Do you do "formal" teaching?

[CampNurse10]

Hi everyone,

I am new this year and am wondering what other school nurses do as far as teaching. I know we teach everyday all of the time, but do you ever have any assembly's or go into classrooms and do "formal" teaching? And if so, do you use powerpoint/resources?

Thanks

[SassyTachyRN]

I've taught puberty, hygeine, dental health, nutrition, and hand washing classes to whichever teachers want me to. I enjoy teaching and interacting with the kids that way but it always makes me nervous with their teacher in the room listening. I'm like does he/she think I'm doing it right or a good job? LoL!

Me too! I'm always wondering if they are secretly critiquing me on my teaching skills or thinking about how they could have done it better, lol!

[Massmagic]

I am a School Nurse in Massachusetts and certified with Department of Education (DESE). Our administration had us school nurses teach the school curriculum HEALTH class last year. The health teacher retired and they decided to have the nurses and counselors be the Health Teacher. We taught everyday for one hour, plus do our other duties. What was insane was they had us teaching while gym was in session.

Administration did not want to hire a Health Teacher so used us to teach health. Well, guess what? School nurses teaching a curriculum course in the classroom is ILLEGAL with the Department of Education. School Nurses in Massachusetts are certified as Professional Support Personnel – we are not certified teachers even though we are certified with the DESE.

Well, we did report it to the Department of Ed and they could not believe the superintendent was allowing this. DESE wrote numerous letters, emails to the district but they failed to heed the warning, in fact they just laughed. We filed a formal complaint and the Department of Ed came down on the district hard as it is illegal for a School Nurse to teach a curriculum course as we do not have a license to teach – we have a license to be a nurse.” Students have to receive a certain amount of teaching time from a certified teacher. Just because school nurses have licensure with the Department of Education, this does not make us teachers – DESE licensure gives School Nurses Professional Support Staff status. They also had the school counselors teaching the Health curriculum and that is illegal too as they are Professional Support Staff. WE ended up teaching one hour a day the entire year. They were formally reprimanded and were asked to submit a plan of correction. Well, this year they did hire a health teacher.

This is how the law goes here in Massachusetts, our administration was pulling a fast one on us and it was not a fun year. I spent more time preparing for my classroom lessons than on my job. The Department of Education was furious” that we were teaching – red hot livid.

[RatherBHiking, BSN, RN]

So Massmagic, which job did you enjoy more if you only had to do one? Just curious. I'm sure it was a load of extra stress having to do that on top of school nursing duties! I can't believe they ignored the warnings. I would not have even started teaching the class but I know the regulations. Sometimes it's hard being in an education system when no one understands the scope of our practice.

[Massmagic]

Hi Blue Moon!

Well, I had added stress from doing both jobs - running out when someone in gym needed an inhaler or ice pack and finding time to do my screenings and prep for classes.

I enjoyed the classroom setting. There were some classes that I enjoyed more than others, as some had more discipline problems. I taught 3^rd and 4^th graders. I found that kids are very interested in science, health, and physiology.

I was not trained in the discipline part and quickly learned that each teacher had their own discipline system, and that I was just left hanging there with no discipline plan. The problem was that when the teacher came back in, if I had a system where a misbehaved student warranted disciplinary action, the teacher was not happy as then they had to handle the discipline. I think if I had to do it over, I would try and get some sort of discipline plan that would not involve the action of the classroom teacher. If you have your own room and students come to you for the lesson, I think you could develop some kind of plan.

On the other hand, there were some classes where the students were fully engaged, and highly interested. That experience was delightful as they really love what I was teaching.

Wow, a toss up……. All the fake complainers trying to go home all day long, every day, and fighting with them every day ….or…. teaching all day long.

I think I would say the teaching.

I would grab the teaching now that I really think about it. I found that kids like action work and experiments. They loved experiments and hands on medical things. I think that would be an advantage as the subject matter can be much more creative than the regular curriculum of reading and math. I would go for it - just make sure it is legal with the Dept of Ed in you state before you bite.

[Massmagic]

Blue Moon,

Just another note…I am a dental hygienist also and one of the dental assistants that I used to work with took a job teaching Dental Assisting in a Tech School. She loves it. She has been doing it for like 14 years now and loves it. I think I read one of your posts stating that this would be in a Tech School. I think you would enjoy it. …that is my opinion.

[RatherBHiking, BSN, RN]

Massmagic,

Thank you for your reply and advice! That's good to know from someone who has done both! I know I'll never miss those frequent whiners trying to go home all day long. I feel like half my job is just that. Thanks again! :)

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

Interesting about the Department of Ed stuff, Massmagic. I took a certified sex educator courseload and am in the process of completing my DESE certification for school nursing, but have been debating becoming a certified health teacher eventfully as well (per the plan my school has for new teachers). I am actually really liking teaching as a break from my other duties - I only teach one quarter (out of 4) a year and it is a co-taught course - so getting the full certification sounds like it is needed.