Med Teach

Today was the first day I was called Dr. Eisha. I know it's a little early to be called as such. And it makes sense the only individuals who would address me that way are five-year-olds.

Yesterday was the official day of the heart (Valentine's Day) and today was the day we got to teach about the cardiovascular system to kindergarteners at a local elementary school. Most students were surprised that a real heart looks nothing like the hearts of Valentines.

Med Teach is a UCSF program that partners UCSF medical and graduate students with local elementary school teachers to develop sessions about medicine, health, and science. I am part of a team of three medical students. We will be teaching a series of sessions about everything from the heart, lungs, muscles, bones, brain, senses, and digestive system.

As we walked into our classroom, I forgot how small children are. The tables are low to the ground and the chairs are tiny. Kids are masters of construction paper art; the black and white penguins that were drying outside the classroom looked identical to my kindergarten art creations.

There are a few challenges associated with capturing any five-year-old's attention. First, you have to get their attention. Then, you have to somehow keep their attention. If you can turn anything into a game, you are miles ahead and will be successful with kids. Teachers are brilliant; they have developed these "learning positions" that instantly bring students back. It works most of the time...

During our session we talked about how the heart pumps blood to the body and how the lungs let air into your body. We even had these really awesome plastic heart and lungs along with models demonstrating how the heart pumps and how the diaphragm moves to allow for chest wall expansion (I wish they would have used these models when they taught about the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems).

Later in the session, the students got to listen to each other’s heart before and after exercise (we had them jump around for a bit) with stethoscopes.

I had so much fun teaching today. It is important to never underestimate how much a kid knows and how much they say (they really say the darnest things). It was so much fun to let my inner child speak for a change. I finally got to jump around, play games, teach a little medicine and learn from five years, who have yet to learn the truth (I am not a doctor yet, but on my way).