Being a physical therapist requires that you be a teacher. You teach patients about their pathologies and how to manage them, you educate family members on how to participate in the rehabilitation process, and you instruct physical therapy students while they are on their internships. I enjoyed this aspect of physical therapy and as a result I decided to get involved in physical therapy education on a full-time basis.

I have been a teacher in a formal education setting for over 15 years. As I look back on my educational career I realized when I first started teaching I was a lecturer just providing information and not an educator. As I developed I came to understand that the responsibility of an educator is to provide students with the necessary skills to be lifelong learners. An educator needs to provide the student with the tools needed to critically evaluate relevant information, synthesize ideas, and make informed decisions. Most importantly an educator must teach students how to learn.

As an educator I encourage excellence in my students and myself. I try to make the course material challenging, interactive and relevant to contemporary physical therapy practice. I believe students learn and retain more if the material is presented in a nonthreatening, interesting and interactive environment. For this reason I include a variety of teaching methods including traditional lectures, videos, basic research, group projects, case studies and hands-on application.

I instruct students on assessment, intervention, professional behavior, as well as the value of community service. I delight in seeing my students develop as learners and grasp challenging concepts.

I feel my approach to teaching and learning is well suited to physical therapist assistant education. Completion of the ETIT program has supplied me with new perspective and knowledge of possibilities that exist. It has given me the potential to be an even better teacher and mentor. Using what I have learned in the ETIT program, I plan to polish and enhance my lessons and my teaching.