5 Reasons Why Students Hate Teachers

A first-aider, an origamist and a digital artist came together to explore the boundaries of their teaching skills. One gathered insights from the activity and came up with this.

1.  They make you realize how little you know.
The three didn’t realize they mastered something with facets too challenging for a beginner. Maybe some teachers fail to master something themselves – watering everything down for the beginner to grasp. 

2.  They see the good in you … as well as the bad.
They criticize. Teachers’ feedback is underrated, though – it’s your way to improvement! But they also give comments on the good, so you got that going for you, which is nice. 

3.  They influence you with the same level of passion they have for their craft.
You were indignant of how to fold something into a cravat, but seeing the sparkle in your teacher’s eyes while he teaches magically ignites passion in you – for the cravat. Passion – or the lack of it – is contagious!

4.  They take you out of your comfort zone.
Teaching involves presenting things that are new to the students, if you teach something they already know, what’s the point in teaching? 

5.  They eventually leave you on your own.
Teachers are people who were with you as you push your limits, and go beyond them. Little by little, they slowly step back until they’re gone. Leaving you that way may be the best way to instill in you the zeal to continue learning.

These are reasons that paradoxically also make students love teachers. 

They all knew what they’re doing – except when teaching. However, the amount of feedback they have given and have received means they have a lot of room for improvement. The values and strategies we learned are ones that carry-over to becoming physical therapists!

Entry 2

I thought the whole concept of three-way teaching was going to be an entirely new idea to me. In a way, I was right. Yes, we have given feedback countless times but it was the first time we’ll comment on how feedback was relayed.

Initially, I thought it was about giving complete feedback so our group mainly gave comments on how one could have pointed our more good and bad points. However, during the debriefing, I realized it was not only about completeness. There is actually a proper and effective way of giving feedback. In between comments for commending the correct things s/he did, it is also important to note down areas for improvement.  In this way, you could facilitate change while still encouraging them to continue doing the things they did right.

Aside from these, as a teacher, I also learned the importance of preparing well and making sure to set expectations for your learner. I have failed to do this for the activity so I had a very unstructured session. I ended up asking my learner to write and pronounce all letters correctly and sing the Arabic alphabet in order to familiarize her with the new knowledge I have introduced. I realized this actually defeated the purpose of the session since I bombarded her with instructions. It would've been better if I taught her the song first considering she did not have any knowledge of the alphabet; and as learning occurs, increase challenge appropriately (i.e. for next session, recognizing which letter is which).

All in all, it was a very introspective experience for me. This activity also confirmed the importance of knowing your learners and providing feedback in facilitating learning. Since teaching is integral in our profession, a PT should be competent in these aspects.

Teaching You, Teaching Me

3/19/15 – Today’s activity is called 3 Way Teaching. We were divided into groups of three and had to teach each other a new skill. Person A was to teach Person B a new skill while Person C watches. Person C will then give feedback to Person A about her/his teaching. Finally, Person B will give feedback to Person C's feedback. The cycle goes on until each member of the group has learned a new skill. It was a bit confusing at first but in the end it was fun and we learned a lot.

Although we are used to giving feedback to our classmates during laboratory sessions, this activity was a little different because it allowed us to do so in a much smaller setting. This helped us observe more closely and be more focused about what our classmate was teaching and how he/she was teaching it. The immediate feedback from my classmate helped me learn about things I did right and of ways I could have improved my teaching. The activity also helped me learn about better ways of giving feedback. Hearing an outsider's perspective will always be a good way to gain different insights about one's own teaching style and technique. This activity utilized that.

This session, I learned plenty more about teaching and giving feedback by hearing insights from both my classmates and my teachers. As a future PT, it is important for me to know how to individualize treatment. This concept of individualizing also applies to teaching. There are plenty of techniques one can use for teaching and many ways one can go about it but the most important thing will always be knowing your learner first.

