Those who can’t ... teach?

While an undergraduate nursing student, I was introduced to the saying, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” One of my nursing professors said it’s a statement often used to negatively compare nurse educators to nurses involved in direct patient care. At that point in my education, I didn’t really think much about it. After all, I had no plans to become a nurse educator.

A year later, however, after completing my second year as a nursing student, my plans changed. I did decide to become a nurse educator, and went on to obtain a master’s degree in nursing education. However, despite having an education degree, I never actually worked as a paid educator … until now.

As a doctoral student, I am required to work as a teacher’s assistant, and I have quickly learned that studying teaching and learning theories, teaching methodologies and philosophies, and even learning the science behind creating an effective examination, is much different than actually putting this knowledge into practice in the classroom.

I began working with my assigned teaching mentor the summer before my first year in the program. She allowed me to have some input into the creation of the syllabus. I helped create the grading rubric for the students’ papers, and I was allowed to suggest references they could use when writing those papers. As a part of my teaching-apprentice class assignment, I was also required to teach the students one lesson. Although we were only required to teach for about 30 minutes or so, I taught the entire two-hour lesson that day. Preparation for that one lesson took weeks. I had never been responsible for an entire lecture and, although I enjoy speaking in front of audiences, there are so many things to consider when presenting information to impressionable freshmen and first-year transfer students.

If working on the syllabus and my one lesson plan wasn’t time-consuming enough, I had to help grade papers and quizzes, a much more in-depth process than I anticipated. Educators must take into consideration the reasons students miss certain quiz questions or interpret an essay question in a way the instructor had not intended. Grading papers was something I had never done before, and I struggled with it somewhat. Fortunately, the instructor I worked with was really good about sitting down with me to help me understand what is most important when assigning grade points to various aspects of student papers. She helped me frame my comments in ways that promoted critical thinking and didn’t make the students feel that I was chastising them for their writing. My experience with this instructor was so valuable that I decided to work with her again, this time as a paid teaching assistant.

My responsibilities as a paid TA are much greater than they were as a teaching apprentice. To be honest, I thought I was taking somewhat of the easy way out. I thought, “Hey, the syllabus and quizzes have already been created. What more is there to do?” I quickly learned that the answer to that question is, “A lot!” Good nurse educators update their syllabi and lectures annually. This year, in fact, we assigned an additional textbook, rearranged the order of the topics covered in class, and created a different format requirement for papers. We even changed up the rubrics a little, and we’re in discussion about increasing the amount and type of technology used during lectures. I’ve learned that teaching a particular class one time doesn’t mean you don’t have to prepare when the time comes to teach it again.

To those people who believe the old saw that “Those who can’t … teach,” I encourage you to forgo commenting on something you know nothing about. As someone who has worked on “the floor” for many years, I can honestly say that, for me, working in practice is much easier than working in education. No offense to anyone who works in a practice setting, but when you go home, you don’t usually take your work with you. You don’t mull over lesson plans for weeks (or possibly months) before giving a lecture. You don’t wonder how the information was received during those lectures. You aren’t concerned about the reason a certain student hasn’t shown up in class for two weeks. You don’t keep up on the latest literature so you can incorporate some of it into next year’s syllabus. You don’t clear your night or weekend schedule so you can sit at home and grade tons of papers multiple times each term. You don’t counsel students who are having issues adjusting to college life. You don’t go home at night wondering if you said the right thing during office hours. You don’t; you just don’t!

Now, this isn’t to compare the relative importance of practice and education, because they should not be compared. Both areas need dedicated nurses who are committed to the work involved. Now that I have worked in both settings, I can honestly say that teaching is the most difficult, yet rewarding, job I have ever taken on.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.