Hygiene EDGEucators 2024 Mastermind Meetings

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3-25, 6:30 pm MST, Artificial Intelligence for teaching

4-22, 6:30 pm MST, Generation Z learns. Sponsored by Curadon.

8-26, 6:30 pm MST, Clinical Instruction

9-23, 6:30 pm MST, Flipping the classroom

10-28, 6:30 pm MST, Gamification in the classroom

One Core Strategy for Teaching in a Dental Hygiene Program

The more I’m in education and working with students, the more I realize that being a great professor and instructor is both a science and an art. There is so much research, study, and science behind teaching and how textbooks say is the best ways to deliver information. But, with practice and experience, the art side comes into teaching on how to best resinate with your specific students.

But, one of the biggest take aways I’ve seen and experienced with success in teaching is understanding and seeing the college experience through your students eyes. Life is completely different today than it was 20 years ago, let alone 1 year ago. As you’re educating your students, look at their lives and perspectives to see what will really resinate with them.

Hygiene Edge on A Tale of Two Hygienists

Did you know we do a monthly podcast all about education and dental education on A Tale of Two Hygienists?Each month, we address a different and new topic in education, from how to teach different topics in didactic courses to have best give feedback to students while in clinic. There are so many interesting topics in education that we can chat on, and are learning new things in each! Come hang out with us on where ever you usually listen to your podcasts, and chat education and dentistry with us.

https://www.ataleoftwohygienists.com/listen/pediatric-hygiene-tips-from-hygiene-edge-268/

Are You Utilizing Active Learning in Your Dental Hygiene Classroom?

I had an interesting experience with my 6 year old daughter a few weeks ago. She is at the perfect age where  she loves to pretend play. A few days ago, I came up to her in the front room with a complete restaurant set up with dishes, silverware, cook books for menus, and her as the server and cook, complete with one of her dance hair nets. Another game she has been playing is “school”.

Now, I remember playing school with my neighborhood friends. We would all want to be the teacher because it was always the most fun. As the teacher, you could write on the tiny chalk board, make worksheets, stand up in the front of the class and talk to the students sitting on the ground. And honestly, being the student was no fun. Sitting in a blanket, we’d wait around for more work sheets or to be told what to do by our “teacher”. So when my little one asked me to play school with her and to be the student, I had flashbacks to those days.

However, her game of school was completely different than this memory. She had a classroom set up with me on the couch as a desk, but I was rarely there. One minute, she was leading me in a reading group, taking turns reading sections of a Dr. Seuss book. The next minute, she had me in a different part of the room dancing to a song she heard at school. Next, she put Post-it notes with numbers on different walls and I had to match up math equations with these numbers. As I was moving around, I couldn’t help but think about all the active learning that’s happening in her classroom. She’s obviously mirroring what happens during her school day, and recreating it in her pretend classroom.

Having her learn through active learning showed to me that it is never going away. Are we as dental hygiene educators incorporating active learning into our classrooms? How are we going away from strict lecture classes only and moving into this student focused learning? As new students are coming out of high school and into our programs, they’ll be accustom to active learning in their classrooms. How are we changing to keep up with this way of learning?

Dental Hygiene Edge-ucators Podcast

Here at Hygiene Edge we LOVE educating others, from students to fellow educators. We know that we have a lot to learn from each other. Recently we started pod casting about the many aspects of dental hygiene education. Follow along with us on “Hygiene Edge-ucators,” for helpful content to make you the best educator you can be.

Semester Check In for Dental Hygiene Students

So, we’re a few weeks into this Fall semester, depending on when you started school. We’re starting Week 5 today, which is weird. We are also having a spike in COVID-19 numbers right now, mainly because we have 2 major collages within miles of each other with thousands of students living in apartments with roommates, going to school, and heading off to work and parties. We keep hearing of potential changes at the university level, as well as in public schools and even just the way we live. So, to say that everyone is a bit stressed right now is a little bit of an understatement.

So, instead of starting your class announcement or email with the generic greeting or go straight into the tasks of the week, it may be time to change it up to show how much you care. Genuinely ask how your student is doing and how their family is doing. Listen to what they have to say and empathize if they’re having a difficult time right now.