Bite Size

A lot has already been said on how we can facilitate effective learning and that learning should be centered on the person being taught. But I can’t remember a session before where I have to give a feedback on giving a feedback. No, I haven’t even been taught of how to give a feedback alone. Not until our three-way learning session.

And now I’m thinking of a sandwich.

Bread. We were taught to give positive feedback first. Open with the positive things, or good points as we call it, the learner did and the other things that need to be reinforced and maintained during the teaching session.

Filling. Now you can spread your feedback with the points you think the learner needs to improve on. But be sure to always give this part of the feedback in a friendly tone, manner and language. This is to make the learner feel that you are not someone superior but is someone really concerned about how things could be improved. The learner remembers these reminders best this way.

Bread again. Now you need to close your feedback with what else, but another positive set. This is to make sure that the positive things he/she did is strongly reinforced and somehow give him/her a sense of efficacy.

But before giving the sandwich to your learner, take a bite first. Have a taste of it. Ask yourself: With this kind of feedback will my learner improve? Will this always remind my learner the things in which he/she needs to improve? Is this what he/she truly needs? Will this encourage him/her to do better and not make my learner feel upset? Lastly, put yourself in his/her position and ask yourself if indeed it was a good feedback. With this, you also get a feedback for yourself.

PT: Physical Therapists, Passionate Teachers

We had yet another interesting activity for PT 138 last Thursday, March 19. It was called “three-way teaching.” When I first saw it on the syllabus, I completely had no idea about it. All we were instructed to do was prepare a skill to teach.

                I have not yet decided on a skill to teach until about an hour before the activity so I have not made proper preparations on how I will teach the skill and what approach am I going to take. I decided on teaching how to write and read Hangul, the Korean alphabet. Honestly, I was not very confident about this since it has been a bit long since I last used it. It actually showed as I was teaching my peer. One of the feedback I got was that I was a bit unsure while I was teaching. Confidence that you fully know what you will teach is crucial not only so that you can relay the information/skill well but also so that you can devise as many strategies to make it easier for the learner. It will also gain you trust from the learner if he/she sees that you are really familiar with what you are teaching. In line with this, feedback, an essential component of effective teaching, is better given if you know exactly what to watch out for. Assessing the learner’s current level is also important so as to better craft your objectives and teaching approach. Stressing the salience of the information/skill in relation to the learner is key to fully engage him/her.

                As the course goes by, I realized that a teacher is not only one who teaches within the four corners of a classroom. As a child, I dreamt of becoming a teacher. Through this activity, I realized that in this profession, I am a teacher. Maybe just not in the way I imagined it, but nonetheless working towards the same goal – to share what I know and let that be of help to others.

Test Run

It was almost a week into the course, and we were asked to be teachers ourselves. Last Thursday we all taught a classmate a skill, learned a skill, gave feedback on a teacher, and gave feedback to a feedback giver. As for me, I taught how to do plank push-ups, and was taught how to write my name in Arabic. 

For my teaching experience, I had to teach a classmate who had quite week core muscles, which in itself made the activity more challenging than it already was. It was here that I saw how vital the role of a teacher is in ensuring that the activity is executed properly by the learner. It was very important to give clear instructions, provide proper visual, verbal, and tactile feedback, have demonstrations and return demonstrations, etc. But more than all of this, I've also seen that it is of utmost importance to always put your learner first- in terms of objectives of the session, their comfort and feedback during execution, and in the teaching approach and feedback mechanism. 

As for my learning experience, it was here that I saw how patience is definitely key to effective teaching. I had quite a difficult time learning the strokes at first, but my teacher patiently repeated the steps and made it easier for me to execute. This made me realize that this is something we would have to implement as we teach our patients, as they wouldn't be able to master tasks in one explanation. 

I think all of these are very important points that would be the foundation of the teaching we would be doing as we have internship and in our general practice. Hands on activities like these really show us how it is to be out there teaching, and it shows us how we can improve on the our teaching styles. It is also through this activity that we had a test run of our skills as a teacher, being able to note points that made the learning experience easier, points for improvement, and most of all, the feeling of being a teacher. 

