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"If we are truly effective teachers, then we are creating autonomous, independent, and self-directed learners."
"If we are truly effective teachers, then we are creating autonomous, independent, and self-directed learners."
- Robert John Meehan
- Robert John Meehan
Who Am I as an Educator?
Who Am I as an Educator?
As an educator, I seek to foster a collaborative, comfortable, individualized, and accessible environment to maximize not only the efficacy of the content I’m conveying, but the experience of the learners. I aim to create a learning experience that will increase the likelihood of my learners to truly absorb the knowledge I’m teaching, and apply it to their occupations. I employ an engaged and inviting therapeutic use of self, appropriately utilizing tools such as humor and self-disclosure to fortify my teaching in a personal way. I believe that the best learning experiences I have ever engaged in have been those where I could tell that the instructor truly put their heart into their teaching and prioritized the values of their learners, and I strive to do the same.
Effective Teaching
Effective Teaching
I believe a solid understanding of the learners as individuals is at the core of effective teaching. Individual learning styles, communication preferences, access needs, and existing knowledge are among the most critical components to meeting the learner where they are at, as well as giving them the best opportunity to meaningfully connect with the content. As a result, this gives the learners the best chance to be able to hold on to the knowledge they gain from the learning experience, and integrate it into their occupational life. I do not believe any education session can be autonomous without learning objectives, teaching materials, and teaching methods rooted in a preliminary assessment of the learner’s needs and preferences.
OT as Educator
OT as Educator
When considering how to approach education within the scope of OT practice, I believe that autonomy and shared power are the necessary foundation upon which an effective learning experience can be built. Client-centeredness is integral to therapeutic relationships, and it is my belief that equitable collaboration is the best way to approach therapeutic intervention and education alike. The client is their own expert, and as such, unwarranted advising cannot go as far as creating a collaborative learning space that empowers the learner to expand their knowledge in the ways they find meaningful. Being occupation-centered and person-centered can allow the learner to be able to take away only what they want, need, or will actually use.
For example, let’s say I was a school-based OT being brought in by a colleague to lead an education session on test-taking strategies for a small group of students. Before we even meet, I can send out a needs assessment inquiring about the students’ strengths, barriers, current testing strategies, and learning preferences. From this needs assessment, I can tailor my session to be predominantly visual and auditory-based, incorporate videos and group discussion, target testing anxiety specifically, and not discuss time management all to align with the learner’s indicated needs, preferences, and foundational knowledge. This would increase their likelihood to fully engage in the session, find it meaningful, and apply the knowledge they learn to their future experiences with test-taking far more than they would from a pre-made lecture or a list of general "tips" for test-taking.
This slide deck is an example of a hour-long teaching session developed by my OT student classmates Megan Griffith, Sienna Guzman, and myself as a team teaching assignment for our OT 5104 course. We developed this session to inform a class of Education students on behavior modification from an occupational therapy perspective. This session was a carefully curated resource based upon a thorough needs assessment of the learners and interview with the course instructor regarding the learner's needs, preferences, expectations, and existing knowledge. Over the course of several weeks, our OT classmates and professor helped us refine an education session that was enthusiastically received by the audience, and serves as an example of the person-centered educational resources we are capable of producing as future OTs.
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