Topic 4A - Evidence Based Practice
Though I do not yet have experience as a social work practitioner, I am beginning to see what it takes to do the right job. I have learned that it takes commitment, compassion, but beyond that, and very importantly, it takes evidence-based practice.
While I know I have lots yet to learn, I can apply some of my earlier lessons from the field of education to my social work practice. One of those biggest lessons would be that collecting data and analyzing it ends up saving so much more time than it requires. I have seen how, even with just minimal initial effort, record keeping and research pay huge dividends.
When I got my first tutoring jobs in elementary math, I figured that first and second grade math would be a cinch but it turned out that it was not as easy as I expected and that supporting such young children required many new strategies and ideas than I came equipped with. Thus, after unsuccessfully trying and trying to encourage seven and eight year olds to learn to multiply with arrays and multiplication tables, I decided I needed to catch up on different practices.
Because the children were not succeeding using the ways that I personally knew how to succeed, I had to go and find professional support. I gathered new information about teaching young students in three ways and each way provided me with more insight and aptitude.
The first approach I took was to talk with other tutors and teachers in the field. Initially I didn't think to ask. Truthfully, I didn't want to bother, or maybe I thought it was a conflict of interest. I don't know why I thought that because as soon as I inquired, I found that professionals were happy to help and that we shared the same interests in doing the best for the children. Talking to others in the field gave me perspective, a new lens and insight into the standard practices of the field.
The second approach that I took to improve on my tutoring abilities was to learn more about the specific students with whom I was working. I would research any diagnoses that they may have in their plan or have shared with me. By knowing my students and their specialties, I understood more of their needs. All individuals have different needs, and all people learn math in different ways, so I really needed to not try to make a square peg fit in a hexagonal hole. I did this by reaching out to their teachers to find out what strategies were recommended or what had worked heretofore. The most important part of the algorithm, however, was the student's input, itself. Therefore, I found that I best start taking information in right away and getting it directly from the source.
The third approach that I took to research the best and most effective approaches to supporting the elementary math needs of students was in securing my own copy of their book and curriculum. It didn't seem obvious to me at the beginning but now that I think about it, I was oblivious. Of course I needed to see what text and instruction the students were working on. If we wanted them to succeed in the skills they were being asked to demonstrate in class, I needed to have direct access to the materials. I ended up buying a copy from the internet. Even though the cost of the materials was more than I made in one tutoring session, it was worth WAY MORE in expected pay out and was the smartest buy I could have made. I would argue that by researching the student's textbooks and getting insight into their questions and methods I could better support the students, they would see better results and our partnership would continue longer and more fruitfully than it otherwise would.
With the dividends research pays to a professional, it is important to invest in Evidence-Based Practice. With the scenario I brought up at the beginning, I applied new evidence to my practice and my students excelled. In one specific example I read "Uniquely Human" by Barry Prizant to be better informed with neurodiversity, I altered my approach from flashcards to factors, and before I knew it my struggling second grader was an excelling third grader listing off all the factors of 2,520. That couldn't have happened without someone else's research and now we just gotta go out there and get more of it!
While I know I have lots yet to learn, I can apply some of my earlier lessons from the field of education to my social work practice. One of those biggest lessons would be that collecting data and analyzing it ends up saving so much more time than it requires. I have seen how, even with just minimal initial effort, record keeping and research pay huge dividends.
When I got my first tutoring jobs in elementary math, I figured that first and second grade math would be a cinch but it turned out that it was not as easy as I expected and that supporting such young children required many new strategies and ideas than I came equipped with. Thus, after unsuccessfully trying and trying to encourage seven and eight year olds to learn to multiply with arrays and multiplication tables, I decided I needed to catch up on different practices.
Because the children were not succeeding using the ways that I personally knew how to succeed, I had to go and find professional support. I gathered new information about teaching young students in three ways and each way provided me with more insight and aptitude.
The first approach I took was to talk with other tutors and teachers in the field. Initially I didn't think to ask. Truthfully, I didn't want to bother, or maybe I thought it was a conflict of interest. I don't know why I thought that because as soon as I inquired, I found that professionals were happy to help and that we shared the same interests in doing the best for the children. Talking to others in the field gave me perspective, a new lens and insight into the standard practices of the field.
The second approach that I took to improve on my tutoring abilities was to learn more about the specific students with whom I was working. I would research any diagnoses that they may have in their plan or have shared with me. By knowing my students and their specialties, I understood more of their needs. All individuals have different needs, and all people learn math in different ways, so I really needed to not try to make a square peg fit in a hexagonal hole. I did this by reaching out to their teachers to find out what strategies were recommended or what had worked heretofore. The most important part of the algorithm, however, was the student's input, itself. Therefore, I found that I best start taking information in right away and getting it directly from the source.
The third approach that I took to research the best and most effective approaches to supporting the elementary math needs of students was in securing my own copy of their book and curriculum. It didn't seem obvious to me at the beginning but now that I think about it, I was oblivious. Of course I needed to see what text and instruction the students were working on. If we wanted them to succeed in the skills they were being asked to demonstrate in class, I needed to have direct access to the materials. I ended up buying a copy from the internet. Even though the cost of the materials was more than I made in one tutoring session, it was worth WAY MORE in expected pay out and was the smartest buy I could have made. I would argue that by researching the student's textbooks and getting insight into their questions and methods I could better support the students, they would see better results and our partnership would continue longer and more fruitfully than it otherwise would.
With the dividends research pays to a professional, it is important to invest in Evidence-Based Practice. With the scenario I brought up at the beginning, I applied new evidence to my practice and my students excelled. In one specific example I read "Uniquely Human" by Barry Prizant to be better informed with neurodiversity, I altered my approach from flashcards to factors, and before I knew it my struggling second grader was an excelling third grader listing off all the factors of 2,520. That couldn't have happened without someone else's research and now we just gotta go out there and get more of it!
Great comments. I am impressed with your lifelong interest in really helping disadvantaged populations, and in doing it well. This is an essential component for being a great social worker.
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