General Statement about Teaching Gross Anatomy

I have been teaching gross anatomy for veterinary students (and also in the beginning of my career for veterinary technology students) for the past 12 years.  The overall goal of all of my teaching is to convey to the students the importance of understanding how animals are normally structured, and how they came to be organized as they are.  My teaching style has been and continues to be heavily influenced by my teachers, colleagues and mentors – I think we should be constantly seeking and accepting feedback from others, and also continually watching others to see what works and what does not work for us personally.  When I started teaching, I had no formal training in teaching or learning theories.  What I did have was the example of my own great and not-so-great teachers, and in the beginning I taught very much like I myself was taught. 

During my career I have evolved and modified my teaching style to meet both my own professional needs as well as the needs of the particular students I am teaching, but my overall philosophy of teaching has not changed much.  I believe that students learn best when they discover meaning on their own.  I feel I live this philosophy better in the laboratory than in the lecture.  I believe I am a good lecturer, but I am a very linear, concrete thinker who prefers closure, and I like to progress logically from Point A to Point B.  I like to package information in a linear, logical manner.  This makes for a very teacher-centered presentation.

Another important aspect of my teaching philosophy is that I am a firm believer in the appropriate use of humor in the classroom.  I have always felt that I have a good sense of humor, and that sharing that with those around you (colleagues and students) lightens everyone’s burdens.  Finding the right balance of humor and seriousness has been an evolving thing for me, and I find that as the age difference between my students and me increases, my use of humor is more moderate – perhaps I am learning to appreciate better when students need me to be serious.  But whenever possible, I try to interject humor, because it eases tension and improves the learning atmosphere.

My usual mode of presentation for lectures is to choose what I feel to be the main ideas or clinically important facts regarding the topic, and then to deliver a clear explanation, with relevant examples.  I set out to convey in concise fashion what I know about the topic at hand.  This format has the advantage of being able to be planned for efficiency of delivery, and I feel that it allows the students to more easily follow the topic, by proceeding from point to point in a more orderly manner than more student-centered forms of instruction.  However, a weakness of this style of presentation is that it involves the students very little in the process.  Although I do not feel uncomfortable with active-learning activities in the classroom, I find it difficult to incorporate them into the plan.  I try to ask questions and provide opportunities for the students to use reason and previous experience to arrive at the conclusion I want them to have, but there is not enough of this in my presentations.

In general, I prefer a conceptual approach to teaching.  I would describe my style as global; I love to generalize material and help students see trends and concepts. I have difficulty being enthused about presentation of details, although I recognize that details are necessary at times.  I just personally relate better to conceptual rather than factual material. 

My goal in the gross anatomy laboratory is to help the student understand the structure of the whole animal body: to help them develop a three-dimensional mental picture of the body; to understand the relationship between form and function; to build an anatomical vocabulary which will allow them to communicate with other students, teachers and ultimately clients regarding the normal animal anatomy; to relate the study of anatomy to other disciplines in the field of veterinary medicine. 

One place I feel I have room for improvement is in the area of explaining to students why I teach the way that I do, and why I choose some of the activities that I do.  I have observed colleague teachers in the past, who, although they had admirable instructional goals, did not get the students to “buy in” to their methods through communicating to them those goals.  Although I feel that students need to understand where I as a teacher am coming from, I could do a better job at communicating this to them.  Because I am not “in charge” of the classes I teach at the moment, the students get an orientation to the courses from the instructors-of-record, who also introduces me to the students.  I don’t think to introduce my philosophy when I start lecturing.  This is something I have been considering incorporating into a syllabus that I can give to the students for my section of each class, to better explain my philosophy and expectations.