Practice, practice

I’ve always played basketball and I was given an opportunity to share that skill with someone else. In our three way teaching session, I taught my classmate the proper form of dribbling a ball. I actually enjoyed doing this since I was able to share whatever I learned about it through years of experience in under 10 minutes.

When we switched roles and I was assigned to give feedback to the teacher. I was excited to do it. The teacher I was watching taught the psychomotor skill I just taught her. This made it easier to see the things she was doing right and the things she could improve on. I took down notes in when I gave feedback so I wouldn’t miss out on anything. This was really helpful.

I’ve learned several things today. One is that teaching is far easier if the client is interested in the matter at hand. This is why our professors always emphasize the importance of giving relevant rationale for everything we do. Another is that, feedback is important. We should sandwich our criticisms, put the things to improve on between the good points, and make them sound encouraging enough as to not be offensive.

This was not our first teaching experience. We have been teaching simulated patients through our courses in our last two semesters. That, and this session, was a step toward becoming effective professionals in the future. With the feedback we have given and received, we aim to improve and perfect our methods in performing.

Practice makes perfect. It can’t take one session of teaching and giving feedback to perfect a skill. Continuous practice will provide us with continuous learnings. This is something we should always keep in mind.