On Being Present with Learners and the Deeper Lessons from Acting

Abstract

I was reminded recently while preparing materials for an upcoming course of how much my own style and approach to the classroom has changed in the 10 years since I began as a faculty member. Fresh out of residency training and new in my teaching role, the sense of excitement I felt in sharing my clinical knowledge with new learners often overpowered my memory of being a novice learner and feeling overwhelmed and frightened of all that I did not know. As a result, my first years of teaching were packed full of information with less concern about how I engaged with students and residents during the learning process itself. While teaching, I also found myself lost in worrying about how the class was perceiving the lesson and fixating on any errors I made in preparing or delivering the materials that I could address for future offerings. These distractions were in addition to the normal intersection of priorities related to starting a new faculty position including responsibilities at my practice site, service to various organizations, and experiential teaching.