In learning you will teach; and in teaching you will learn

                I taught my classmate how to braid the hair and in turn, another classmate taught me to tie a necktie. My learner had background knowledge on braiding and she wanted the activity so her eyes were all on me during my demonstration. I demonstrated the easier type of braid first then proceeded with a more challenging one. Then, we tried braiding at the same time, at the same pace. My learner kept up with me and got more familiar with the manipulation of the hair. Afterwards, she tried it herself without my guidance and made it.

                Knotting a tie was not a novel activity for me but I wanted to learn different ways of doing it. At first I watched my teacher but because there was only one tie, we cannot do it at the same time. She guided me with the steps all throughout the activity and removed the feedback and assistance to assess my learning. She challenged me by tying with a faster pace, in front of a mirror, and tying on another person and I did everything well.

                I realized the importance of background knowledge and familiarity because the teacher will just have to improve or alter the understanding of the learner. Willingness to learn will keep the attention of the learner on the activity. I also noted the significance of concise and straight-to-the-point instructions when my learner understood the steps in braiding when used her preferred language in a simple manner. Teaching a person for the first time is a matter of trial-and-error because the teacher is challenged to determine the most appropriate strategy that the learner finds easiest to comprehend. This augments the importance of knowing your learner in the first place.

The L3arning Experience

With groups of 3’s, we performed an activity where student A will teach a particular skill to student B and student C will give a feedback to student A, then student B will give a feedback to the feedback of student C. Definitely not as confusing as it may seem, the activity was a fun-filled learning experience for all of us.

As a teacher, I realized that the performance of the learner/client reflects how well you relay the instructions at the beginning of the session. It should be noted that you specify the main objective of the learning session in order to be more precise in achieving the learner/client’s goal. Demonstrations, visual, verbal and tactile cues should always be maximized to help facilitate learning. Also, it is important to remember that not all teaching strategy is applicable to all. Therefore, it would be better to know what strategy is the most appropriate in engaging the client.

As a learner, I appreciated the efforts and the strategy implemented by my teacher. With proper guidance and appropriate feedback, I was able to perform the activity much easier. I also realized that providing an activity which is interesting to the learner/client helped in building-up the learning process.

As a person who gave feedback, it is critical to point not only the good factors but also those that need improvement because it will augment development both to the teacher and the learner. By being an observer, I became aware about the connection that one must established in a teacher-learner relationship.

Being a teacher doesn't only mean being able to teach because it also requires being able to learn and grow as a learner. A quality that students like us must develop to be an effective health professional.

A strategy to connect

The activity for the afternoon was to teach something to a classmate and give feedback to another classmate’s teaching activity. I taught my friend how to write in Korean. It wasn’t much of a challenge because we are of the same age and she was a fast learner. In teaching, I realized that you constantly have to think of how to make things easier for your learner. Your learner must first be aware of the context of your topic and the goal of the session. I was teaching a language so I had to make a brief introduction about Korean so that she won’t be confused of fitting Korean into English.

Second you have to be keen and observant. Before proceeding with the next step assess your learner by asking if everything is clear and see if you are giving the right type of strategy. Then I saw the importance of relating yourself to the learner. Beginning with something familiar to the learner makes it easier to grasp the new concepts. I used association to make things easier to remember. I also used verbal reinforcement to let her know she is on the right track. Towards the end of the session, I quizzed her to see if we were able to attain our goal. 

Finally, giving feedback isn’t as easy as I thought. Today I learned about a trick called the sandwich method. Our professors have been doing it ever since, we just don’t notice its importance. The good thing about it is that you start and end with on a positive so that you close the session with a good feeling. There’s power in feedback. It has the ability to uplift the spirit and fuel motivation.

Teaching isn’t only something to be done for the sake of getting it done. I personally love teaching because there’s a sense of fulfillment every time I see that a person picked up something new from me. This will affect my future practice because it is a way to help someone fight a battle he/she has within.

Teaching in PT | 03.19.2015 | Teacher-ception

We did a three-way teaching for this class, and in a way it’s reminded me of Inception. The way one teaches gets critiqued, and you critique how the person critiques. Sort of a critique-ception. But it’s the nature of the subject, because we are taught how to teach. And indeed, that session was different from the way I taught skills to others before. I chose to teach how to write my student’s name (Francesca) in Arabic letters (the funny thing is, I can only read and write Arabic, but I don’t understand the language.) Since we are now more aware of some concepts in teaching, the session for me was more cognitive. I was now thinking or more aware of how to structure my teaching, how the student is learning, how I should adjust, what to look for in a teacher, etc.

I learned a couple of things about myself as a teacher. One of the striking ones was that (similar to how I study) I have to write things down for easier recall. It was important for me to have a pen and paper when I was observing my classmate to give feedback. Although, I think it would be handy to remember things without taking down notes, esp. in pediatric practice where you have little time to take notes while managing a kid.

Also, my lack of eye-contact has been brought to my attention. I don’t think I usually “not-look” at my classmates when talking to them. Perhaps I “forgot” to look at my student since I was concentrating on what to say during feedback. Then again, I think it’s an important “people-skill” I have to learn to be an effective teacher in future practice.

These are just some of the things I have learned for this class, and I’m sure that there are a lot more things to learn and more chances for introspection of me being a teacher, esp. in internship. 

Giving and Receiving

Giving feedback has always been one of the most important components of teaching. For this session, we were asked to teach our classmates and be taught on how we can improve our teaching. It didn't end there as giving feedback was also observed and given another feedback for improvements.

This activity opened us to the way our professors gave feedback in our class. It made me realized that feedback were not just random, uttered words given just to critique one’s performance, but they were structured and well-thought for the improvement of an individual. This made me reflect on my previous years in CAMP when sometimes I hesitated and didn't maximize the feedback given because of my arrogance. I honestly thought that some of the feedback didn't apply to me or they were just mistakes that I knew will never happen again. I also failed to consider the positive feedback given to me as I became more focused on the negative things.

Another lesson that I learned were the structuring of my lesson plan and the feedback that I will share to my peers. Preparing for the lesson should be done even if you know the skills by heart.  Performing the skill is very different from teaching it because you should consider your student’s way of learning. You should also evaluate what the students have learned in order to know if the session was helpful to them. Clear objectives should be discussed to have the right expectations for the students. And lastly, feedback should also be structured to FACILITATE and not hinder the learning process.

With this, I would be more open in accepting feedback in the future. I will also not hesitate to give feedback to my future students as it will be helpful to build them as a person. 

Freedom teacher

Initially, I planned to take lightheartedly movie thinking "there are tons of movies, what's so special about this one?". I was in for a surprise. The movie portrayed an accurate picture of struggle, within a neighborhood, between races, within a classroom, between individuals. The divisions were so distinct that one can trace an invisible line between each race. What struck me the most was how Erin, the teacher and leading lady, then blurred completely erased that one line.

After the film, we divided into small groups to reflect. Our group concluded that this movie integrated both teaching and Ethics. We identified the values ​​inherent to the teaching profession which are also characteristic of great physical therapists. Erin has most: compassion, perseverance, courage, flexibility, patience and more. We were also able to identify barriers to learning, some of which are ethical dilemmas. For example, the high school's administration was not supportive of Erin's innovative program therefore she broke the chain of command and approached the head of the integration program himself. Other noteworthy barriers would be the student's initial resistance to learning, the animosity between students and the different learning styles of the students. 

