A letter to me, from me

I have been blessed to learn from teachers who not only teach their subject well, but also know how to teach others how to teach. Because some of my mentors have encouraged me to consider a career in education, and I have always enjoyed helping others learn, I hope to continue teaching in some form for the rest of my life. As a student and tutor, I have a unique perspective on the world of teaching, so I drew up this letter to myself lest I forget in the future what I am learning and observing now. As I get older, I hope I will continue to grow and adjust my ideas for the better, but here’s a starting point. A huge thanks to all the teachers in my life who have been great examples of how to teach!

Sincerely, Your teenage self.

Dear Katherine,

I’m not sure what you’re doing now that you’re in your 30s or 40s, but perhaps you’re involved with helping others learn, whether teaching in a formal classroom setting or helping new nurses get oriented to their jobs. However, I hope you remember some of the qualities you appreciated in your teachers when you were younger! Your best teachers had many of the following characteristics in common, and I hope you become like them. How so? Well, I think you should …

1) Be interested.

To be a good teacher, you must be interested in and passionate about your subject. Most young teachers have this interest, but, sometimes, older teachers forget how enthralling their field of expertise is. It is not difficult to stay interested in nearly any subject if you want to be interested and if you keep learning about it, so ...

2) Keep learning.

Continually graze on information related to your field of study, whether by reading journals, conducting research, or attending seminars. Not only will this help you converse with co-workers, it will also give you a more colorful palette with which to paint lessons for your students. As you keep learning, you will reap new ideas to explain old concepts in more successful ways and will be able to flesh out your lectures with helpful details.

3) Teach them.

Despite how simplistic it may sound, this is your primary duty to your students. Some teachers do everything but teach; they show YouTube videos, berate students for needing to be taught, or turn the class into “group discussion” time. Few students feel that these activities, when unguided, teach them better than an intelligent professor can. Lecturing is a perfectly acceptable format for class and can often be the most efficient way to teach.

4) Like them.

Teachers who like their students and want them to succeed will enjoy teaching and have more compliant students. It can be difficult to strike the perfect balance between being distant and becoming too familiar with students, but it is well worth the effort. Students will perform better and recommend you to others if you truly and kindly care about them.

5) Accept criticism.

No teacher is perfect, so be willing to accept criticism and continue honing your skills. Peers have good advice, but so do students. It can be tricky to tactfully obtain criticism from your students, but end-of-semester surveys are a good place to start. Take “A” students’ critiques especially seriously.

6) Give them the answers.

Good students will love you and become better students if you give them the answers to questions whenever possible. These answers may be available directly from you, from the text, or from guidelines, but make sure they are readily accessible for diligent students. Also, talk over test questions after the fact, as this can efficiently show students their weak spots.

7) Don’t bash memorization.

True learning involves conceptual understanding and memorization. If one “gets” a concept, but doesn’t memorize enough about it to recall it when necessary, nothing has been achieved. So, encourage students to couple their understanding with memorization.

8) Be honest.

If you make a mistake, admit it. Your students will admire you all the more for demonstrating moral fiber. In the same vein, be honest and brave enough to tell your students when their work is stellar and when it is sorely lacking—not just one or the other.

9) Be clear.

You will save yourself time if you are very lucid and straightforward in both your organization and communication. Be clear when describing assignments and also when presenting information. Rubrics are a fabulous way to communicate with your students! By all means, avoid describing assignments with such statements such as, “As long as you put effort into this and demonstrate creativity, you’ll do fine!” Such remarks throw the best of students into a confused frenzy.

10) Choose your battles.

Do not expect perfection from your students. If you want to make attendance key in your class, feel free to emphasize it, but don’t also try to stop all Internet access, ban used textbooks, and throw the full weight of the class grade on two tests. Make the class difficult in one or two ways, not 100! Decide what areas you wish to prioritize in your class and emphasize those. The best teachers tend to set priority on academic performance and not care too much about class attendance or Internet usage, knowing those who truly want good grades will self-regulate their attendance and attention span to fit their learning needs.

Sincerely,

Your teenage self

P.S. Remember your first nursing schoolteacher, Mrs. Sump? Her class was challenging and sometimes nerve-wracking, but she was so approachable and patient that everyone loved it. Remember her when you forget what to aim for!

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.

School is starting, and I can't wait!

What a wonderful summer!

