Tips for Teaching: General
Hallmarks of Effective Teaching:
Highly Valued
Enthusiasm
Good Role Model
Motivates learners
Emphasizes problem solving
Relevant Discussions
Less Valued
Extensive research on subject
Humorous
Neat and Presentable
Repeats material
Cites references readily
Hilliard RI The Good and Effective Teacher as Perceived by Pediatric Residents and by Faculty AJDC 144 Oct 1990:1106-1110.
Challenges to effective Teaching in Medicine
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Competing priorities/demands (clinical care, research, admin, home)
Diverse group of learners: interests, motivations, knowledge
Distracted/tired learners
Lack of training in adult learning
Relatively poor $ compensation for time/skills teaching
Common modality (lecture) is least effective (too passive)
Evolution of the Teacher
Stage 1: Survival
Must gain mastery of the material and confidence to teach others
Stage 2: Increase Teaching Skills – Practice, practice, practice
Find your zone, your style –experiment!
Seek feedback - Learn your strengths and weaknesses
Learn how to optimize your teaching experiences
Stage 3: Learner Oriented - No longer focusing on yourself
Paying attention to physical cues and verbal responses
Evolving from lecturer to teacher
Levels of Learning: Essential to know your audience
Every learner is at a unique stage in their development.
Understanding new material requires a foundation – i.e. you must teach to their Zone of
Proximal Learning
RIME Model: Evaluating the student clinician
Reporter: identifies and relays relevant information, data
Interpreter: identifies and prioritizes problems, offers a differential
Manager: develops and implements a reasonable treatment plan
Educator: can teach concepts; skilled in identifying new questions
Bloom’s Taxonomy: Levels of understanding
Knowledge – data
Comprehension – definition
Application – identify relationship of a fact in its context
Analysis – ability to see how something is put together
Synthesis – ability to create something new
Evaluation – ability to judge value of information
Understanding Memory
In general we can recall:
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we say and write
90% of what we do
Therefore, active learning is generally far more effective than passive learning (although often
less practical). Best recall tool for passive learning is the metaphor: match new information to
an established concept
e.g. Asthma treatment is like putting out a fire: We spray our medicine until the reaction is
controlled.
Adult Learners:
 Seek novel & practical information = “pearls”
 Need inspiration (grades no longer a motivation)
 Dislike irrelevant data
Effective teaching requires that the teacher
(1) identifies and addresses their learning needs and styles
(2) gets and keeps their attention
(3) teaches in a memorable way