Personal Portfolio: Pam Foster: Case Study
Pam Foster 2011
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Personal Portfolio: Pam Foster How my teaching evolved. This portfolio is a construct of influences and changes that I experienced through my journey to become a teacher. My first conscious experience of teaching was orientating new staff employed in my area. I usually received positive feedback from people, saying that I could explain things well, and demonstrated a thorough knowledge. At other times people found me a little intimidating as I did set a high standard. It is my personal philosophy that the better you understand the theory behind an action the more likely you are to make the right decisions. While I had the clinical knowledge I lacked the knowledge derived through scholarship. To …show more content…
This developed their research skills, encouraged self directed learning and provided education to other students. Feedback from the students supported this approach as they felt they had a better understanding of the influences behind their decision making.
As a final example of teaching I relate an experience that was professionally dubious as I had to work with students outside my legal scope of practice (I am not certified to work in mental health). However from a learning perspective it was a perfect platform to separate students from the compulsion to complete tasks and begin to relate theory. It was a mental health paper but due to lack of mental health placements the students were placed in a general wards and expected to observe the mental health issues present in that population.
When I met with the students for supervision the mandate was not the physicality of their patient care, rather the mental health issues they observed. For example, the anxiety a Pam Foster 2011
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person may experience having to be in hospital with a life limiting condition. Once the students appreciated the direction of their learning they became enthusiastic. …show more content…
I place great value on the students’ understanding of why they do things and the development of their critical thinking skills. If I don’t ask them questions and critique their work to a high standard then they can become satisfied with mediocrity and not develop their skills as much as their potential will allow. A consistent comment from students I have worked with in the clinical environment is “you make us think”, or “we like you marking our work because you are hard but give us feedback”. Those are valid comments that confirm to me I am teaching effectively and I maintain my standard of what I expect a student to know. If we don’t encourage and motivate the students to do better and place challenges before them, they may not reach their potential. Where is the sense of achievement in passing, if everyone can and does, even those who clearly are not up to the task? Future goals
I have advanced as far as I want in my primary career of nursing and have now changed course to educate the next generation of nurses. Above I have reflected on my novice experiences of teaching and provided some examples. As to the future I have a number
1
Personal Portfolio: Pam Foster How my teaching evolved. This portfolio is a construct of influences and changes that I experienced through my journey to become a teacher. My first conscious experience of teaching was orientating new staff employed in my area. I usually received positive feedback from people, saying that I could explain things well, and demonstrated a thorough knowledge. At other times people found me a little intimidating as I did set a high standard. It is my personal philosophy that the better you understand the theory behind an action the more likely you are to make the right decisions. While I had the clinical knowledge I lacked the knowledge derived through scholarship. To …show more content…
This developed their research skills, encouraged self directed learning and provided education to other students. Feedback from the students supported this approach as they felt they had a better understanding of the influences behind their decision making.
As a final example of teaching I relate an experience that was professionally dubious as I had to work with students outside my legal scope of practice (I am not certified to work in mental health). However from a learning perspective it was a perfect platform to separate students from the compulsion to complete tasks and begin to relate theory. It was a mental health paper but due to lack of mental health placements the students were placed in a general wards and expected to observe the mental health issues present in that population.
When I met with the students for supervision the mandate was not the physicality of their patient care, rather the mental health issues they observed. For example, the anxiety a Pam Foster 2011
7
person may experience having to be in hospital with a life limiting condition. Once the students appreciated the direction of their learning they became enthusiastic. …show more content…
I place great value on the students’ understanding of why they do things and the development of their critical thinking skills. If I don’t ask them questions and critique their work to a high standard then they can become satisfied with mediocrity and not develop their skills as much as their potential will allow. A consistent comment from students I have worked with in the clinical environment is “you make us think”, or “we like you marking our work because you are hard but give us feedback”. Those are valid comments that confirm to me I am teaching effectively and I maintain my standard of what I expect a student to know. If we don’t encourage and motivate the students to do better and place challenges before them, they may not reach their potential. Where is the sense of achievement in passing, if everyone can and does, even those who clearly are not up to the task? Future goals
I have advanced as far as I want in my primary career of nursing and have now changed course to educate the next generation of nurses. Above I have reflected on my novice experiences of teaching and provided some examples. As to the future I have a number