Doctors play significant roles as teachers by channelling the information and research they have conducted to other individuals to create a network of information (Barksby et al. 2015). A doctor has to perform teaching to be equipped in skills and attitudes to pass information and knowledge through education. There exist no predetermined or formal routes by which doctors can become qualified teachers (Barksby et al. 2015). For instance, a clinical teacher can probably end up being a teacher by acquiring extensive experience or seniority rather than through formal training. Currently, doctors are subject to immense pressure to develop advanced skills in treating patients, administration of health centres and teaching which is adding to their time constraints.
Demand for clinical experience, research, and teaching skills lead to an imbalance of the traits, with some clinical teachers propelled to the position with little training and experience (Young et al. 2014). In recent years, significant efforts have been seen aimed at developing and establishment of medical education units in the UK medical schools as well as the introduction of various medical teaching courses. Doctors are taking advantage of the growing opportunities in improving teaching skills in line with Continuous Professional Development guidelines (Harrits and Larsen 2016). The platform allows for an increase in the commissions for doctors training, interpersonal working and learning channels and preparing learners for future roles.
The most relied upon methodology in learning to teach as a doctor is through experience by actually teaching relative concepts. The following presentation is a reflective analysis following a micro-teach and a lesson conducted with the aim of assessing a doctor as a teacher according to Gibb’s reflection cycle (Barksby et al. 2015). The cycle enables analysis of what I did well during both sessions and what I could do better in the future. The process allows for us to learn and develop our learning skills on an assessment of the results and feelings to handle the more critical issue in the teaching process. The Gibbs reflective cycle entails six steps that begins with a description of the teaching, exploration of the feelings, valuation, analysis, drawing of conclusions and an action plan (Barksby et al. 2015).
I first delivered a 10 minute micro-teach to a group of 6 students. I planned to teach how to fold a t-shirt in 3 seconds. The setting was informal and took place in a small room where we all sat in a circle. After introducing myself and the topic, I followed the structure I had planned for the 10 minutes. First I spent a couple of minutes demonstrating the technique and invited the participants to share their queries. I informed them that there would be a knock-out style competition towards the end of the session where they will be competing head to head to see who could correctly fold 3 shirts the fastest with a prize for the winner. To make some space in the middle of the room, I asked the participants to push their chairs out and pair up and I then distributed a few t-shirts to allow them to practice the technique. Whilst they were practicing, I also observed and helped when I saw a participant struggling. When the competition took place, it was up to me to decide the winner and eventually the recipient of the prize. Afterwards, I received verbal as well as written feedback.
The topic of the teaching session was the Hypothalamic Pituitary Thyroid axis focusing critically on thyroid disorders. The session involved more than the previously delivered micro-teach by delivering more in-depth knowledge through practical and virtual presentation methods (Gregory, Hogg and Ker 2015). Whilst preparing for the session, we considered the critical questions of who?, where?, when?, how? and why? (Barksby et al. 2015). We would be delivering the session to 10 students in their third year in a classroom in the participants would be facing the board on which the PowerPoint was projected. My co-teacher and I conducted a test to ensure all the slides were proper for a fair presentation. The lesson took place as a sit-in session in one of the classrooms due to its duration requiring a stable setting that can facilitate concentration. The learning outcomes aimed at informing the students included a brief explanation of the anatomical structure of the pituitary, thyroid and the hypothalamus as well as their functions (Hall et al. 2014). The thyroid disorders resulting from hyper and hypofunctions were the topic emphasised to the learners. The learning process we utilised was based on brief learning outcomes to ensure ease of the learning process as well as reduce the chances of confusion or misunderstandings (Gregory, Hogg and Ker 2015). Also, multiple choice questions followed each slide to the emphasis of the maxims of every subtopic. Unfortunately, we’d missed the lesson advertisement deadline placed in the university’s internal webpage forcing us to make the advertisement ourselves through social media. Consequently, only 6 out of the targeted participate took place although it did not limit our scope. Before commencing the session, the students were assured of their anonymity and that their contribution and their response were not compulsory. A feedback form was first issued to them by my co-teacher allowing them to comment on the session. We used PowerPoint for the presentation, this also helped us to track time usage. The learning process began with the familiarisation of the members taking part then followed by the administration of the questions and the performance of facts concerning the topic. As the students discussed the answers to the multiple-choice questions, I observed and provided feedback on the concerns raised together with a summary of the session. The lesson was assigned an hour, and although we did sufficiently plan for the experience, it only took 45 minutes of the total scheduled 60 minutes, with ten students expected to take part.
