There are many people who comfort others saying, "When God closes a door, He opens a window." It has gone on so many times I wonder if it has not become a cliche because people see the word God. Former lawyer and attorney Michael Josephson's quote has a stronger message than just passively waiting. "If one door to opportunity closes, find another. There are more doors than you need. Just keep looking until you find the right one."
As my English debate training expertise has become more and more widespread, I forget that there are always naysayers and also doubters. The strength of my training is not so much about the techniques or strategies, but rather, how I inject a sense of unity and purpose for committed students. I am an advocate of developing talent and fighters who know what they are doing and why they have to keep at doing their tasks. Always looking for the long run. That's how winning is done. Sometimes the victories along the road are just little markers on the highway that signal to us how far we have come along the journey.
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Unorthodox as it may sound, the SOAP progression notes we have become so used to as medical interns and beyond, has become something new I am working on for my personal teaching journal.
Over the years, my memory power has become less and less intact. It is a sign of aging and the increasingly complex tasks I have beforehand. There is nothing shameful about it. Even the brightest and quickest of minds have to have some sort of organization. The progress notes of a patient during their stay in the hospital are quite simple. It follows an S-O-A-P format. S for subjective. O for objective. A for assessment. P for plan. The first 2 weeks, I did do that, but unlike hospital patients, students don't tend to change as much from week to week. So now I will write when I see fit. Here's a quick look at what SOAP notes are. A few days ago, I received a tutoring gig referral from a headmaster of a children's English cram school. I was informed that the parent was working as a professional in the legal industry. It should have been like any normal referral, I assumed. Little did I know that there was some surprises in store for me.
For the past two weeks, I have had class with a student inside the hospital. It was a very interesting situation. My student M had an incident where she was unable to stand up from seating position last week. While M tried to get up, her knees felt weak and she fell into a kowtow position at a public area. While the ambulance whisked her off in typical Taiwan efficiency, which is hellishly fast, she was transferred from hospital A to B and finally to C. Whatever the reasons were, M was slightly rattled and mildly nervous. She said when she was on the ambulance, her upper body and consciousness were still fine. Therefore, she took the time to "get to know the vehicle", reading off signs on various emergency equipment. I have to say, it was quite a review for me as a former physician. Her diagnosis was hypokalemia, which means low potassium (K+) levels in blood serum. The origins of the problem are yet to be known. Hypokalemia is potentially life-threatening and should never be taken lightly. Over the days, the steady, gradual climb of her blood potassium levels assured us that the worst possible scenario is temporarily averted. However, a thorough examination of her endocrine and nephrotic system is needed. Hopefully there will be some good news before she is discharged from the ward by the end of this week. While I was in the hospital, we chatted a lot of issues about herself and mine. While it may seem like conversational English on the surface, it was a very brotherly bonding time. I got to know her more and she got to know my stuff too. Stable mutual trust is established only when the instructor, whether he/she is a tutor, coach, or school teacher, takes the active role to cement the bond. I am grateful that this has happened and gave us a much-needed rest from the constant teachings that I usually give to any student. All the best. Caleb out. |
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May 2022
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