What made a certain teacher great and their effect on me

¶ … Teacher Great & the Effect on Me

A teacher of the human spirit and psyche: Mary Rita Feudenthal

Sometimes the quality of a teacher is just as important as the content of what is taught in the classroom. This was the case of my freshman psychology teacher Mary Rita Feudenthal.

Everything she encountered became part of her lesson plan. Teaching was a joy for her, so learning from her was a joy. Her teaching style was multisensory and multidisciplinary. She often used films in her classroom to illustrate case studies of psychological disorders, like Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with As Good As It Gets. She tried to give us a sense of how mental illness and treatment was viewed in popular culture, by showing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. We examined the effects and importance of popular psychology upon the human consciousness by studying Leo Buscaglia and Joseph Campbell. She shared her own experiences of working in the field of psychology, and made learning come alive by making it seem relevant. She also took an interest in our own personal experiences, impressions, and fostered debate and discussion about controversial issues in class.

Her instruction opened my eyes to a new world of knowledge, and I planned my schedule specifically to take her classes. I went on to take a total of five psychology courses with Professor Feudenthal: Abnormal Psychology, Social Learning, Lifespan and Human Potential, and Psychology of Learning. All of these classes were conducted with her characteristic sensitivity about how mental illness could affect human being's lives. Her knowledge about the biological, psychological, and social aspects of the human psyche is what made her teaching so relevant to nursing.

Professor Feudenthal was driven by the quest to promote understanding in this very demanding, yet rewarding subfield of nursing. There is still a great deal of prejudice and ignorance about the mentally ill, and how to treat patients suffering from psychological disorders. Professor Feudenthal was to show compassion, without ignoring the serious implications of mental illness. She was also able to show how psychological concepts were evident in our own psyches and lives, not just in the lives of our future patients.

Professor Feudenthal was a charismatic and caring teacher because she was genuinely interested in how people lived their lives and perceived their own state of wellness, as well as how textbooks defined mental health. Every time I interview a patient in my work as a mental health nurse, I am living Professor Feudenthal's teaching, and it was because of this professor that I became a mental health nurse.