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ffemt101986

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I am a relatively new instructor and am getting ready to start teaching an EMT basic class. I am looking for advise from current instructors and students on how to set myself aside from others and get away from the current trend in my area. EMT's are being simply mass produced and taught how to pass a test. My goal is to be a quality, well respected instructor that drives home the important stuff and keeps the class interesting and interactive. Any advise is welcome.
 
Not to be that guy, but improve your spelling grammar. Your credibility will take a huge hit if your handouts and presentations are poorly spelled, worded, or formatted. "Advise" is not the same as "advice."

Additionally, have high standards. Do not stand for petty excuses on why students are unable to pass assessments. If the student does not meet the standard, offer remediation and make the student work to learn the material to the standard. Don't have low testing standards. I would like to see an 80 as the minimum score on tests. That will make it much more difficult for many students to skate by. Some still might be able to, but it's a start. That was the standard in my program and forced people to actively learn material that may otherwise have not.

Integrate skills time and the didactic portion, which will hopefully assist students in the "why" aspect of why an intervention is performed.

There is nothing wrong with using examples of your own calls to help teach. But class is not the venue to spend hours reeling off your personal highlight reel to an often captive audience. If you think it helps illustrate a point, go ahead. It's my opinion that many instructors could spend more time teaching why an intervention is the right course of action than telling three stories about the same intervention. We'd probably have better students that way.

Best of luck.
 
The emphasis on critical thinking has been lost these days. In fact many of the students you get may not have ever been introduced to HOT exercises or true critical thinking skills.

When you ask a question, wait for an answer. The silence is awkward at first, but it is important for the students to know that when they are asked a question, an answer is expected. It does not have to be the right answer, but the business of remaining silent until the instructor finally gives in and answers the question should not fly either. If they give an incorrect or illogical answer, ask them how they arrived at it, and encourage them to continue to give answers, and "push" them towards the correct mindset. Evaluate where their thinking is at, and try to understand what previous experience or outside learning has led them to that conclusion.

I would be weary of trying to "reinvent the wheel" so to speak.

My last bit of advice would be that you better be 10 times as prepared as you expect your students to be. Nothing will destroy your credibility faster than if your students show up prepared, and you clearly are not. Even EMT basic material needs to be refreshed before you teach it.

Always be professional, set a good example, strive to be beyond reproach, start the course off hard (it is always easier to ease up on a class as time progresses, but you can never start out easy and get harsher...) and remember, it is not your job to step in front of this class and have them like you. It is your job to get in front of this class and have them respect you...and that only comes from being professional, fair, and prepared.

If you do all of the things that an instructor should ideally be doing, and do them well, you will stand out as a phenomenal instructor. Don't try to jazz this up, it is not rocket science.
 
ffemt101986 said:
I am a relatively new instructor and am getting ready to start teaching an EMT basic class. I am looking for advise from current instructors and students on how to set myself aside from others and get away from the current trend in my area. EMT's are being simply mass produced and taught how to pass a test. My goal is to be a quality, well respected instructor that drives home the important stuff and keeps the class interesting and interactive. Any advise is welcome.
Click to expand...

As I new instructor, I work(ed) to develop my objectives. Although I don't work from canned slides (all my own, or peer's work), I strive to have a "purpose" with each of my statements. I don't teach from the powerpoint, but from my understanding and view on the material, then return to the slides, to ensure I match the stated objectives of the lesson. Each of my statements has a purpose, and I work to make sure I use consistent language and metaphors.

I've also worked to be more multi-media (grammar?). I know what works for me as a learner, but I need to do much more to reach students who learn differently. I move around a lot, ask a lot of questions, use videos or interactive games (when appropriate!), and recently have been using whiteboards and handouts more. Remember, this is adult education, and you need to strive to answer "what's in it for me" for your students early and often.

I'm also young, and know it. I made it a priority early to dress differently than my students, not for elitism, but to force myself to distinguish my behavior. I almost always wear a shirt and tie, and think personal presentation is important for modeling professionalism.

Strive to offer education not training. Work to develop affective domain skills in your students, and bring in subject matter experts, whenever possible.

I encourage you, if you have not already, to become and master CPR course instruction. It's where all instructors start, and is an excellent want to develop good habits (under good preceptors!). From there, take a state-sanctioned EMS instructor (or Instructor/Coordinator) course, or NAEMSE's instructor course if you are able.

There are a whole bunch of instructors around here, if you're looking for more help or advice, but I also encourage you to find a local mentor, to observe, shadow, interrogate, and consult with.

Good luck!
 
I think you need to be straight foward with your students. Give them respect but also show that you deserve the same and have certain expectations. Make the students part of their own education, include them in the learning vs just teaching off slides. Be interactive and proactive. Make the students want to learn.

There is also nothing wrong with critical thinking, and out of the box. The hard aspect of teaching though, is teaching real world while at the same time teaching the theoretical world. What I mean, something in a real life situation takes more thinking and problem solving. Sometimes one solution will not always work for similar problem. Teach how to adapt but also what is the standard. When it comes down to it ( at least in NJ), the test to pass EMT class in not real world it was the book work. Get a good balance between the two.
 
1. Remember you are there to present the material, not editorialize. Use personal examples sparingly, and maybe don't attribute them to yourself. Your sponsor will also have testing standards, meet them. However, there are ways to help those with testing issues.

2. Rehearse. Sounds funny and feels funny but you will run overtime otherwise. During and after a class, make notes to yourself. Also, watch other instructors, we tend to steal "bits" from each other.

3. Don't be afraid of your students. Hecklers are rare. Those with multitudinous questions or comments can be redirected to further discuss stuff "later" (they often don't bring stuff back up, it's impulsive) or bring it in to support your point. Theoreticists and eternal questioners can be given homework, to bring back a credible source to support or refute the point. (You will need to, also).

4. Treat your adult learners as adults. Bathroom breaks, taking cell calls, being tardy returning from breaks...cover these during the initial "housekeeping and intro" section with the phrases "start on time/end on time" and " As long as I feel it doesn't disturb the class, it's ok; if it disturbs you, raise your hand". They are free to fail. They will all tend to react badly if any member of the class is singled out for embarassment or derision or punishment.

5. Be sure of any physical limitation policies. Some places like Red Cross will train you (but not give you a card) despite your not being able to pass physical testing, which means no turning people away because they seem to be unable to pass (sometimes they will surprise you).
 
Just to expound upon #2... you really do need to rehearse your lectures. It's incredibly easy to go way beyond your allotted time for any given subject. One of the things I do is talk to (and with) pre-nursing majors in their prereq courses about student life in school and what they can expect, if they're admitted into the program. I can honestly say that it's tough to keep to a reasonable time so that I don't take up too much class time. So, I set up my 2 or 3 major bullet points about the program from the student perspective and rehearse what I need to say about them. It really does help.

Also, don't reinvent the wheel. If you need help with teaching styles and how to present material, just ask a teacher you know and hopefully they'll give you some pointers about how to manage the class and your time efficiently. There's a kind of science and art to teaching, irrespective of the material.
 
http://www.constructionclasses.com/articles/teach_a_class.htm

AND I QUOTE:

" 3. Adult learners are different than young learners. Don't try to teach your adult students using the same methods your teachers used in high school. Adult learners will evaluate everything you try to teach them so spend some time explaining why something is important to learn." (my emphasis).
 
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