Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

This is an individual assignment. In 1,500-2,000 words, describe the teaching experience and discuss your observations. The written portion of this assignment should include: 

Summary of teaching plan

Epidemiological rationale for topic

Evaluation of teaching experience

Community response to teaching

Areas of strengths and areas of improvement

Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion. Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

Rubric: Focus of community teaching is clear, consistent with community teaching plan, detailed, and well supported. The presentation demonstrates an ability to create effective teaching plans relative to a population. Strong epidemiological rationale is provided and demonstrates support for the topic presented. A comprehensive evaluation of teaching experience is presented. Insight into self-appraisal in regard to teaching is demonstrated. A detailed description of community response to teaching is presented. Areas of strength and improvement are thoroughly discussed. The author demonstrates insight into personal strengths and areas where improvement would be beneficial. Thesis is comprehensive and contains the essence of the paper. Thesis statement makes the purpose of the paper clear. Clear and convincing argument presents a persuasive claim in a distinctive and compelling manner. All sources are authoritative. Writer is clearly in command of standard, written, academic English. All format elements are correct. Sources are completely and correctly documented, as appropriate to assignment and style, and format is free of error. Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

Summary of Teaching Plan

            The community teaching plan entailed imparting the community with knowledge on managing stress to promote better mental health.While stress is common for all students, it is slightly different for high school students when compared to other student groups and age groups. Many students are experiencing significant amounts of stress from social change, relationships, work, life transitions, school and at home. Dealing with bludgeoning social networks and schoolwork coupled with a body that is rapidly adjusting to the adolescent development changes. In fact, it is not uncommon for students to complete three hours of homework every night, in addition to home chores, a full day of schoolwork and extracurricular activities, thus resulting in high stress levels. This stress has taken a significant toll on their grades, happiness and health. In fact, some of the students are using drugs and have become suicidal as a result of the stress. Many of the students feel that their stress levels have exceeded ability to effectively communicate. The unmanaged stress ends up affecting the students’ health-related behavior to include exercise, diet and sleep patterns (Pope, Brown & Miles, 2015). Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

The teaching was done online on Zoom and with Power Point presentations prepared for the high school students to explore various concepts of the topic. Therefore, to complete the teaching plan, the following were the materials required:

• Computer with zoom meeting software.
• Internet connection.
• Power Point Presentation.

Epidemiological Rationale

            Epidemiological data indicates that about 30% of students are experiencing significant stress levels that have become overwhelming so that they are unable to cope. Further review of the epidemiological data reveals that 30% of high school students are sad or depressed as a result of stress. 31% of high school students report feeling tired and 23% reporting skipping meals because of stress. 70% of highs school students report that depression and anxiety are significant problems among their peers, and 75% express fear, sadness, anger and boredom associated with stress while in school. On average, high school students score 5.8 for stress on a 10-point scale, a score that is higher than the normal value reported for adults at 3.8. Overall, 75% of high school students in America report experiencing some stress due to school work (Bouchrika, 2020). Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

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Teaching Experience Evaluation

            To evaluate the teaching experience, one of the most important aspects to assess would be the attendance level of the high school students on the zoom meetings. The instructors should ensure that they send out information to the high school students about the teaching session to increase the attendance. The more people attend the sessions, the more people receive the knowledge on stress management and mental health promotion. A larger attendance list would suggest an element of success in the teaching plan. In this case, the sessions were generally 80% full, which to the instructors was a success since more than half the target audience attended the sessions.

The teaching plan required a robust internet connection in order to host the Zoom sessions for the students. The internet connection was strong and reliable, therefore, it allowed the seamless flow of video content between the educators and the high school students. With a robust internet connection, the students can easily hear the concepts taught in the session and see their instructor clearly. The power point presentations were also easily transmitted online via Zoom for the attendees to properly see them and understand the concepts. Therefore, because of the strong internet connection, it is safe to claim that the teaching experience was successful and motivating the entire time. It appears that the students were interested in learning more about mental health issues and stress management techniques. Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

Another aspect to assess in the teaching experience would be the level of interaction between the attendees and the teachers. An effective teaching experience should be interactive, because this means that the attendees are attentive, especially when they ask questions (Doyle et al., 2019). Therefore, assessing whether the sessions were interactive is an excellent way of determining the quality of the teaching experience. To add to this, the interactions help the instructors determine whether the students in attendance understand the concepts discussed in the sessions. In this case, the students in attendance learned how to identify the stressors and how to avoid them from developing into stress which affects their mental health. For instance, from the PowerPoint presentation, the students learned how stressors develop into stress and their impact on mental health. The presentations included images of people who develop depression and how it manifests in them. By doing so, the students who attended the sessions could then understand through visual representation on how mental health disorders manifest in people. Most of the students in attendance found this method of identifying the stressors, which are critical in developing mental health disorder. Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