Let us know how it goes! We’d love to see how your students respond.

To The Dental Hygiene Educators

Dear Dental Hygiene Educators:

This is it! Class is starting, new scaler packages are being opening, and a new class of bright eyed, and a little bit overwhelmed, students are back in our classrooms, either in person or virtual. This is definitely the start to a weird time, and a new way of thinking about things when it comes to how we work and how we teach. We’re excited for this new time and to get through this semester with you! Here is a bit of advice from us:

1. It is so normal to feel like a 1st semester teacher. Everything is new. Everything is different. But that doesn’t mean you can’t handle it. We aren’t going to lie- it’s hard and at times no fun. But just like that 1st year of teaching, you get through it, learn, and look back at it with fond memories. 

2. It’s ok to ask for help. Make sure you’re part of our Dental Hygiene Educators Connect group on Facebook to reach out and connect with other educators going through the same thing. Dental hygiene is a totally different major than any other on campus- we only teach a class 1 time a year instead of each semester, we have huge end of the program finals (aka boards) to prep students for, and small classes of students that are high preforming. And, we may be coming into teaching without any formal teaching experience. It’s a lot! Let’s connect and share what’s working, what isn’t, and give ideas on how to improve our classrooms this Fall.

3. There will be technology hiccups this semester. It’s a guarantee! I had Zoom meetings with students today, and half couldn’t get into the Zoom link due to internet problems. All this technology is new to many of us, and be prepared for it to be not working at times. Don’t let that ruffle your feathers. Technology not working has nothing to do with you as a teacher, and everything to do with this crazy time.

4. Take time for yourself. Especially now that there is so much to do with teaching online, don’t take every second of your free time working on your class. Make sure you’re spending some time relaxing, going outside, and maybe grabbing a favorite drink or snack to make it through the week.

We’d love to know how you’re holding up right now! Let us know and we’ll work through all the things together.

Classroom Engagement Ideas for the 1st Day of School

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play, than in a year of conversation.”- Plato

Classroom engagement is always such a hard topic to talk about, especially now that the world of teaching has changed. Engagement on Zoom can be difficult, if not impossible. It’s easy for students to get distracted and do a zillion other things while “listening” to your lecture.

If you’re looking for a different way to connect and help with engagement in your classroom, you definitely want to check your mindset when it comes to teaching. Has it been overwhelming moving to online school, so you’re being a bit checked out with everything (makes sense- I can totally relate to this as daily changes happen)? Are you fully engaged in your class, quickly answering emails and questions, and giving good feedback to their students? It has been so hard these last few semesters, and many teachers feel that they’re back to being a 1st year teacher again.

For the first week of school or first day of class, why not mix it up and get to know your students just a bit differently? Filming a quick video is always helpful for an online class to get to know each other and actually see and hear a class member, but sometimes can be cumbersome to upload a video. Check out www.flipgrid.com, a super easy way to upload videos and watch other people’s as well, all in one place.

Another way to connect with your students, but definitely takes more time, is to set up 5 minute Zoom chats with each student individually. Create a Sign up Genius with a few different times and dates for your students to sign up on and email out the Zoom link. Definitely keep yourself to the time limit (even set an alarm on your phone when you need to get off for the next chat) to show you respect their time as a student. Ask a few get to know you questions, or turn it into an informal “pretest” asking some questions about the class content for the semester.

How are you making this first week of school different and better than last semester? We’d love to hear from you! What do you like to do to connect and engage with your students from day 1?

Why Hygiene Edge-ucators?

We’re so excited for our latest avenue of Hygiene Edge- Hygiene Edge-ucators! This is a space dedicated to dental educational professionals who are working, loving, and learning in the education space. Let’s be honest, most of us in dental education aren’t career academics, and don’t have much formal teaching education before jumping into a teaching role.

We want to help with that. We want to give helpful tips and ideas that we’ve learned and are still learning from our small years of education. Plus, we want to brainstorm and learn from you! We definitely know dental hygienists and dental hygiene instructors are some of the smartest people we know, and we want to learn and become better as a whole.

So, don’t be shy! Intersted in writing an article for Hygiene Edge-ucators? Want to be on our podcast? Have a great idea for a class to encourage active learning? Let’s talk about it.