PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHING Margaret M. McCabe My goal in teaching is to prepare students with information they need to perform as accomplished professionals in the field of hearing and speech sciences. I seek to offer them a firm foundation in the sciences and encourage them to expand their horizons with information relating to the latest research and technology. Further, I like to sow seeds of curiosity about the way in which things work, to foster a mindset that loves problem-solving. I like to tell my students “if you can imagine it, then it probably can be so and your task is to figure out how.” By overcoming obstacles that arise from conventional thinking, they will position themselves to stay open to the latest advances in the field and to make learning a life-long endeavor. A collaborative style of interaction with student clinicians is ideal to me. As soon as is feasible, students should assume a role of being mentored, with varying levels of input, as required from the supervisor. With a perspective that involves “joint problem-solving,” students may be better able to take risks in decision-making while feeling well supported. In a perfect world, students step up to assume “ownership” of their patients. Once invested in this way in their patients’ success, they are better able to take on the responsibility that is involved in total patient care. A model of supervision detailed by Anderson (1988) as a “continuum” has been a guiding principle in my approach to teaching students. In an introductory setting, students need 100% modeling and instruction to accomplish the tasks involved in a patient exchange. As they grow and learn, the degree of supervision required decreases, with the ultimate goal of the supervisor retreating entirely. After all, as a working professional, one must function as one’s own supervisor. Students are taught to reflect on their performance in each encounter, to critically evaluate themselves, and set new goals for the next exchange. At the close of each patient encounter, it is my custom to ask the student to evaluate himself/herself, to identify strengths and weaknesses, and areas for continued growth. In our Clinic, I require that students videotape themselves so that they can step away from the patient encounter and view their own performance in a more objective fashion. The students routinely complete “reflective journals” as described in Ida Institute materials. This type of assignment is carried out at regular intervals in each semester so that the student has an opportunity to see his/her growth as a clinician. Recent work by Stella Ng (2012) in the area of reflection and reflective practice has encouraged me to focus more of my efforts on this concept of self-analysis. Ng draws from many other professions to bring together critical ideas relating to experiential learning. Students who are trained to combine the concepts of evidence-based practice with “evidence-informed reflective practice” will develop skills that will serve them for the entirety of a professional career. In the clinic and in the classroom, my teaching style has evolved with the changing nature of students. The students of today are media savvy consumers. They tend to learn best in an environment that offers multiple options for absorbing information: visual, auditory, tactile. To the extent that I can stimulate all their senses in the process of learning, I feel the students’ potential for assimilating the concepts I’m addressing are optimized. To that end, I like to present lecture notes with power point slides, offer hands-on instruction in the Clinic, require completion of lab assignments, periodic quizzes and multiple exams, some of them including a practical application component. I feel it is critical that the student buy into the idea that my mission is their mastery of the concepts at hand - not to pass the test - but for the greater goal of becoming a competent and confident professional. Anderson, J. (1988). The Supervisor Process in Speech Pathology and Audiology. Boston: College Hill. Ng,S. (2012). Reflection and Reflective Practice. Seminars in Hearing, 33 (02), 117-133. Hapsburg, D. and Lauritsen, K. (2012). The Learning Principles Adopted by the Ida Institute, Seminars in Hearing, 33 (01), 016-023.