My current rotation is a bit of a change from pharmacy practice; I’m on a teaching rotation at the pharmacy school. It is interesting to see all the work that goes into each class behind the scenes. Even simple things, like labeling saline vials with lot numbers and expiration dates for vaccine injection practice, take time. Writing multiple-choice questions was more challenging than I expected. It took several minutes to come up with each well-balanced answer choice that wouldn’t give the answer away. I had the opportunity to teach SOAP notes to 2nd year students and review SOAP notes with 3rd year students. I was impressed to see how much more sophisticated the 3rd years’ notes were because they could apply more rotation experiences and clinical knowledge. I hope the students found the wisdom I shared about my SOAP note experiences beneficial.
One of the assignments for my teaching rotation was writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement. The statement is suppose to 'clarify one’s goals, guide one’s behavior, catalyze one’s scholarly dialogue about teaching, and organize one’s evaluation of one’s activity' (Goodyear and Allchin). It’s a documentation of a teacher’s values and beliefs about teaching to create a vision of the type of teacher he/she wants to be and how to accomplish that. It’s a work-in-progress to be regularly adapted and changed. Since many of us will become preceptors, teach classes, or teach coworkers in the near future, now is a good time to start thinking about teaching philosophies and what kind of teacher you want to be.
#APPE #teaching #PharmacyStudents #Rotations