes Education. Currently, I am teaching Nursing Fundamentals, and Medical- Dosage Calculations. These courses target first level nursing students in a program of study as preparation for licensure as a registered professional nurse.
Contact Ms. Edelman at momed38@aol.com
©April 2005 New Horizons for Learning
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