I first discovered my passion for teaching during my first year of college at Delaware Technical Community College, where I served as a Science tutor. The more I tutored students in basic Sciences like Mathematics, Biology, and Chemistry, I became more comfortable and confident about my knowledge in these Sciences. During my teaching, I realized not all my learners had grasped the concepts or understood certain theories, no matter how many times we reviewed them. I also observed some students did not always understand the concepts as much as they initially thought they did, and this peaked my interest in exploring different learning styles starting with myself.
During pharmacy school, I came to realize I was more of a visual learner. I had to organized therapeutic contents in graphs and tables to help me navigate various concepts. As I progressed, the course workload increased, the content got harder and visual learning alone fell short sometimes, so I had to explore other learning styles, such as, auditory and kinesthetic. I did better when I had applied all three study methods to challenging concepts. At first, it was difficult to transition into multiple studying techniques. I had mastered the use of my visual skills and it had always served me well, until right before pharmacy school, when it fell short.
My passion for teaching continued to grow as I explored different methods of teaching through organizational leadership, community outreach programs and mentorship. I learned how to teach via webinars and online podcasts. I also learned how to coach, provide and receive feedback. For me, I consider teaching a shared experience between the teacher and their learners. It is a relationship built on shared knowledge and the exchange of verified, peer-reviewed and reputable information. I always learn something new from every lesson I have taught so far.
Despite my passion for teaching and the energy I derive from my audience at the end of every lesson, I did not realize the technicalities of becoming a seasoned professor until after the completion of the Teaching Certificate Fall Seminar. The seminar gave me a true appreciation of the art and science of teaching. I also learned how to ask the right questions to gauge understanding, interpret and analyze the performance of an audience via evaluation. The seminar was also an opportunity to review Bloom's Taxonomy and practice SMART goals.
After the seminar, I had three main goals set up for the year; developing effective mentoring skills, interactive teaching with an emphasis on hands on learning, and effective patient counseling. Looking back on the past few months, I can say I am actively practicing two of my three goals (patient counseling and interactive teaching).
At my community pharmacy practice site, I have had the opportunity to complete various one-on-one patient counseling experiences and two of them resonate with me the most. One Saturday morning, I encountered a patient who had just been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes Mellitus and was put on insulin for the first time. During my counseling, I realized he was new to insulin and was stressed about his diagnosis. He was most concerned about his new regiment which required him to test his blood glucose levels twice a day. He mentioned that while the nurse had told him how to do this, he did not feel comfortable doing it. I invited him to the consultation area, sat down with him and performed a blood glucose check on him while walking him through each step with the use of motivational interviewing. Once I was done, I urged him to practice while I watched to see if he had a mastery of the process. Behold, my patient excelled in the teach-back test. I did not feel comfortable asking him for feedback on our lesson. I was under the impression that it was not necessary because he had a lot going on already and asking him to fill out a survey for me at the time would have appeared somewhat selfish.
My second patient was an 80 year old man who walked up to the pharmacy consultation desk with a couple of bottles of magnesium supplement. He asked me which brand was better for him and how they worked. My first thought was polypharmacy. I wondered what other medications he was on and any comorbidities I had to worry about. I walked him to the over the counter (OTC) section to help him pick out the right supplement. During our conversation, I realized he was already taking “ONE A Day for Men 65+”. This was a teaching opportunity. I picked up a pack of “One a Day” and explained to him it already contained magnesium and I encouraged him to continue his home regiment. I also applauded him for asking a question before starting new medication. My patient promised to share our lesson with his friend, who recommended the supplement he was initially trying to purchase.
In this scenario, I learned the importance of listening and asking the right questions in an open-ended manner. This technique helped me get valuable information from my patient despite the absence of his patient profile. I also learned how to speak up a little louder when talking with the elderly. The challenge I faced with my patient was lack of objective information as he was not a Walmart Pharmacy patient and this made me feel a little nervous about the patient counseling without knowing his background. I overcame that with communication and effective listening and I was very satisfied with the outcome. I will continue to practice motivational interviewing with each patient encounter.
Finally, I am still working on plans for mentoring. I am creating material for a medical mission trip and I hope to explore my advocacy and mentoring skilling during my teachings on the trip. I believe teaching will always be a science sculpted by the art of learning styles. I will always be a learner and a teacher. I am excited about my journey and thankful for the skills and tools afforded me by this program
As I wrap up this final reflection on my teaching experience for the past year, the most important lesson I have learned about teaching is that, it must not happen in traditional classroom setting and it can be informal but very effective. Participating in this TCP has been very eye opening and very humbling in many ways. I have had unplanned lessons and even written grant proposal. For me, this program was a way to track my consistency and ability to seek my experiences.
Being a community pharmacists, patient advocate and community outreach volunteer, I am always placed at unique positions to teach or mentor a different group. This program gave me a medium to practice my motivational interviewing techniques with patients, volunteers and healthcare providers. I have become better at approaching conflicts and even delegating task and assignments at work. This is because I constantly put myself in the place of my audience and I have become more aware of my communication style, body language and nonverbal cues.
In the beginning of my teachings, I always avoided putting my audience on the spot by asking them questions or making them participate in teachings. After feedback from my audience I have grown more comfortable with asking questions and seeking participation during lessons. I almost always try to incorporate an icebreaker, a scenario or a case study at the beginning of my teachings. Most of the time it can be as simple as knowledge check “Does anyone know someone that has diabetes?”. I learned that icebreakers and games used to promote interaction do no have to be complex.
For me, the Teaching Certificate Program has been a turning point, it made me discover my passion for non-traditional teaching and my strength in connecting with patients with ease. I have acquired valuable lessons from every experience and acquired flexibility in style when things do not go as planned. I also reaffirmed my passion for public health in this journey.
I have faced technical difficulties in online teachings that initially made me nervous, but I am happy to say that I got more comfortable and creative in cases of technical difficulties as I progressed in the program. The creation of my Youtube channel for teaching was the most fun experience, I enjoyed every activity I did and made valued the time I spent preparing. I am truly humbled by my personal and professional growth.I have also grown in interaction with my patients and I get asked by many technician what I always say to resolve conflict with angry customer every time that seems to work so well. My tip and constant reminder is to keep motivational interviewing in all patient interaction and incorporate emotional intelligence in my daily endeavors.
Finally, I realized that to be a great teacher, we must be willing to learn and unlearn at all times to ensure we are up to date and current always. The TCP was the right environment to learn, make errors, implement change and stay focus.