Blog 7

I’m kind of frustrated! This whole class is geared towards becoming a classroom teacher, but no one has ever asked me if I really want to become one. As I pointed out in my teaching philosophy, I’m dedicated to my students’ learning and enjoy passing on my knowledge to them. But just because I’m a TA doesn’t necessarily mean that I want to spend the rest of my professional career in a classroom. My goal is to become an ACSM certified clinical exercise specialist and combine it with my knowledge as a physical therapist.

I have to admit though, that being a therapist also involves being a teacher. Many tasks that are expected from a classroom teacher are also required from a therapist. For instance, I’ll have to identify short-term and long-term goals, prepare therapy lessons, and come up with a test to assess my patients’ progress. Thus, writing learning objectives and SMART goals as well as the lecture about how to assess student learning were not lost. Furthermore, effective time management and involving the patients in their healing process are as important in the health setting as they are in the classroom. Hence, the strategies for time management (i.e. using a daily time sheet) and organizing a classroom are of great value to me. Finally, as a visual learner, I always assumed that most patients learn the activities from my demonstrations and hands-on help. Well, the learning style activities in this class clearly taught me that some individuals may benefit from additional, written explanations. Other activities such effective grading, improvement of student writing and reading, and peer teaching observations may improve my performance as a TA; however, I don’t see much relevance for my future work as a therapist.