The influence of both good and bad education is prevalent throughout my professional career.  One of my clearest childhood memories is from my Kindergarten year.  The teacher asked us to draw a playground scene.  I carefully completed my drawing and was very proud.  After I finished this drawing, I brought it up to my teacher to show her my incredible work.  She looked at my paper and stated, “Lisa- the sky actually goes all the way to the ground.”  I felt crushed.  I had been so proud of this work, and it was not enough.  I know this teacher is a fantastic teacher who had to deal with students in their beginning classroom work.  However, at the time, I felt I couldn’t face her.

As I have continued through educational opportunities, I have observed the times I felt like I could fly and the times I felt inordinately grounded.  From the beginning of my academic career, I have enjoyed helping people experience success and understanding.  The experiences of mentors, both positive and negative, helped me understand the principles I most valued as an educator.  Some of these critical skills include interactive education, flexibility, timely and appropriate feedback, and mentorship.

Interactive education is essential for conceptual understanding.  During the times I have taught in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, the classes that involve class input and interaction have shown to result in the most concept comprehension in our nurses.  For example, I recently started teaching a cardiac blood flow lecture.  I provided the class with images of various cardiac defects.  During the presentation, participants traced blood flow for each defect.  Additionally, participants vocalized the consequences of altered blood flow and applied it at the bedside.  Participants enjoyed the opportunity to practice this skill and apply the knowledge obtained during their coursework. 

Flexibility is valuable in coursework.  During coursework, students come with various levels of experience and exposure.  Flexibility in content and classroom presentations allows for immediate adaptations to meet learning needs.  Recently, a new hire class on respiratory concepts presented unique challenges.  The students struggled with understanding ventilation strategies.  During the presentation, I stopped the PowerPoint and put a different emphasis on the material.  While this is not always an option in large classrooms, it is good to watch for class understanding and develop strategies to ensure the best learning environment.

Feedback is crucial to the development of nurses.  During the times I have mentored students and new nurses, I have continuously evaluated my success and failures while providing feedback.  I firmly believe that feedback, especially timely feedback, is essential to the development of nurses.  Feedback also helps new nurses develop clinical decision making and prioritization.  Recently, a student in my group struggled with some criticism provided by another faculty member.  While supporting the faculty member, I helped the student appreciate the value in the information and some strategies to handle hearing challenging information.

Mentorship is one of the essential roles of an educator.  While mentoring new students and nurses, I appreciated the additions it makes to their lives.  Creating new nurses and educators allows me to expand and increase the respect that nurses have in the community.  As I help teach and mentor these people, I add to the profession. 

Teaching is the most impactful and satisfying position I have held in my life.  It has been wonderful to help teach and develop a new generation of nurses.  I feel like my passion for education and teaching has allowed me to instill this into those I teach.  I want to continue and help grow new nurses for the remainder of my career.