Approaches to Education, Teaching, and What Works

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Approaches to Education, Teaching, and What
Works and What Doesnt June 9, 2008 2008
IRACDA Conference Frank C. Church, Ph.D.
Departments of Pathology Laboratory Medicine,
Pharmacology, and Medicine, The University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of
Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC
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Franks Academic World at UNC-CH School of
Medicine
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Franks Academic World at UNC-CH School of
Medicine
Research (70 effort), 8 salary teaching (for
medical education) Course Director (and
lecturer) in Hematology-Oncology 2nd year medical
school course, and lecturer in two other 2nd year
courses Course Director (and lecturer) in
Pathology Graduate Course Molecular and
Cellular Pathophysiological Basis of Disease
Mechanisms of Disease Course Director (and
sole lecturer) in Biology of Blood Diseases for
senior biology/chemistry/professional-school-
directed undergraduate/graduate students.
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5 components to being a good, effective and
successful teacher1
Caring about the students Commitment to
preparation and organization Knowledge and love
of the material Showmanship and clarity of the
message Passion and enthusiasm.
From my perspective, it is an honor/privilege to
teach (whether they be undergrads, graduate, and
in my case, medical students)!
1Excerpts from Teaching Portfolio
http//serpins.med.unc.edu/fcc/Teaching_philosoph
y.html
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Franks Perspective on What Works!
Graduate Students and Medical Students -well
organized syllabus -finish lecture on
time -relate material to real science/medical
world -be available to talk, be receptive to
their comments/criticisms -write focused
but fair test questions that represent your
lectures.
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Franks Perspective on What Works!
Undergraduate Students -well organized
syllabus (complete course) -finish lecture on
time -relate material to real
science/medical world -make time for
interaction with students -get to know all the
students if possible -be ready to offer
career/life advice if the students learn to
trust you.
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Franks Perspective on What Works!
Undergraduate Students -Class
picture -Contact/Hobbies list (including your
information) -Office hours (never in the
office), for me it was Sunday afternoon coffee
breaks at Caribou downtown from 4-7PM, and
biweekly at Daily Grind (times varies) -Lunch
with class, usually once per month
(walk downtown either after class at 11AM or
noon) -Mid-semester, end of semester (and
spring) dinners.
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Class Picture Biology 426, Fall 2007
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(No Transcript)
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Sickle Cell AnemiaFriday, September 14, 2007

• Reading-
• Anemia-Sickle Cell Syndromes

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HIV Disease/AIDS- A Historical Perspective and
Epidemiology Monday, October 22, 2007
180,000 died in the tsunami in Indonesia (2004),
that many people die from HIV disease each month
in Sub-Saharan Africa- think of it this way,
losing the entire population of Burlington, NC
each and every week!

