From Students to Teachers

A lot of learning has transpired during our fieldwork last Friday. We were tasked to teach low back pain prevention and joint protection program to the CAMP support staff. It was a very challenging task to accomplish since we were all first-timers in this kind of activity. Before the said activity, a lot of preparation and long nights have passed. We scouted different references in order to provide accurate and effective information to our audience.

I think that we executed the task very well, with minor and as what our adviser has said, excusable flaws. We put much effort into making our lecture more fun and more relatable or understandable by translating the words into Filipino. It was indeed a challenge to relay information in this manner, for you cannot accurately and entirely translate these bits of information into a whole different language. However, I think we did well on this part because our audience understood well our discussion. Another good point, I must say, is the structure of our activity. We had a lot of demonstrations and return demonstrations, which I think tests how well and how much they have learned from our discussion. Our objectives have all been met with the structure of our activity, starting from the discussion to the demonstrations down to the game. Also, in our demonstrations we used tools they usually use in work like mops and brooms. I think it is good that we utilized these since these are usually what they use and proper handling of these would truly prevent stress on the different joints in the body.

However, I also think that there were bad points in our activity, and areas where we could have improved on or need to improve on. The rapport we built, or at least tried to build, at the start of the activity was not very established. We should have improved on this by asking their take on low back pain, and if they have already experienced it. Also, I think we could have improved on the environmental set-up. The tables and chairs limited the space which made our activities hard to execute. Also, some of our terms still cannot be fully expressed in Filipino, which has been a struggle for us. The feedback given to the return demonstrations would have also improved if we have done the exercises, and observed ourselves and our peers in doing the said exercises. Truly, it is hard to teach this new information to other people if you yourself do not know how these exercises are to be executed correctly.  The suggested exercises should have also been those which can be performed during work hours, not those that should be done only in supine, prone, etc. We should also have provided them with suggested schedule of exercise execution which will accomodate their own schedule.  

From that experience, I have learned a lot about how it is like to teach a group of people new information. It entails a lot of preparation and confidence to be executed smoothly. I thank all my groupmates for the intense preparation we have had, and for the confidence they have shared with me. In the future, I know this activity would help us all for it has imparted with us great lessons about teaching, patience, perseverance, and confidence in oneself.