Students
Well I can't believe it, but for the first time ever in all my years as a COTA I'm going to have the opportunity to have a student observe me. Even though I've had students observe me in the past, this is the first official student assigned to me. Some have been one day field trips or as I'm presenting to a public group. I've also had OT students observe me, but only as a kind of a bonus because I was working with their OTR supervisor at the time.
Even though it's been years since I did my clinicals, I still remember how tough they were. The many hours of working, observing and learning. Then every day it was home to do a few hours of research, reading or other homework. In my phys dys clinical I remember having a split site, working for an OTR in the morning and a COTA in the afternoon. Each assigned me enough homework to keep me busy for the entire night, and having two supervisors doubled the workload. The funny thing is that these two were close friends and went out for dinner and/or shopping at least twice a week together. Although they did discuss my clinical skills occasionally, neither one ever discussed the homework load they were assigning. I made it to week 5 out of 6 before my sleep-deprived body revolted upon receiving two final papers to write. Fortunately these two met, discussed, and agreed upon a single combined paper.
If you've ever had a student I hope it was a good experience. I have seen a couple of OT students that were so naïve I wondered if they would survive their clinical. Having the chance to teach a future practitioner is an honor to me, and something I hope everyone would consider if asked.
Anyway, I hope that this student will have a great learning experience under my wing. I'm already assembling the homework lists! (NOT)
Until next time, hope all your thoughts are good,
Tim