{"id":40421,"date":"2012-05-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2012\/05\/11\/the-ingredients-of-a-great-teacher\/"},"modified":"2022-09-02T20:34:48","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T01:34:48","slug":"the-ingredients-of-a-great-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2012\/05\/11\/the-ingredients-of-a-great-teacher\/","title":{"rendered":"The ingredients of a great teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nNow we know the secret: Muffins.<\/p>\n

\nWe’ve heard so much about how Richard MacDonald, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, is a great teacher.<\/p>\n

\nIn fact, he just won the University of Nebraska’s Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award.<\/p>\n

\nBut, how is he a great teacher? In what way? What’s the secret? Muffins?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\"picture<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\nRichard MacDonald, Ph.D.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\nMore than meets the eye<\/b><\/p>\n

\nNo, Dr. MacDonald said, it’s not the muffins he brought for a recent class.<\/p>\n

\n(Really?) “They’re still warm,” a student oohed.<\/p>\n

\nNo, Dr. MacDonald said teaching is all about getting students involved<\/i>, keeping each one of them engaged.<\/p>\n

\nBut, couldn’t anyone do that? Well … does everyone engage you?<\/i><\/p>\n

\nA shared journey<\/b><\/p>\n

\nDr. MacDonald is earnest, yet gentle. He asks questions like he doesn’t know the answer. (And maybe he doesn’t — “I’m not a physician,” he said, as he worked out a medical scenario with a class full of M1’s.) He asks questions like you’ll come to the conclusion together.<\/p>\n

\nSometimes they’re tough questions.<\/p>\n

\n“How do we give (a comatose patient’s family) encouragement without over-encouraging them?” he said. “How do we give them the necessary hope without overdoing it?”<\/p>\n

\nInto the deeper water<\/b><\/p>\n

\nThe students (they’re first-year medical students!) don’t know, of course.<\/p>\n

\nThey’ve gotten good grades in science classes.<\/p>\n

\nBut this? They all stare up at the projector screen, at a picture of a brain scan.<\/p>\n

\nA look into the darkness<\/b><\/p>\n

\n“How good does it look?” Dr. MacDonald asked. “Not good,” someone said.<\/p>\n

\n“How bad is it?”<\/p>\n

\n“Very bad.”<\/p>\n

\n“Weaning into medicine”<\/b><\/p>\n

\nThey followed the questions where they led, and it became apparent that this particular hypothetical would not end with a good outcome.<\/p>\n

\nAs doctors, they would have had to give this patient’s family some very bad news.<\/p>\n

\n“We hadn’t lost a patient yet!” a student said as the realization set in.<\/p>\n

\n“They’re weaning us into medicine,” another said.<\/p>\n

\nThe secret ingredients<\/b><\/p>\n

\nAt the hour break, Dr. MacDonald offered a second round of muffins, and it seemed a good time to step away.<\/p>\n

\nSo, what was it, the secret? What makes him such a good teacher? Muffins?<\/p>\n

\nNo. It’s that he walks with his students, on their quest for answers — which sounds simple, but isn’t.<\/p>\n

\nAnd he does it better than anyone else.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So just what is it that makes UNMC’s Richard MacDonald, Ph.D., such a great teacher?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":40195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","topic-education","department-unmc-today-todays-headlines","author_override-kalani-simpson-unmc-public-relations"],"yoast_head":"\nThe ingredients of a great 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