Ineffective Teachers

[Maison]

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I was wondering if anyone had any teachers this semester who you just felt were "ineffective" in their teaching styles.

They're all great people, but this semester it just doesn't seem to be cutting it for me. It might just be that their styles don't match my learning methods, but I've found myself having to work harder in my spare time because I don't feel that I'm getting anything out of going to class (and in one extreme example, have signed up for tutoring).

 

[slatermd]

this is the way life goes, and it will happen all the way through med school too. Some people spend a lot of time thinking about how to help students understand concepts, and anticipating what questions you will have. Others, not so much.

You will have to work harder to teach yourself material, but this will teach you very valuable skills to use throughout a medical career.

 

[Geneticist]

My chem teacher is a great guy but a terrible instructor. His exams are a joke, too. I have a feeling I won't be getting much out of this class.

 

[Maison]

That is at least how I picture it now. For the past few days I've been living by this Psych textbook like it's the Bible.

At least Psych in general isn't too tough of a subject for me. I can't speak for the upper level courses, though.

 

[eablackwell]

I noticed a huge difference in teacher efficiency once I went from, let's see... high school to college. I think it's because I was lucky enough to have some pretty good teachers back in HS, especially for my APs. As a high school teacher, I can say we are pushed to make sure our students succeed. Once you get to college, most professors don't know or care what your name is, let alone how efficient you think their teaching method is.

I always figured once you hit college you're on your own to learn the material the best you can and hope you don't have a professor that loves to pimp students on exams. 😉

 

[Geneticist]

I noticed a huge difference in teacher efficiency once I went from, let's see... high school to college. I think it's because I was lucky enough to have some pretty good teachers back in HS, especially for my APs. As a high school teacher, I can say we are pushed to make sure our students succeed. Once you get to college, most professors don't know or care what your name is, let alone how efficient you think their teaching method is.

I always figured once you hit college you're on your own to learn the material the best you can and hope you don't have a professor that loves to pimp students on exams. 😉

I thought the exact opposite. There were a few high school teachers who were actually decent at their job but for the most part they sucked. I've found that, despite their lack of concern for student grades, many professors are better teachers than teachers in high school.

 

[patel2]

this is the way life goes, and it will happen all the way through med school too. Some people spend a lot of time thinking about how to help students understand concepts, and anticipating what questions you will have. Others, not so much.

You will have to work harder to teach yourself material, but this will teach you very valuable skills to use throughout a medical career.

Lots of teachers in college are atrocious.

One reason: professor tenure

 

[WingedOx]

Lots of teachers in college are atrocious.

One reason: professor tenure

I can't teach! I'm a professor!

/you can make that argument for secondary school, but teaching isn't exactly important in modern academia.

 

[circulus vitios]

Ineffective teachers are why I've started playing "the game." With a bad professor I have to work really hard to truly understand the material. When I have a bad professor it's much easier to just cram what I need to know for the class, do well on the exams, and then completely forget everything 1 week after finals.

 

[loveoforganic]

Better than ineffective professors who are also crappy people. Just had one of those.

 

[Long Way to Go]

Lots of teachers in college are atrocious.

One reason: professor tenure

True. But not in the reason that you would expect.

The real reason is that both hiring and tenure evaluations at research universities primarily take into account research productivity, and teaching is often (though not always) an afterthought.

 

[goldenwest]

...

 

[Geneticist]

Am I the only one that noticed this?

Yeah. So what? It's a black guy. And those other things are words.

 

[goldenwest]

Yeah. So what? It's a black guy. And those other things are words.

Working on your post count? Explaining things ruins all the fun, but I'll give you a hint: it's not racist.

 

[Geneticist]

Explaining things ruins all the fun, but I'll give you a hint: it's not racist.

😕 I give up.

 

[patel2]

Am I the only one that noticed this?

LOL aware. Strong avatar to post content. I didn't process what you were getting at originally because I was thinking the avatar was Mike Tomlin and not who it really is.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Yeah welcome to the rest of your life. The vast majorities of your teachers from here on out will be poor, some will be outright awful. Every now and then you will have a diamond in the rough but sometimes you'll have given up on lectures by then which is a shame.

Learn to learn on your own, its how you're going to be doing it from here on out.

 

[Geneticist]

Yeah welcome to the rest of your life. The vast majorities of your teachers from here on out will be poor, some will be outright awful. Every now and then you will have a diamond in the rough but sometimes you'll have given up on lectures by then which is a shame.

Learn to learn on your own, its how you're going to be doing it from here on out.

It sounds as if professor in medical school are even worse than professors in undergrad? Is this true? Or are they about equivalent in sucky-ness?

