Lori Brusoski

I knew or had heard about soft skills but I did not know much about Emotional Intellegence and how they are related. It is important for me to know how my or other people's emotions can influence the classroom. I like when the course points out that you want to control the emotions not the behavior in your classroom. Thanks for making me more aware of this!

At the end of each clinic session we have a huddle and review problems or concerns that might have come up that day. I always end the huddle by asking, "Is there any more questions?" or "Does anyone have anything they learned today to share?" I already have something I want to share so I appreciate being reminded of silent time before I talk to give my students time to answer. Sometimes I feel like I have to cover all my material when we can learn more through our students answers and sharing!

Some of my "book smart" or written learning style students have difficulty applying what they have learned in the classroom to the clinic setting. The clinic is more "hands on" or Kinesthetic learning. Do you have any advice to help the written learners to be more successful in the clinic setting?

We have clinic competencies already in place and you are right their competencies do reflect how well they are doing in clinic.

I teach at an accelerated program so we have long class times. Our classes run 3-4 hours. It was interesting to learn that the average attention span for an adult was 15-18 minutes. I will pay attention to that when we have long class times and take some of your advice on the mini lectures. Thanks!

It is always hard to come into a new institution to teach no matter how much experience you have. I try to be prepared for clinics and learn the protocol for the new school but it still takes time to build up trust in your students and faculty. It is also hard not to compare the different institutions I have taught at.

I teach in a clinic setting and students are more worried about what grade they will receive than what they have learned in the process. Is there any way to get them to focus on learning and not on their grades?