Weeks 23 and 24: Educational Leadership with Dr. Sykes and JP Backyard Ultra/Hike Recap!
These past two weeks I had the unique opportunity of stepping out of the clinic and back into the classroom for an educational leadership rotation. This rotation is designed to help foster entry-level teaching skills as well as develop an understanding of how to best meet the needs of students in a medical education setting.
Prior to this rotation I had the privilege of assisting with 16 undergraduate courses at Cal Poly SLO, and co-teaching two access to care courses (one at Cal Poly and one at UC Davis). That being said, I entered this course with a general understanding of teaching methods and was excited to receive additional formal training in this area.
The way this rotation was set up varies depending on the class you select to participate in. I had selected the third-year infectious disease sub-block and had the privilege of being mentored by Dr. Sykes. Approximately one year ago I was sitting in her lecture and was captivated by her enthusiasm and use of props, specifically raw fish, to help students understand complex infectious disease topics. I knew right then and there that I wanted to participate in this educational leadership rotation with her and was grateful when she agreed to take me under her wing.
The first week of this rotation, I worked with our school’s educational specialist, Dr. Boudreaux, and learned about the science of teaching. We dove into the development of learning objectives and high-quality assessment material in addition to the common barriers educators run into while trying to teach students. I also had the opportunity to participate in a book club with some of the faculty members and hear their perspective on creating engaging content that encourages in-person lecture attendance. The ability to hear from a variety of faculty members and experienced educators helped broaden my perspective on the hurdles instructors need to navigate while relaying information to students in a graduate degree setting.
That first week also provided time to create content to supplement the curriculum and apply the teaching strategies I was learning about. I did some research on the gamification of learning along with the benefit of using music and audio-visual tools to supplement lecture concepts. This research helped influence the material I made for the course, and I ended up creating multiple music videos to supplement lecture concepts as well as a Fungal Outbreak Escape Room. Making this content also gave me the chance to revisit the material and become more familiar with concepts that had previously been unclear. Additionally, I spent some time during the first week meeting with Dr. Sykes to discuss the course as well as identify areas where we could increase engagement and student enjoyment.
The second week of the rotation was when these skills and new ideas were put into practice. Dr. Sykes had 7 lectures covering four major topics, and each one was accompanied by props, poems, and music videos. It was amazing to watch the engagement from the students and hear the audible gasps when different pictures appeared on the screen or horror stories of infectious disease cases were shared. It was also fun to watch them laugh at the poems, music videos, and little jokes disbursed throughout the lecture sessions. Heading into this know that most students do not inherently look forward to the infectious-disease sub-block since it comes at a challenging time in the semester, so our main goal was to make this block as fun and memorable as possible. By the time the week had come to an end, we had received a lot of positive feedback saying that they had enjoyed this material more than they had anticipated.
While I am absolutely overjoyed the students enjoyed this course, one of my highlights was getting to work with Dr. Sykes and watching her light up in the lecture hall. She is absolutely brilliant and a natural speaker who knows how to captivate an audience. I loved getting to know her on a deeper level watching her shine in her element. It is not every day that you have the chance to work with THE author of the textbook on infectious diseases of the dog and cat and this opportunity was a reminder of how fortunate I am to be at this school and have access to and support from such incredible people.
Overall, this was an incredibly useful experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time learning alongside the students, Dr. Sykes, and the other amazing ID team.
Here are the music videos for any of you interested in increasing your knowledge of infectious diseases.
Music Videos
Quote of the rotation: “Next time you go swimming you can think about nocardia.” – Dr. Sykes
JP Backyard Ultra Recap
Prior to the start of this rotation, I also had the privilege of participating in the JP Backyard Ultra/hike. This was a fundraiser for the Pheo Para Alliance which supports research of paraganglioma which is the form of cancer JP is currently battling. For more on JP's story and mission, you can click here.
This event involved running a 3.3-mile loop with 550 feet of elevation multiple times. Every hour of the race we ran one lap until we were ready to stop. I had never participated in an event like this and found the format interesting. Regardless of how fast everyone completed the lap, we all started together on the top of the hour and also reversed directions each hour. It fostered a sense of community while keeping the course interesting.
Some people were there for one lap while others were there for the long-haul. The maximum duration of the event was 10 hours, and I had intended to complete all ten laps. Long story short, my body had other plans. I ended up completing 8 laps and if I'm being completely honest, I was mad. I'm competitive and love pushing my body to the limit so having to stop at lap 8 felt like a slap in the face even if it was the safest option for my body.
This was the first time I had ever stopped in a race before finishing my intended distance. I have trained and raced on broken bones, unintentionally of course, but that being said, I consider myself to have a high tolerance for discomfort. Prior to this event, the saying “listen to your body” was a nice little suggestion. Things got a little too hairy during the race and in hindsight, I am glad I listened to what my body needed that day.
After my frustrated drive home, I realized how stinking ridiculous my mindset was regarding the race and my performance. Hear me out, I was mad about "only" completing 8 laps aka 26.85 miles and listening to my body when it needed to stop. That is absolutely insane! I had lost sight of the purpose of this race. It was a fundraiser for cancer research and a way to come together as a community for a great cause. My attitude regarding my performance was completely self-centered and drew my attention away from the privilege it is to be on the trail moving my body.
Additionally, I met so many amazing people on the trail throughout the race and also got to meet my friend, Caden, in-person for the first time. We had been in the same undergrad anatomy group during COVID and had only met over Zoom until this race. The people and atmosphere are always my favorite parts of endurance athletics, and I never want to lose sight of this beautiful aspect of racing.
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