 

[goldenwest]

...

 

[alwaysaangel]

It sounds as if professor in medical school are even worse than professors in undergrad? Is this true? Or are they about equivalent in sucky-ness?

Med school is worse. Partially because most first and second year classes are taught by PhDs who don't understand the medicine and don't want to be teaching you. And partially because the volume is much much higher so there is that much more teaching/work required.

Clinical years get slightly better, occasionally you get good lecturers but some are still residents or faculty that aren't super excited about being there.

 

[patel2]

Really? I mean... it wasn't supposed to be funny but this is just sad. Let me recap...

lol I got the reference. That's why I said I was aware brah. I was saying before that I originally didn't process it, until re-looking at it for a second, because I first thought the avatar was of Mike Tomlin (since him and Omar Epps are like twins).

 

[Geneticist]

Med school is worse. Partially because most first and second year classes are taught by PhDs who don't understand the medicine and don't want to be teaching you. And partially because the volume is much much higher so there is that much more teaching/work required.

Clinical years get slightly better, occasionally you get good lecturers but some are still residents or faculty that aren't super excited about being there.

That's understandable from the prospective of a resident. I certainly would not want to have to lecture med students as a resident...

But a medical school prof's job is to teach the material, is it not?

 

[alwaysaangel]

That's understandable from the prospective of a resident. I certainly would not want to have to lecture med students as a resident...

Actually a lot of them do want to. If you want to work in academics its in your best interest to lecture as a resident and improve your skills. Its just that not all of them do. Or they want to but just haven't gotten good at it yet.

But a medical school prof's job is to teach the material, is it not?

No. There are pretty much no faculty in a med school who's job is exclusively to teach. MS1 and MS2 there are PhDs who are required to teach as part of their contract. MS3 there are MDs who are clinical faculty who are required to teach as part of their contract. Some like it and are good at it, its just not the norm.

Basically you should get used to bad lectures, although every now and then I'm still pleasantly surprised.

 

[Geneticist]

Actually a lot of them do want to. If you want to work in academics its in your best interest to lecture as a resident and improve your skills. Its just that not all of them do. Or they want to but just haven't gotten good at it yet.

Is that also a contractual thing too? Can it be opted out of? I don't anticipate myself wanting to lecture med students...

 

[alwaysaangel]

Is that also a contractual thing too? Can it be opted out of? I don't anticipate myself wanting to lecture med students...

For faculty, yeah its a contractual thing and no it can't be opted out of. Its generally part of every academic faculty's contract. If you want to work in academics you will almost always have some sort of formal education requirement. Didactics for residents and/or students.

If you don't want to lecture residents/med students you go work in the community.

As for residency its very specialty and program specific. Surgeons don't have much in the way of lecturing med students as a requirement at my school, however, they do still have to lecture each other. Some programs its required to teach students, some its a optional. I haven't heard of too many residency programs that don't have some sort of lecturing requirement (often to fellow residents/faculty), but if you ask and pick your program right you may avoid teaching students.

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

Who cares how effective your teachers are at teaching?

Learn how you efficiently teach yourself. You'll have to do that the rest of your life anyways.

 

[Geneticist]

For faculty, yeah its a contractual thing and no it can't be opted out of. Its generally part of every academic faculty's contract. If you want to work in academics you will almost always have some sort of formal education requirement. Didactics for residents and/or students.

If you don't want to lecture residents/med students you go work in the community.

As for residency its very specialty and program specific. Surgeons don't have much in the way of lecturing med students as a requirement at my school, however, they do still have to lecture each other. Some programs its required to teach students, some its a optional. I haven't heard of too many residency programs that don't have some sort of lecturing requirement (often to fellow residents/faculty), but if you ask and pick your program right you may avoid teaching students.

I never knew that.

It seems though that the term "lecture" is a bit ambiguous in these scenarios. For me, "lecturing" a handful of people for a little while in something specific and related to my specialty wouldn't be bad but lecturing an entire room full of people would be my own personal Hell.

 

[alwaysaangel]

I never knew that.

It seems though that the term "lecture" is a bit ambiguous in these scenarios. For me, "lecturing" a handful of people for a little while in something specific and related to my specialty wouldn't be bad but lecturing an entire room full of people would be my own personal Hell.

Yeah you're going to have to get over that soon.

While it would be a 30-60min lecture on a specific topic related to your specialty we're not talking small group discussions. We're talking powerpoint lectures in front of 20-80 people depending on the specialty you go into and the size of the program you end up at.

I've yet to see a specialty/program that doesn't require its residents to lecture to grand rounds at least a few times.