Becoming a Nurse Educator: Dialogue for an Engaging Career » (1st Edition)

Becoming a Nurse Educator: Dialogue for an Engaging Career is a practical guide developed to help new and emerging nurse educators in their career development. Written in a straightforward manner, it presents teaching experiences mixed with theoretical discussion and specific teaching strategies to assist new nursing educators in finding meaning in their career. This essential guide contains popular and professional literature, nurse educator experiences, stories, quotes, and discussion questions.

Becoming a Nurse Educator: Dialogue for an Engaging Career is a must-have resource for any nursing educator and nursing education students.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Melissa Banks-Sockriter, MSN(Delaware Technical & Community College)
Description:This book is designed to help new faculty members embrace nursing education as a liberal education, and shift away from a professional studies emphasis.
Purpose:It is intended to help new nursing faculty prepare for the teaching life.
Audience:This book is good for new educators just starting out, or seasoned faculty searching for meaning in their teaching.
Features:Four units cover a variety of areas in nursing education, starting with "Knowing the Self as Teacher," which encourages new faculty members to reflect on the pertinent questions that need to be asked to help them become the best possible educators. The third unit, "Teaching Practices That I Am Practicing," provides examples, bridging classroom theory and clinical practice. As a nurse educator, I enjoyed this unit the most, as there is nothing more gratifying than to see students apply the knowledge they have gained in a classroom or laboratory to an actual patient in the clinical environment. The clinical setting is where I find the most exciting and memorable education takes place. There is an especially interesting piece on "Helping Students Learn to Think," which uses as an example thinking out loud with students as they are problem solving. Chapters also include questions to ponder that push new nursing educators to critically think about their own teaching strategies.
Assessment:As a new nurse educator, I found this book to be helpful, educational, and insightful. It helped me evaluate my teaching and see how I can make changes to improve what my students learn in the classroom, laboratory, and clinical settings. As nurses, we are taught how to take care of patients, not necessarily how to make the transition to the classroom as teachers. This book is a resource that I would recommend to all nurse educators.

Foreword Michael Perry, RN ix

Introduction xi

Acknowledgments xxi

Unit 1 Knowing the Self as Teacher 1

Chapter 1 Then and Now: A Call to Pause 3

Learning and Teaching 3

A Moment in Time 4

Pauses at Departure and Arrival 5

You Are Yourself 7

References 9

Chapter 2 Honoring the Present in the Best and Worst Year 11

Quarrying the First-Year Challenges 12

Honoring the Present and Renewing its Nobility 15

Where Have I Been as Teacher? 17

Where Am I Going as Teacher? 18

The Educator Moves Inside 20

References 23

Chapter 3 "As If": More of That First Year 25

Appeal of the Educator Role 26

Preparing to Teach 28

Getting Started: Before the First Class Meeting 30

Relationships with Teaching Colleagues 34

Conclusion 36

References 36

Chapter 4 Scott's Spirit on Lassen Peak: Finding the Spirit That Sustains You 37

Lesson from Lassen Peak 38

Learning as My Sustaining Spirit 39

What I Have Learned About Learning 40

Find the Spirit That Sustains You 45

References 46

Chapter 5 The Rhythm of Education: Dr. Harriet Werley, Thank You for Teaching Me 47

Thank You for Teaching Me 47

Rhythm of Staccato 48

Rhythm of Tapestry 52

Rhythm of Stillness 54

References 55

Unit 2 Relationships with Students 57

Chapter 6 How Can the Students Help Us Teach? 59

Who Do the Students Say That They Are? 60

The Nurse Educator: What Is Most Important? 61

About Being a New Nurse Educator 70

Beyond Balance 73

References 74

Chapter 7 Presence with Students: Posing Interest, Not Merely Paying Attention 75

Posing Interest as a Clinical Teacher: An Early Lesson 76

Posing Interest as a Classroom Teacher 78

ShowingUp and Circulating 80

Getting Inside the Students' Heads 83

"A Friend of Your Mind" and Namaste 85

References 85

Unit 3 Teaching Practices That I Am Practicing 87

Chapter 8 Clinical Teaching is Where the Magic Lies 89

Clinical Education as the Pinnacle of Complexity 90

Preparing for Departure 92

In Flight 94

Conclusion 99

Questions to Ponder 99

References 100

Chapter 9 The Novel: "Listen Her and She Will Show Us Everything" 101

Linking Novels and Human Responses 102

Repositioning Novel Reading in Nursing Education 104

Novel Reading: Beyond "Busywork" and "Boring" 105

"Listen Her and She Will Show Us Everything" 109

Questions to Ponder 110

References 110

Chapter 10 The Students Co-Construct the Classroom 111

Similar Experiences, But What Makes Them Different? 112

Relentless Preparation 114

Take a Break 116

Students and Course Assignments Co-Construct the Classroom 116

Conclusion 119

Questions to Ponder 120

References 120

Chapter 11 Creative Projects: "Could You Please Tell Us What You're Looking For?" 121

A Newbie's Anemic Attempts 122

What I've Discovered 123

Creativity as a Concept 125

Beginning to Make it a Practice 126

Conclusion 130

Questions to Ponder 130

References 131

Unit 4 Nursing Education as Liberal Education 133

Chapter 12 Teaching Life, Not Teaching Work 135

Beyond Compliance in Health Care 135

Shadow Side of Nursing Education 138

Nursing Education as Liberal Education 142

In Procession: Where is it Leading Us? 152

References 153

Afterword: The Musicality of Teaching: More Dreams for the Future than Memories of the Past 155

The Musicality of Teaching 155

Building Bridges 157

References 159

Index 161