Feelings
At the beginning of the micro-teach, I was initially uncertain of the first impression that I portrayed. A first impression influences the student’s first cognitive decisions and the perception of the entire session (Hall et al. 2014). I wanted to present the best in me during the first few introductory minutes. After introducing the topic, it pleased me to learn that the participants did not know the technique I was about to teach as I was apprehensive about whether my topic wouldn’t be new and engaging. It filled me with confidence when the students asked me questions about the technique such as whether it worked with long-sleeved shirts (see Appendix A) as they identified me as a source of information and that they were exploring the scope of the technique. I was glad to see that mentioning the competition had a visible effect on how engaged the participants were, e.g. they asked if they would have time to practice.
Before delivering the thyroid teaching session with my colleague, I was aware that failure to advertise sufficiently for the occasion would influence the turnout, and I was afraid that we might not receive any participates at all. My fear of unknown made wonder the sort of respondent would avail themselves and if they would meet the total number of 10 individuals we had targeted. I was also afraid that in case we have participants, they would be uncooperative or unhappy with our mode of teaching.
However, the icebreaker questions asked made me feel comfortable with the participants and made me feel at ease with them in developing and addressing the topic adequately. The tone with which the student answered the fun icebreaker questions assured me that we were on the right track since they also seemed at ease (Hall et al. 2014). At the beginning of the session, I also felt a little bit unsure of the relevance of the information I had concerning the topic and how much the student knew on the subject. I feared that my preparation had not been satisfactory consequently rendering my session demotivating or dull.
Sufficient research and seeking information that is sufficient on the topic influences the degree of involvement with the students. After presenting questions to assess the knowledge level of the students, I understood that my presentation was informing since it addressed advance concepts on the topic although in a simplified format easy for the student to understand. After introducing the topic, I felt that student was eager to know more about it from their expressions and it got me nervous worrying whether my presentation would offer satisfactory answers (Barksby et al. 2015). At a point in between the session, I felt that I was too hard on the students when one of them requested me to pause for a little bit. It made me feel uncomfortable for a moment since I had to deny the students proposal due to time constraints.
Evaluation
I chose the micro-teach topic because it is a practical skill and it would be useful in everyday life but when I introduced it to the group, I did not receive the level of interest I had expected. This could be due to the general obdurate attitude of the participants and upon reflection, I found that even I may have responded the same way. To my surprise, after demonstrating and allowing them to practice the skill, they seemed to enjoy the technique and connected easily within the group to what was taught. They also seemed thrilled at the opportunity to compete against one another and I learned that this contributed directly to their level of engagement.
During the thyroid lesson delivered by my colleague and I, we inquired about the student’s level of education as well as their comfort with the topic I had selected. The utilisation of the student response form facilitated the caption of the favourable aspects during the learning process (Sumantri et al. 2018). Through these processes, I ascertained their level of uncertainty and their engagement level to evaluate and identify potential issues requiring vital consideration. The icebreaking questions were answered well and with a sense of sincerity that enabled the course to thrive throughout the entire time. After introducing my topic and the attached objectives, I realised that the students had some necessary background information concerning the Hypothalamic Pituitary Thyroid axis making it easier to develop more knowledge on the same topic.
We were aware of the improvements suggested by students for learning sessions delivered by lecturers, majority of which we mitigated. Some of the issues we averted pertained to time management in the teaching session and emphasis on a crucial point (Tayler et al. 2015). I tried as much as possible to be time conscious to the extent of spending less time than scheduled. The resources we had helped us to clarify questions on the topic and the functions of the organs involved (Tayler et al. 2015). I handled aspects revolving around the theme sufficiently as per the response from the student in the lesson (see Appendix B).
However, we also faced some shortcomings during the session in the form of the delivery of the content by my colleague and I. As we delivered the content, we quickly realised that we had not planned which slides each of us would present and we had to decide as the slides came, making it hard to follow the continuity of the presentation of the key concepts in the topic (Tayler et al. 2015). The session ended successfully without any contradiction or inconveniences (Wachter 2016). The students confirmed to have understood and acquired new information concerning the topic apart from what they had learned before the administration of the session.
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