• Reading-
• PDF handouts

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Stroke
There are two main types of stroke. Ischemic
stroke is caused by blockage of a blood vessel
the other is termed hemorrhagic stroke, and it is
caused by bleeding.
Ischemic stroke is the most common type. It
accounts for gt85 of all strokes. It occurs
when a blood clot (thrombus) forms and blocks
blood flow in an artery bringing blood to part of
the brain, typically from atherosclerosis.
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Stroke
There are two main types of stroke.
stroke is caused by blockage of a blood
vessel the other is termed hemorrhagic stroke,
and it is caused by bleeding.
Ischemic stroke is the most _______ type. It
accounts for gt85 of all strokes. It occurs
when a blood clot (thrombus) forms and _______
blood flow in an artery bringing blood to part of
the brain, typically from atherosclerosis.
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Franks Perspective on What Works for
Undergraduates!
-3 class exams, optional cumulative final, takes
place of lowest exam (makes students work at
steady pace all semester) -Thought-filled
questions/responses posted on Blackboard course
site anonymously (makes students
write) -Clinical Exercises (allows them to
apply principles of course makes students
think) -Poster Sessions (present a disease of
their choice makes students practice talking
in public) -Clinical-Patient Day (patients
visit and talk to class) -Top Dog Awards given
out last day to top 6 students (publically rewar
d the efforts of the top students in class).
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(No Transcript)
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Design Your Course Based on You, Your
Thoughts/Plans
There are many ways to teach a course, to
interact with students, be honest and teach to
your own style, it will work. But take the
time to develop it, you owe it to the
students. Commit the time to interact with the
students, commit the time to prepare and learn
the course material, it pays off, but it all
takes time. Why teach? Alice Palmer
(past-President of Wellesley College) said It
is people that count - you put yourself in
people, they touch other people these, others
still, and so you go on working forever. The
answer for me is simply that I teach because of
the students and because of my desire to provide
scholarship.
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(Things Not Presented but Attached to
Presentation.!)
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 Effective Teaching1 Requires a lot of
time Demands that you care Assumes you respect
the student Expects you to fully understand the
material Should give you much in return for your
effort Obligates you to advance the principles
of scholarship Stipulates that if you make
mistakes you will admit them to class Says that
if you do not know the answer, you'll search it
out and tell them next time. An acronym that I
use for TEACHER is Time (and Commitment),
Enthusiasm, Availability, Care, Honesty,
Education (by Example and Knowledge), Respect.
1Excerpts from Teaching Portfolio
http//serpins.med.unc.edu/fcc/Teaching_philosoph
y.html
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Biol/Path 426 Thought-filled Question 1, 2007
(guidelines and example of 1 response)
Instructions - Your response to this
thought-filled response/question is due by 1159
PM Friday, September 7, 2007.   Please write in
your response here in the open box (when you
click on view/complete assignment below, you will
be able to cut and paste a MS Word file into it,
BUT please save a copy of each file just in case
some problem with Blackboard happens, and I lose
your posted words!). You can also attach a MS
Word file to this assignment, either works for
me.   This is an essay entitled "Dying Words"
written by Dr. Jerome Groopman, a noted
hematologist and author on many books and
articles. It is about a dying patient of his
named Maxine, her request and wishes, and how a
family, how a physician must deal with such
issues in their professional lives (on
Blackboard, the essay was 10-12 pages long).
  The goal is to read over the essay (you decide
how much you read), and through the Blackboard
posting site here, send me your thoughts, your
feelings on the matter. There is no correct
response, you can be you, the patient, the
physician, the family, any one!   This will give
you a sense from what I mean for you to read, to
think, and to write! (1 example is given on the
next slide, we did this 5 times during the
semester).
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Wow. I read the Dying Words by Dr. Groopman
several days ago, and I still feel unsettled and
moved by his words. I still feel sad about
Maxine I still feel apprehensive when I think of
his description of death, the way he is able to
so thoroughly portray the dying process and the
bodys last physical activities. There were so
many components of this essay that struck me and
that I would want to talk about the role of the
physician as a guide during the dying process
(and their change in job description through the
centuries) standardizing medical-emotional
communication differences in doling out
intensive care versus palliative care developing
and shifting understandings of death in the
United States. His portrayal of Maxine, as a
young woman who must learn to accept deathas
well as a number of other challengesis also
fascinating and thought-provoking how are we
supposed to deal when everything we deserve
or everything we are poised to reach seems to
fall through on us?   At the root of all of these
ideas, however, there is underlying theme which
embodies an idea something along the lines of
Everyone dies. How does a physician act and
communicate information to ensure that their
patients can approach death as conscientiously
and purposefully as possible? I found
particularly interesting Dr. Groopmans
description of how the ars moriendi used to be
the realm of the church, and of faith leaders.
The priest would comfort those approaching death
and would counsel about the world to come. In
this way, the father would guide patients to
ultimately confront their own mortality.   Is it
thisa lack of faith, as some might label it, or
an inability to accept mortalitywhich gives all
of us such trouble in thinking about and working
with others to confront death? As our culture
has moved to a greater and more far-reaching
appreciation for the secular, the rational, the
test-able, explanations based in faith no longer
suffice and many physicians and scientists have
been leaders or members of this enormous
transition (many feel that they are expected to,
as well). Yet preparation for upcoming death is
fundamentally a philosophical exercise how can
we even wrap our minds around it? What does the
fact of death (in some form or other) mean in
determining the significance and purpose of our
lives?   The state of our litigious contemporary
culture, toothat, too, perhaps could be
attributed to our uncertainty and fear about life
beyond death, our inability to conceptualize that
life can be carried beyond the physical. Doctors
spend so much on intensive care probably largely
because they dont want to be sued for not doing
everything possible. A Gnostic at this point,
for example, might assert that because we see
life in the finiteness and finality of the
physical realm, we live tit-for-tat existences
structured so that we may win in the end and
it is interesting to think about how all these
options and complicated procedures and
technologies for living longer have changed our
notions and ideas about death.   I think one of
the most interesting parts of these stories, when
reading or learning about someone facing a
chronic illness, is that moment when people do
decide that they will no longer fight death.
I remember my aunt, who spent her last three
weeks in the hospitalI remember when she decided
to let go. She literally said that to all of us,
in the room with her she was a nun, and she told
us that she was ready to go with God. I dont
know if she was tired, if she just felt prepared
or excited about a new adventure, or what but I
think this transition or even transcendence in
thought is what may perplex or challenge many in
medicine.   In the United States, the very
wealthy can do a lot to stave off death. Those
who are poorer, however, are required to accept
it at an earlier stage. Similarly, when I have
been with the sick and dying in other countries
and cultures, it has been incredible for me to
learn about how they treat death. In Cuba, for
example, if you had breast cancer, that was
itmaybe youd have a round of chemo, but for the
most part (and for the sake of the
countryCuba was not going to bankrupt their
healthcare system to give only a few people the
most fantastical treatments everand people were
okay with that), if you were in the advanced
stages of the disease, you retreated to your
family and your loved ones and thanked the people
you loved in your life. That they could accept
death in this way was so different for me to see,
and this attitude was exemplified in the other
parts of their lives/lifestyles shit happens
life can be hard we will deal with it. The
American way, though again, for the wealthy or
empowered fosters an almost opposite feeling
shit doesnt have to happen, and in fact, it
shouldnt! Death is the final robber of the
fruits of our hard work and our reluctance or
inability to recognize it challenges those who
must then help others approach it. Hm okay, so
my thinking has drifted in a few different
directions. I feel like this has become more of
a journal entry than an answer to a
thought-filled question I know that the ideas
of Dr. Groopmans article, however, will remain
with me for a while