On Monday, I had my first day as a teacher in the Rehabilitation Technician Training Program. I was welcomed with a lovely chalk art drawing of a person climbing a tree, an elaborate bird, and lots of colorful fruits and vegetables covering the entire board. The six students were just finishing it up, writing “Bienvenue Mme. Sara.” They call me Madame Sara, which I find very sweet.
I’m really glad I had met the students on my previous trip, had seen the classroom, and of course that I was familiar with HAS. I had taken pictures of each of them, and took down their names from Janet, the teacher at the time. I wanted to be able to recognize them and know their names when I returned. I printed the pictures with their names at the bottom, along with the words “RTTP 2011.” I showed them the pictures thinking we might put them up on the wall, but I quickly realized that they really wanted to have the prints for themselves. I could see the pride in their faces when they looked at them, posing as they were, looking so self-assured. I was pleased to be able to give them this inadvertent gift.
Even though I had read the material to present on the first day, I found it hard to think of enough things to say to them about the subject of balance apart from the notes I had. Without a lot of experience, I don’t have a large well from which to draw examples and ideas. So the first day was challenging.
Once I knew what to expect, though, I did much better. I had a plan for the next morning, to be more engaging and demonstrative with the material, to ask more questions to draw them out, and to expand on their previous work. Our afternoon balance lab was more structured, and I did a lot of demonstrating for them. We got balance equipment from the hospital PT clinic, like a platform with a ball as its base, so that their balance could be challenged a bit. They are so coordinated that they were practically doing gymnastics in the parallel bars, rather than trying to imitate a patient with balance problems!
There are certain things that seem to characterize these students. While they are unfailingly polite, often smiling, and clearly enthusiastic about becoming rehab technicians, they also don’t hide the fact that they may be tired, with glazed eyes, unstifled yawns, or heads on tables (which could not possibly have been due to my scintillating teaching!). I don’t think this is rudeness, just reality. One student rides his bike for an hour to get here. It’s hot. Didactic work is boring, yet is the system to which they are accustomed. I therefore have a lot of motivation to find ways to be more engaging and keep them more active. I’m not seeing much drooping now, but it is still clear when they need a break. Another thing I noticed is how unhurried their pace is. When we went over to the Hanger Clinic, they didn’t walk, they sauntered. I kept turning around, wondering where they were!
We started coordination today, and Silla, the Swiss PT who is my housemate, gave me some great ideas about using functional activities to work on improving coordination. I was able to download some short videos to show them of coordination problems, and they seemed fascinated by these. We also had two opportunities for real patient observation; one a stroke patient that they had seen last week, and the other a little boy just coming out of a body cast following a femur fracture, with weakness and decreased coordination in movement and gait from disuse (who will likely return to normal fairly soon). For gaining experience, there is no substitute for the real thing!
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