Monday, August 18, 2008

I'm Proud of My 'Kids'

I have a nice little cadre of students these days. They are young, bright, enthusiastic and at times a little anxious and intimidated. They are a wonderful group, and it's my job to figure out the best way to teach them what they need to know. They have a lot to learn and a limited amount of time to learn it in. Information is being thrown at them fast and furiously from several faculty sources. It's their job to catch it, retain it and somehow organize it for future use.


Eesh, I'm glad I'm not in their position anymore. It's tough.

People learn differently, and from year to year each group of students has their own preferences about teaching methods. Some want lectures, some want case conferences, and some just want to be left alone to read on their own. I find that we tend to cycle through these preferences on a regular basis, responding each year to the preferences of the previous years' students while hoping that some day the two years' preferences will match and all will be happy.

That's never going to happen, but I don't mind trying. I like the idea that some day years down the road I will have a group of folks whom I've helped propel along the professional path and whom someday I'll be pleased to call my colleague. It's the next best thing to having kids, without the driving lessons and diaper changes.

6 comments:

shraddha said...

And Phoebe's Golden Apple award 2008 for best teacher goes to
CLINKSHRINK!

Roy and Dinah also were very close to winning in the nominations list..but hey! only one person could get the award!

Phoebe

NeoNurseChic said...

I really would love to have you as a teacher! I bet your students are very proud of you, as well!

I'm hoping to go back to school in the Fall of 2009 or 2010 at the latest, and one can only hope that I will have such good teachers! :)

Take care,
Carrie :)

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, I am just entering secondary school education (first day of school here is Monday), and all educators or at least administers of schools here seems to be fixed on the concept of "Multiple Intelligences", Howard Gardner's concept of 8 "Intelligences". During job interviews I kept being asked, What will you do for the Kinesthetic learners?, the Musical learners? the Spacial or Intrapersonal learners? Would a 14 year-old Beethoven learn Earth Science better if I would encourage him to set the subject matter to music? Would Michael Jordan at 14 have learned Earth Science better if I had allowed him to do a skit (and thus move around) while on the topic of Earth Science? It does not matter that a study by Callahan, Tomlinson, Plucker (1997) found no gains using the "multiple intelligence approach. That is what we are supposed to do!

Anonymous said...

Um,I want to become a psychiatrist. Currently,I'm in high school doing A levels.

I really,really want to be a psychiatrist but it seems like there's a LOT to consider, like the time it takes for one to actually start practice as one(it takes about 9 years minimum,doesn't it?), money, and well,life itself.

Where I live, there are no med schools and you have to go abroad to study in the feild of medicine. That means I'll have to leave family and friends for a long time and it makes me scared that,by the time I come back, they would already have moved on. Its gonna be a long time and nobody can wait that long, can they?

I'm 16 now and I'll be nearly 30 by the time I finish studying and actually become a psychiatrist,from rough calculations. Its like..its like I have to choose between them: the life with friends and starting a family or becoming a psychiatrist.

I really want to help people,I really want to be someone that listens to their problems and help them but I just don't know what to choose. I'll finish my A levels by 2010 and I'll have to decide before that.

Sorta reminds me of the concept of opportunity cost we studied in 8th grade: Either my life with someone I love while doing a job I don't really like or pursuing the career of my dreams and giving up everything else..

I need advice.Please help me.

ClinkShrink said...

Dear Anonymous:

In fourteen years you'll be thirty years old regardless of what path you choose; people change and grow and grow apart and grow together inevitably in the course of life. Leaving family, growing away from old friends, meeting new friends, it's all part and parcel of what you will have to do as you get older. Leaving home to attend medical school does not mean that you are abandoning those you love. You will carry with you those who matter the most to you and you will preserve the relationships you want to preserve. Medical school really isn't the issue here.

Pursue the career of your dreams, knowing that no decision is absolute. You can always change your mind. There are always other options in life. But my guess is that if you do what you love then the rest of your life will follow.

Anonymous said...

Thanks :)You're the greatest. And you're absolutely right;nomatter where I am, those who really love me will always love me.