Teaching Philosophy

Firstly, I believe in order for the medical student to maximally benefit from what the contemporary undergraduate medical education curriculum has to offer, the medical teacher must view herself / himself as the students' and the school’s greatest asset. To live up to such a lofty ideal, the medical teacher must consider teaching to be both a lifestyle and a profession; not merely a forty-hour-a-week job. The medical teacher's goals for her/his students encompasses much more than providing out-of-context facts to passive students. As professionals entrusted with the education of our future physicians, medical teachers must facilitate learning and growth in the student academically, personally, and professionally; all simultaneously and through modeling.

By providing a quality and up to date learning experience to each individual in one's classroom a medical teacher equips the student with the tools necessary for self-directed life-long learning, and success in clinical medicine, as well as tools for living a productive life. In order to accomplish these goals, I think it is important first to establish a mutually respectful and honest rapport with my students; a relationship in which communication is of the highest priority. Through this relationship, a fair and democratic learning environment, based on trust and caring, can be nurtured, making it possible to interact confidently and safely in a professional academic setting. Once this foundational student-teacher relationship has been established, I have already accomplished a major goal of the task at hand, namely, intellectual equality. In this milieu open and honest communication and trust can be established and put into practice. By the medical teacher demonstrating professional, compassionate and ethical behaviors in the classroom and expecting medical students to model such behaviors, the most important lesson has been delivered towards preparing them for ideal doctor-patient rapport and professional development into the future.

Secondly, I believe didactic learning must begin with curiosity, motivation and inspiration. Medical students deserve the medical teacher’s passion for the subject and medical academics as a whole. Teaching and learning become a simultaneous journey for both the teacher and students when the teacher's energy is activated by the student's genuine desire for learning; everyone is ready and willing to participate in an active learning process. To achieve active learning, however, a teacher must demonstrate enthusiasm and express confidence in the students' abilities to learn and be successful. I believe employing student centered methods of teaching drives students to take an active role in their own education,as student centered teaching methods foster intelligent inquiry, critical thinking, , problem solving skills and life-long learning.

Thirdly and foremost, I believe personal and professional growth is accomplished when a teacher adopts a mentoring role*. Displaying warmth and compassion shows students the teacher cares for them and is a empathetic, feeling human being. And one-on-one mentoring can be particularly effective, as it involves personal conversations about goals, and taking time to share ideas and experiences. To be a good mentor , a medical teacher must project enthusiasm, exhibit flexibility and confidence, set high expectations and demonstrate fairness and consistency. In doing so, students can see appropriate professional behaviors in real-time and begin to emulate these qualities as they mature in their educational and professional development.

Marc Imhotep Cray (07-15)

----------

*Those supporting, mentoring and role-modeling medical students and junior doctors may find the attached e-book useful.

Medical Mentoring: Supporting Students, Doctors in Training and General Practice

By David Jeffrey,The Royal College of General Practitioners, 2014.