Comments from my students

A few days ago I received my "anonymous" (I use that term loosely...it is VERY easy to tell who is who) reviews from the students who have been assigned to me for their clinical rotations this school year.   Most of the sheet is a scale of 1-5, but at the end there is a write-in section...

I'm amused by the slightly differing opinions (some of which are covered in the 1-5 scaled section, not here).

Student 1:  senior AT student...has been (and will be) with me all year and spent almost an entire semester with me last year...mellow guy, very smart and knows his stuff, lacks confidence

Please describe the strengths of your clinical instructor. : Confident, outgoing, promotes active learning


Please describe the strengths of your clinical site. : Promotes critical thinking outside the box

Please describe the weaknesses of your clinical instructor (“none” is not acceptable). : Sometimes enthusiasm is low
[Hahaha!  Me? Lack enthusiasm? No way.]

Please describe the weaknesses of your clinical site (“none” is not acceptable). : Lack of various equipment
 
Student 2:  junior AT student...shy, quiet kid, knowledgable for a junior, always went with the flow...didn't ask a lot of questions, so he didn't get a lot of answers.
 
Please describe the strengths of your clinical instructor. : She is very approachable and knowledgable.


Please describe the strengths of your clinical site. : Variety of different injuries. The ats are the first to evaluate each injury unless its something substantial.

Please describe the weaknesses of your clinical instructor (“none” is not acceptable). : Isn't always available to help on profeciencies.

Please describe the weaknesses of your clinical site (“none” is not acceptable). : Lots of down time where nothing is going on. No rehab, everyone gets sent out to a PT clinic.
 
Student 3: junior AT student...Knowledgable, but thinks she knows more than anyone, would never shut up, talked down to kids...AND...her "sport" was DRAMA.  Drama is a cool extracurricular activity, don't get me wrong, but I sincerely believe that she didn't deserve the extra work around her schedule that I had to do because of drama and her attitude. 
 
Please describe the strengths of your clinical instructor. : She's very in control and knows how to prioritize and make the best of a small budget. She's also very understanding of crazy schedules and works with you to make the best of it.


Please describe the strengths of your clinical site. : It challenges you to think outside the box and get creative with fewer resources. It also made me very aware of working on a small budget and being efficient with what I have.

Please describe the weaknesses of your clinical instructor (“none” is not acceptable). : She can come off rather hard and seem unapproachable at first. She also seems new to being a teacher, which is understandable.

Please describe the weaknesses of your clinical site (“none” is not acceptable). : It is a high school so there are less resources available to work with and learn from.
 
 
So there you have it.  I'm extremely approachable and a good instructor to some and not to others.  I learned a lot from getting these reviews though I think.  The most important thing is probably that I need to maintain neutrality and treat all of my students the same, regardless of how freaking annoying or a pain in the as$ they are.