I was blessed with many opportunities and experienced much more than I had expected. After traveling to a wedding in Georgia and visiting friends in Maine, I settled down at home to master my summer microbiology class. Guided by an organized, competent teacher, I found the class challenging, but not overwhelming. The subject matter (especially in lab) was far more fascinating than I had expected. Molten agar, orange mold, and flames—how much more exciting could it get?

While I was taking this class, several students from the summer anatomy and physiology class hired me as a tutor. It proved helpful for me, also, as teaching the information helped solidify difficult concepts in my own mind. Teaching receptive, interested people about the human body is thrilling. I love anatomy, and I love explaining it even more! The complexity and beauty of the human anatomy continue to boggle and amaze me.

After I completed the academic half of the summer, Camp Hope Haven, a local camp for underprivileged children, hired me as a lifeguard for four weeks. After spending the majority of the year indoors at a desk, I found the physical, outdoor work of helping kids learn to swim a helpful change. Working as a lifeguard and swimming instructor also gave me time to reflect on the past year and think about the coming one.

In doing so, I realized how much fear has been a part of my life. Last year, I was terrified of getting low grades the first semester, so I worked frantically and racked up as much extra credit as possible in every class. As a result, my relationships with friends lost priority. During spring semester, this continued, but once the summer began, I realized how unbalanced my perspective had been. My academic life was driven by fear instead of joy, so I frequently worried about school instead of enjoying it. After thinking about it this summer, I realized I could have enjoyed more time with people and still earned all As. This year, I want to be driven by joy and gratitude rather than fear. I need to ignore my inclinations toward fear and, instead, simply enjoy the material I am learning and relax enough to enjoy the people around me. Fear is incapacitating; joy and gratitude are empowering.

When I become a nurse, I think this attitude will be essential. Patients need someone who is confident and joyful enough to spend time caring for them on an emotional as well as physical level. If, because of fear, I focus only on the facts of physical care, the care I provide will not be holistic.

By reflecting on the past year and learning more about myself in the process, I hope to be better prepared for the coming semester, which starts officially this Saturday. I am so excited to officially begin nursing classes and to interact more with the nursing faculty at Old Dominion University! My textbooks arrived a few days ago, and I got ridiculously distracted reading about how to change the collar on a tracheostomy patient. I can’t wait to wear my ODU nursing polo, tote my books to class, and start learning!

My textbooks arrived a few days ago!

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.

Me, a nurse?

When I was 6 or 7, I asked my mother, “What should I be when I grow up?” My mother thought a little and then replied, “Maybe you could be a nurse!”

Me, a nurse? Didn’t that mean carrying around lots of bottles and changing sheets all day? The idea seemed silly to me, so I didn’t seriously revisit it until two years ago, during my junior year of high school. By then, I understood more about nursing and my own interests, and the two seemed to mesh perfectly.

For practical reasons, a nursing career seems to fit my goals. Like most people, I would like a steady job that’s in high demand and provides decent pay, all of which nursing supposedly offers. Since a BSN usually requires four years of schooling, I hope to start my career without needing postgraduate education, thereby avoiding unnecessary debt. These mercenary reasons, however, are not my only incentive for going into nursing.

Nursing will be a good job for me because I love interacting with people. Also, I am a high-energy person who doesn’t mind busy schedules or standing all day. I have also noticed that I enjoy dealing with crises. As odd as it may sound, tackling a critical, surprising situation leaves me calm and focused. I hope that, as a nurse, I will respond the same way in an emergency situation!

Finally, nursing will give me the tools to do the overseas missions in which I hope, ultimately, to be involved. Based on how my parents and teachers perceive me, as well as my own perceptions, I think nursing—eventually midwifery—will be an ideal career.

A year ago, I was working wildly on academic applications, trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) to remember deadlines, comparing curricula, and visiting schools. The school I chose, Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, was not my first choice initially, because I had practically grown up on its campus and thought that, by living at home, I would get less of a “college experience.” As I began to research ODU’s nursing program, however, I learned that the school has a phenomenal pass rate for the NCLEX and, when given a tour of the educational facilities, I was amazed by the mock exam rooms, complex learning aids, and very friendly staff. Therefore, when ODU accepted me and offered financial aid, I was firmly convinced it was the right school and accepted the offer.

So today, I find myself a freshman at Old Dominion University, enrolled in the nursing program and eagerly awaiting a sophomore year of clinicals, microbiology, and more.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.