It is important for the students to develop interest in the topics taught in the teaching plan for it to be considered effective. As mentioned before, the teaching plan was about teaching the students how to identify the stressors and managing the stress levels. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the students as attendees are highly interested in the topic. Among the methods that the instructors used to ensure that the students in attendance were interested in the topic was to conduct a short survey where the instructors asked about students who suffer from mental health issues and would like to learn more about stress coping mechanisms. Those who expressed interest were invited for the Zoom sessions. Even when conducting the teaching lessons, it is necessary to ensure that the attendees who attend are genuinely interested in the topic to ensure maximum efficiency of the lessons. It beats logic to have lessons where only a few attendees are genuinely interested in the topic. The goal is to educate the community members on mental health issues. Therefore, the session would be beneficial if the attendees are interested in the subject taught and apply the strategies taught in real life. For instance, the students in attendance would apply the stress management techniques taught in the session because they are interested in the topic. If they are not interested, the sessions held would be ineffective in achieving the goals. Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

Community Response to Teaching

            As mentioned before, the community response to the teaching was positive. The students in attendance engaged in a variety of discussions and debates with each other and with the instructors, especially on the topic of stress and its relation to mental health. For instance, the students debated that the most important stressor to identify are the ones that occur when at home with parents, while others argued that the major stressors are those that induce stress on the students within a school setting. The goal of this debate was to determine the most potent stressors among students.

The debates held were an indication that the community members in attendance were attentive and engaged in the community education efforts. It appears that the students in attendance understood the concept of stressors and the environment in which the student is, as critical contributors to poor mental health status. Additionally, the attendance was remarkably impressive with the attendance being about 80% of the expected attendance. To determine the expected attendance of the students, the researchers conducted a survey that enrolled the students interested in discussing the stress and mental health topics. The number of the interested students determined the preparation for the online class, which was critical in assessing the effectiveness of the sessions based on student attendance. Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

All the students who attended the sessions from the first day followed through to the last day of the sessions. About 75% of them were aware of their mental health stressors, and how to identify the stressors.  Their consistent attendance in order to obtain knowledge on how to manage their health for better outcomes was an indication that the sessions were effective in achieving the set goals. Overall, it is safe to say that the community response to the teaching was positive because of the attendance and engagement levels from the students (Bastable, 2017).

Areas of Strength and Improvement

            An area of strength that the instructors noticed from their teaching experience is that the lessons were short and precise, which avoided unnecessary time wastage and boredom from the attendees. Keeping the sessions brief and concise is essential because it allows the instructor to impart the necessary knowledge first, then creating ample time for questions and answers; especially for the community health education programs. The short sessions also allow the attendees to engage in debate about issues taught; which also creates a platform upon which the students learn from each other and consider different perspectives. For instance, in this Zoom online class, the students in attendance engaged in a discussion on the stressors and the different environments in which the stressors are more effective in leading to mental disorders compared to others. Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper

Another area of strength noted was the materials used to teach in the sessions. Theinstructors created power point presentations which were engaging to the attendees. Using visual teaching aids is critical in community health education programs because they allow the community members to visualize the concepts taught in the sessions. For instance, in this case, by seeing the various effects of mental health disorders on physical health, the students in attendance of the sessions understand the effects of stress on an individual through visual learning.

While the teaching experience had strength areas, the instructors should improve on their plan by providing the attendees with tools that would help them adopt healthier lifestyles that reduce stress levels.  For instance, the organizers should have fundraised and provided those in attendance with resource such as free counselling sessions.

References

Bastable, S. B. (2017). Essentials of Patient Education (2nd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, Inc.

Bouchrika, I. (2020, October 26). 50 Current Student Stress Statistics: 2019/2020 Data, Analysis & Predictions. https://www.guide2research.com/research/student-stress-statistics

Doyle, E., Ward, S., & Oomen-Early, J. (2019). The process of community health education and promotion. Waveland Press, Incorporated.

Pope, D., Brown, M., & Miles, S. (2015). Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Community Teaching Plan: Teaching Experience Paper