03-16-15

People say that experience is the best teacher and I couldn't agree more because I got to learn a lot from last Monday's activities for the first day of our PT 138 class. In all honesty, I have not been really looking forward to this subject since being a teacher was not something that I have dreamed of becoming. Ever. Little did I know that by choosing to be a physical therapist, I have to learn how to teach effectively. I have to learn what it is like to be a teacher and a learner. The first activity that we had is the role-playing. Here we were given cases to which we had to role-play in front of the class. I found this activity very fun and interesting yet very challenging because our creativity in coming up with efficient appropriate teaching strategies for the clients was tested. I realized that there is really no 'combo meal' when it comes to therapy sessions. We have to take into consideration the characteristics of our clients first before deciding on the method of teaching to be used. I think this activity is very relevant to us since we will be dealing with a lot of these situations in the future. After the role-playing, our next task was to watch a video of us teaching a simulated patient then evaluate ourselves. Here I was able to realize that I still have a long way to go in improving my teaching skills. I became more aware of the things that I have done correctly and the things that I still have to work on. I think this just further enhanced our independence and self-directed learning. These are important so that we can stand on our own even if there is no one around to guide and correct us. Lastly, the yoga session gave me an idea on how to conduct group activities. Being a teacher means that you have to be able to handle a group and have good social skills. This can be of use in the future since the demands of teaching a client one on one is different from the demands of teaching a large number of clients. This activity also made me feel what it is like to be in the receiving end of the learning activity -- this will help me empathize with my future patients' feelings.