Teaching is an all encompassing term. There are many ways in which teaching is part of my daily life. In the NICU one of the most important things we do is to educate parents. We, as nurses, have the responsibility to teach parents about the processes and care that we are doing, and its importance. Another important aspect of our teaching is educating parents on appropriate care and expectations as home-going nears. In the NICU, parents become accustom to not being able to perform all of the care that their child may need, so learning what to do for their child, once the baby does go home, is an imperative step. As a NICU nurse I educate parents about safe sleep, feeding techniques, feeding cues, and appropriate interactions with their baby.
Outside of clinical nursing experiences I have worked closely with Big Brothers Big Sisters for over 10 years. This mentorship program has made a big impact on my life and perspective of learning and teaching. Through my mentoring of children, I have experienced many different learning styles and barriers to learning. In this experience my perspective of teaching has expanded. I have learned, over the years, that you must first consider your student, or mentee, in order to be an effective influence or teacher.
In the summer of 2015 I was a camp counselor for a week at Flying Horse Farms camp. This is a non-profit camp where campers who have chronic medical illnesses can go for a week and experience camp, when their illnesses would have otherwise prevented them from going to camp. Working with these campers greatly impacted my teaching perspective. Similarly to my experience from working with Big Brothers Big Sisters, I understand that there are many factors impacting learners, and it’s important to alter teaching methods to best fit your leaner.