Erin employed a variety of strategies to transcend these barriers. First of which was modifying her lecture to suit the tastes of her students (eg rap). Erin, literature introduced her students can relate to (ie Anne Frank, one about a boy in a gang rampant community.  Apart from her job as a teacher, she also applied to two more jobs in order to fund field trips, these field trips included dinners with real Holocaust survivors. She also extinguished by making the line game, it made ​​the students realize that they share the same experiences, the same griefs. She gave them the freedom journals where they can express themselves without criticism. Near the end, it has become quite evident that the students themselves actively search learning opportunities. 

Teacher Erin Gruwell was once hated by her students, and in the end, they did not want to let her go. Astoundingly, this film is nonfiction. It gave us hope that we too, have become our own Teacher Gs. To be a good PT we must first learn to know and love ourselves since we face multiple obstacles in teaching. I found comfort in Ms. G's rationale as to why she stuck to teaching despite adversaries: she love it, she found her life's meaning in it. This lesson, I took to heart. I admit I am afloat without a destination but one thought keeps me strong and guides me: PT is more than me. It is more than my ambitions and wants. I am in a position where I can serve and create ripples that will change a microsector of society. In the future, whenever low to average grades break me, I will keep in mind Ms. G and her courage to break barriers for the good of her students. She is an inspiration.

PT: Pa-Teach pa more

Last Thursday, we did a three-way teaching. We taught each other, by three's, a new skill, gave each other feedback about the teaching of the skill, and the way of giving feedback itself.

In teaching my chosen skill, I was able to apply most of the things I learned from the previous activities last Monday like giving demonstrations and verbal instructions, and gradually lifting the cues off. However, I still have the tendency to say vague terms such as "sa may ano," "i-ano mo" and other variations of "ano." Having said that, I still need to improve my communication to be an effective teacher especially for the patients/clients who would have trouble in understanding. Also, in teaching, especially a psychomotor skill, it is important that you really know what you are teaching and that you, yourself, know how to do it. How can you teach others when you cannot teach yourself? Thus, it is important so you can provide demonstrations to the patients/clients and for them to trust you.

In giving feedback, I learned that we should not also be as vague as "okay naman" or "maganda naman." The feedback should emphasize on the good points that the learner should continue doing and on the points that could be improved on while being as constructive as possible. Also, there are considerations in giving feedback for the patient/client according to their frustration tolerance, age, etc. Giving feedback should not burn the learning down but ignite the desire of the learner to further it.

The whole activity was fun. Aside from learning a new skill, I was given a chance to teach a skill and I learned how to give a proper feedback. Personally, I am grateful that they are letting us experience stuff like this as experience is really the best teacher. Step by step, we are on our way to becoming effective teachers as part of becoming well-rounded physical therapists.

Three Way Teaching

Another day, another interesting activity. As a part of our Teaching in Physical Therapy class, we had an activity last Thursday in which each one of us experienced being a teacher, a learner, and an observer in three different scenarios. The teacher was asked to teach a skill that the learner does not know yet, the observer was assigned to provide feedback about how the teaching and learning experience took place, and the learner, aside from acquiring the skill, was in charge to give comments on how the observer gave feedback.

In our group, I taught a classmate how to do trunk bending or bending the trunk in extension until one reaches the floor with his/her hands. Then, I observed him teach another classmate how to organize earphone cords to keep them from getting tangled. Lastly, I was taught how to do a dance step where one steps and jumps sideways, places his/her feet together while in the air, and then lands on the floor with both feet.

The activity focused more on giving feedback. Giving feedback is an essential part of the teaching and learning experience. It makes the teaching and learning experience more effective. It lets the teacher know which things he/she need to continue doing and which areas he/she need to improve on and gives the learner an idea if he/she is doing the right procedure or not. Feedback helps us enhance our performance. As future physical therapists, this would be useful to us when we teach our clients different activities as part of their treatment sessions.  This would determine the effectiveness of what we teach them.

In conclusion, feedback, whether positive or negative, plays an important role in our growth and success in life. It makes us become better in our chosen profession.