OTA 1210 OT Prof Issues I

Stacy Forden

4/10/2024

Reflection for OTA awareness

For the OTA awareness assignment, the school we chose to visit was East High School, located at 840 S 1300 E, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84102. I contacted Jim Dalton, an Anatomy teacher at the high school. He teaches two anatomy classes on Wednesdays, one that is more basic and another tailored for students interested in the medical field. He requested us to teach both classes, so we spent a total of two and a half hours at the school on February 28th. Each class had about 25 students. The team that accompanied me for teaching included Kevin, Adylee, and Amy. The topics we covered were: What is occupational therapy? How do you get into school? What is needed? Where can you work? How much can you make? We also introduced adaptive devices we brought and encouraged students to ask questions about them. The students in the first class seemed less engaged compared to those in the second class.

The second class was highly interested and asked numerous questions about the program and the career. They inquired about how certain devices worked and even participated in a relay race to see how fast they could put pants on with precautions and a Reacher. Overall, I felt the presentation went well, although sometimes students asked questions that led us off the PowerPoint topic before we could finish. Sticking strictly to the PowerPoint didn't always happen. We also used candy and stickers to motivate students to participate and ask questions, which proved very helpful and enjoyable for the students.

Initially, I was quite apprehensive about presenting at the high school. However, once we started, I found myself able to relax and answer the students' questions confidently because of my knowledge. Teaching at the school turned out to be a really positive experience for me. I particularly enjoyed being part of educating the kids about Occupational Therapy and seeing how excited some of them were!