My Teaching Philosophy
My Approach
"By Teaching, We Learn"
Latin Proverb
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Throughout my academic and professional journey, I have had the opportunity to fill both the student and educator role in academic and medical settings. As an educator, I've worked with students and healthcare professionals, which adds a new dimension to developing curriculum. I have often held student and educator roles, simultaneously, which provides me with a unique viewpoint of the learning process, while motivating me to develop the necessary skills to be a better educator and a better learner.
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As my dietetic mentor, Professor Ashlee Linares-Gaffer, has before stated, the learning process is like the cooking process. I believe the "ingredients" are key to a successful end product; these variable factors include understanding the quality of starting materials, having a commitment to end product, developing an environment conducive to the learning or cooking process all contribute to a successful end product. To effectively use or prepare the "ingredients" requires understanding of individual abilities with a dedication to continuously improve one's own skills and competencies. In the education process, this may mean participating in leadership opportunities, gaining continuing education, staying up-to-date on evidenced-based research, as well as always increasing cultural competence and awareness. It is the ability to visualize the whole "recipe" from start to finish, working with the learners at their level, and knowing how to apply learned skills, that fosters a successful inclusive learning environment.
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I have always set the end goal of the education process to develop a sustainable, evolving, learning environment that provides learner-centered education. The learner should be able to apply the taught knowledge and skills to achieve their own goals (whether health or academic) and have the requisite knowledge understanding to synthesize new information. The educator should continuously seek opportunities to grow through continuing education, collaborating with colleagues, seeking input and feedback that is transformed into positive change. Combined this forms a a sustainable cycle of improvement that benefits the whole community.
As a Health Educator,
I am passionate about effectively developing health education resources and implementing nutrition programs that are easily accessible and easily understandable to the public and for the individual. Education provides the tools that allow patients to take an active role in their care, make informed decisions, and create sustainable lifestyle changes.
My goal for every patient, whether in a group or one-on-one session, is that through best nutrition counseling strategies I will provide patient-centered care. To achieve this, I use motivational interviewing so that the patient(s) will lead the discussion, understand their own motivations, and create realistic change goals.
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An inclusive environment is key to providing patient-centered care. It is important to elicit information with a non-judgement approach, not assume the patient's level of understanding, and make sure clinicians talk with the patient, not at them. I work to develop an open physical and social environment that all patients feel comfortable in. The key to developing an inclusive environment in the population I work with is to be culturally competent. This is essential for helping to guide patients through lifestyle and diet changes. I've worked to immerse myself in the culture and become well-versed in the spoken language and social language.
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The best mode for implementing teaching materials and activities is to make sure they are specific to the population I work with and available in different modes of learning styles (audio, audiovisual, and written). I comprehensively search for evidence-based information and materials that I can translate and personalize for the patient population I work with. I collaborate with primary care providers and physician specialists to ensure the quality of materials. I rigorously work to make sure that any lifestyle changes I teach about are
financially, socially, and culturally realistic for patients.
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In community classes, I have designed and/or use structured curriculum for different classes based on specialty area with clearly defined learning objectives that includes helping patients develop and evaluate their own goals. This way both the educator and learner participate in self-evaluation which leads to a continuous cycle of improvement. This information is accurately and promptly recorded in order to evaluate efficacy of session and help provide information to improve classes for both myself and the other health educator.
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I base my health education tenets on the EDUCATE model in health education.
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E: Enhance Comprehension and Retention
D: Deliver Patient-Centered Care
U: Understand the Learner
C: Communicate Clearly and Effectively
A: Address Health Literacy and Cultural Competence
T: Teaching Goals
E: Education Goals
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Reference: Marcus C. Strategies for improving the quality of verbal patient and family education: a review of the literature and creation of the EDUCATE model. Health Psychol Behav Med. 2014;2(1):482-495. doi:10.1080/21642850.2014.900450
As a Student Academic Instructor,
I work to help students understand complex material by helping them verbalize and synthesize the tools and habits they need to enhance and apply their learning. I develop the LEARN method which I effectively used for 3 years as a Supplemental Instruction Leader. I had the students link the material to the world (something that was personally relevant to the student), establish the main idea, associate the topic with a memory/learning aid, restate the main idea in their own words, and note any definitions or formulas important to remember.
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My goal is to take students from a baser level of subject comprehension and elevate it to a level that allows for student learning independence. This occurs when the student no longer needs the instructor to assist or guide them, because the student has gained learning strategies that allow them to find the necessary information for themselves or has attained the knowledge base to independently solve problems.
Whenever I develop teaching materials or coordinate instruction sessions, I always develop a list of objectives the materials or class should meet. I build the principles for resources or classes off teaching principles. This helps me to allow me to have a tangible plan for creating learner-center educational resources and measure their efficacy.
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I work to create an inclusive teaching environment in the academic setting by never assuming anything about the learner. Instead I work to find connections with my students, so I can better understand their goals, they can relate to me better and feel comfortable with asking for help or clarification. I've seen best results when students can relate information in classes to their identities, whether their professional goals or personal interests. I have them participate in self-evaluation, while I also self-evaluate how effective my developed resources or sessions were. I also help them connect the materials with their interests or goals, so that the material becomes relevant to them.
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In academic instruction, I have also effectively used the Socratic and Teach-Back Method as I help students progress through all 6 levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (in increasing order):
Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create.
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Reference:
Bloom's Taxonomy. Vanderbilt.edu. Published 2010. Accessed June 29, 2022.
https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/