Musicianhttps://open.spotify.com/track/5vYwpdl8eP1yWtJPQyQ4lI
I started playing guitar at the age of 7, beginning with classical guitar, I still love playing Bach. I moved on to jazz guitar and played on the Elwy Yost show. I played in a few rock bands, a family band (see the picture above) and more recently I have had the pleasure of performing at the Blue Bird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee with my wife Cathie.
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doctor
In my family there are two paths: baker or doctor. My grandfather, two of his brothers and one son were bakers, My father and all of his cousins are doctors in wide variety of fields from Dentistry to Gerontology to Oncology and Pathology. I chose Chiropractic because I recognized the value of movement to health.
As a Sports Fellow I work with a variety of athletes including thoroughbred jockeys, baseball players and this Ukrainian Olympic hurdler
working at cmcc
After my time on the Board at CMCC, I started looking for other ways I could stay involved with the College. As fortune would have it a Resource Clinician position was available and I was successful in filling the role.
Tep
Upon beginning employment at CMCC I enrolled in the Teacher Education Program. I was aware of its inception as a Board Member and strongly endorsed the movement toward the Scholarship of Teaching. I had been in practise with Dr. David Starmer and was well aware of the accolades that he and Dr. Dunham had received as instructors.
The first assignment I submitted was teaching a manual skill. With dental professionals as parents I thought I could offer a deeper insight into tooth brushing than most people would have received. I quickly learned that a coherent presentation of my own design may not satisfy all components of a marking rubric and I got the lowest mark in my CMCC career. Well, I was never a big fan of marks, and as I learned in this course, there is proof that they can be demotivating to students.
For the second assignment I worked together with Dr. Constance Columbus, we presented the theory of Experiential Learning as espoused by David Kolb.
Taking the idea one step further I incorporated the ancient practice of consulting the I Ching (The Book of Changes) into the idea of experiential learning. Outside the box thinking is an important element of assimilating new knowledge.
For the assignment on Assessment the concept that piqued my interest was Problem-based Learning. The history and evolution of this concept was nothing short of fascinating and knowing that it culminated in the cradle of Evidence-Based Medicine, McMaster University Medical School, under the great Dr. David Sackett was inspiring.
dr. david sackett - the "father" of evidence-based medicine
my teaching philosophy
My own formal teaching career has just begun, although I have been a resource to students and patients throughout my 28 year career as a chiropractor. I have always felt that a relaxed atmosphere is the best starting point for learning. I have taught T'ai Chi classes for more than 20 years and the goal of achieving a relaxed sense of alertness while assimilating a complex set of 108 movements has been an outcome I have worked towards with dozens of students from 20 to 80 years of age. Along with a comfortable environment using a combination of showing, guiding, explaining and using metaphor is a key element of my approach to teaching. Additionally I have focussed on motivating students to take the lessons further through their own exploration or research. These characteristics are all applicable to the clinician-intern relationship. The intern is approaching full qualification as a doctor of chiropractic and as such deserves the respect of a peer. At the same time their knowledge and skills are still in a novice state and can be nurtured along with meaningful guidance.
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Considering the "backwards design" approach (R. Bowen 2017 Vanderbilt University) I draw upon the essential elements of my professional experience, both the successes and the failures to understand how a doctor of chiropractic can exemplify the roles of Expert, Communicator, Health Advocate, Scholar, Collaborator, Leader and Professional; the roles set out as the competency-based standards for our graduates. While I may have learned some lessons the hard way, there are bountiful opportunities to share the lessons learned in compelling narrative or open-ended questions with interns to create a lasting impression of some of the most important risk management, practice building and uncertainty unravelling strategies. By listening to and observing students it is not difficult to determine if they "get it." Assessment also flows naturally from this design as dilemmas can be presented and interns are given the opportunity to sort through on their own or in groups. I also encourage interns to share their most difficult clinical decisions and negative or positive outcomes to extract the lasting lessons they present.
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I look forward to a long career in teaching and I fully expect to learn more than I teach along the way. Instilling and encouraging an open-minded, life-long learning attitude in students, teachers and patients is one of the greatest contributions to be made.
“...the more one discovers, the more conscious one is of the great amount of material not yet learned." Paul Bowles |
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