An esteemed and brilliant anatomist approached me in lab yesterday. He pointed out my large following for review sessions. He got me thinking about what makes a student excel.
He noted this: “You are effective at getting them to show up when they don’t have to do it. You make things simpler, making it all feel doable.”
Getting students to come to lab when they are not required to be there is a simple task. I tell them this: “You show up prepared, and I will make it easier for you to integrate.”
If they deliver, I deliver. I am nothing but a catalyst.
Since I arrived on the island, one eager student shows up an hour early to study – and to get a front seat for the review. I see her educating her peers that couldn’t make it to the sessions, and she constantly has her gears turning with the material. She isn’t binging and purging the information. She owns it by building a relationship with it.
Will she get an A? Who cares! Grades are an extrinsic reward, not an intrinsic display of what was integrated. Learning is about the process, not the grade. Contact the vast majority of my chiropractic classmates who aced anatomy, and I doubt they recall much.
And I was one of them
Now, let me blow your mind. I aced anatomy in chiropractic school – but it was my lowest national board score. I am anecdotal support that grades mean little. So, I went on to dedicate a big chunk of my life to it, because the material mattered to me.
So, few people want to go toe-to-toe with my regarding anatomy, despite it being my lowest board score. Why? It’s because I have a profound relationship with the anatomy. I learned how to be an excellent student, and that takes developing a true, deep relationship with the material.
So, crack the books. Devote the time. Get connected to the material.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley