In the podcast "How Does a Helicopter Paramedic Work?" David Plotz speaks with Jeff Ennis about his job. Ennis who is a paramedic in North Carolina talks about what it's like to be on life flights and what his job demands. Jeff goes into detail about his typically intense job on a day to day basis.
In the interview, Ennis says that most of his shifts are 24 hours long. He typically works two shifts separated by a day off and then is usually off for five days. On his off time he sometimes picks up work at local emergency responders in the area. During a typical work day, Ennis' shift starts at 7 in the morning. Even though his shift starts at 7 in the morning, he begins to get ready long before by packing his things and getting food ready for his shifts. Also, when Jeff arrives, he cautiously checks drugs and replaces supplies that the previous crew used.
As the interview continues, Plotz asks Ennis if he ever thinks about if the patient is going to live. Interestingly enough, Ennis responds by saying, "In a way it doesn't matter" I thought this was a very important quote in the podcast because it shows that Ennis has the capability of separating emotion from his high pressure profession. Ennis also says, "I am going to show up, do my job, and do it professionally and make sure I don't miss anything" When you have such a high pressure job such as Ennis does, it is very important that he does not let emotion play part in his decision making process. He has to do what is best for the patient and try to stabilize them to get to the hospital. Overall I think Ennis has successfully figured out how to separate emotion yet still have passion for his job.
Furthermore, I believe that there should always be a separation of emotion from your profession career. I also believe there is a difference between emotion and passion when coming into a profession. Emotion could possibly cloud your mind and prevent you from working to your full ability. Passion on the other hand could be an acceptable thing to exemplify because you will always have the drive and push to do your job to the best of your ability. To finish up, I know when I pursue my career in medicine I will not let my emotions cloud my judgment and I will always treat my patients to the best of my ability.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Friday, January 23, 2015
Educators of Different Eras With Same Values
In Studs Terkel's book Working, he adventures into the life of school teacher Rose Hoffman. Hoffman is a veteran of the education system and was currently working at a school in a what she describes as a "changing neighborhood". Those two simple words I believe are very symbolic in this piece because of the United State's ever changing ethnic background in the post economic depression era. Hoffman goes on to say, "We had a smattering of ethnic groups in those times—people who worked themselves out of the Depression by hard work.". Hoffman took great pride in everyone that worked hard to get themselves out of rough times and back on track to be successful. Rose did not care what background the student came from and tried to make sure she challenged each student to their limit.
Although Hoffman was proud of everyone's hard work, she struggled with the new types of students she was teaching. She says, “In the old days, kids would sit in their seats." Rose was not used to the inattentive children and seemed almost like she would racially stereotype them. Even though she had to overcome so many obstacles in her time as teaching, Rose never failed to invent successful ways to teach her students.
Another chapter in the book Working by Studs Terkel was entering the work life of Pat Zimmerman. Zimmerman was a headmaster at a low-income alternative school in the late 60's. As a teacher, Pat had to overcome the challenges of troubled students who needed guidance in their lives and he was there to provide it. Zimmerman realizes the amount of problems each individual student has and does not want to add extra stress onto each student. What he says about competition in school is, "The only one I accept is the student’s competition with himself." Zimmerman was a strict teacher but overall only cared about making a student into a successful human being and making them push themselves. He also says, “I make a distinction between people who deserve to be cared about and some who have completely given up”. Zimmerman has a strict mindset on how to help the people who care. He strives to help kids who want to be helped. Although Zimmerman has a unique style on helping unprivileged kids, he is still making a difference in many of their lives
Lastly, in the podcast "How Does a Principal Work?" David Plotz talks to Andrew Rubin. Rubin is a principal and teacher at a low income, grades 5-8, charter school in the Houston area. Plotz talks with him about his daily struggles at the school and how he succeeds in helping his students in the school. The first thing Rubin says that he tells parents is that "My first job is to keep their kids safe". I believe that is a great thing for Rubin to say because having security in a learning environment always helps the learning process. Rubin seems to create a great environment in the school and makes sure that the kids are successful instead of making the stereotype that low income children are unsuccessful. Rubin also says, "whatever it takes to get the students who usually don't go to college, complete college.". I believe this excerpt is very important because Rubin is trying to change the course of his students lives and set them up for success later in life.
Concluding, all three of these individuals seemed to have the same goal of helping low income students thrive in a society that sets them up to fail. Also note that each individual had come from different walks of life and different time periods yet had the same aspirations to help the children they were mentoring. To finish, each of the educators successfully dedicated or are dedicating their lives to children and making them well rounded individuals even in the worst of situations.
Andrew Rubin
Although Hoffman was proud of everyone's hard work, she struggled with the new types of students she was teaching. She says, “In the old days, kids would sit in their seats." Rose was not used to the inattentive children and seemed almost like she would racially stereotype them. Even though she had to overcome so many obstacles in her time as teaching, Rose never failed to invent successful ways to teach her students.
Another chapter in the book Working by Studs Terkel was entering the work life of Pat Zimmerman. Zimmerman was a headmaster at a low-income alternative school in the late 60's. As a teacher, Pat had to overcome the challenges of troubled students who needed guidance in their lives and he was there to provide it. Zimmerman realizes the amount of problems each individual student has and does not want to add extra stress onto each student. What he says about competition in school is, "The only one I accept is the student’s competition with himself." Zimmerman was a strict teacher but overall only cared about making a student into a successful human being and making them push themselves. He also says, “I make a distinction between people who deserve to be cared about and some who have completely given up”. Zimmerman has a strict mindset on how to help the people who care. He strives to help kids who want to be helped. Although Zimmerman has a unique style on helping unprivileged kids, he is still making a difference in many of their lives
Lastly, in the podcast "How Does a Principal Work?" David Plotz talks to Andrew Rubin. Rubin is a principal and teacher at a low income, grades 5-8, charter school in the Houston area. Plotz talks with him about his daily struggles at the school and how he succeeds in helping his students in the school. The first thing Rubin says that he tells parents is that "My first job is to keep their kids safe". I believe that is a great thing for Rubin to say because having security in a learning environment always helps the learning process. Rubin seems to create a great environment in the school and makes sure that the kids are successful instead of making the stereotype that low income children are unsuccessful. Rubin also says, "whatever it takes to get the students who usually don't go to college, complete college.". I believe this excerpt is very important because Rubin is trying to change the course of his students lives and set them up for success later in life.
Concluding, all three of these individuals seemed to have the same goal of helping low income students thrive in a society that sets them up to fail. Also note that each individual had come from different walks of life and different time periods yet had the same aspirations to help the children they were mentoring. To finish, each of the educators successfully dedicated or are dedicating their lives to children and making them well rounded individuals even in the worst of situations.
Andrew Rubin
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Working: Correlation Between Success and Fun?
When listening to Rankin talk about fun, he brings up working as a vendor for his farmer's market at RFK stadium. Rankin elaborates into the details of his day at the stadium and says "It was highly successful. In fact it was so much fun to do it. It wasn't work.". After hearing Rankin say those statements, it made me wonder does work correlate with success in order for it to be fun? In many instances I believe that if you are successful at what you do, you will have fun and while having fun, it will feel meaningful to you. Having meaning for a job comes down to an individual's interpretation of what he or she is doing on a day-to-day basis for a living. If a person is not having fun from time to time again with their job or successful, how can they view themselves as doing something meaningful? Rankin would be a prime example in the idea that when you are successful at what you do, you will have fun. Through his successes at the farmer's market he was blinded to the negative idea of work and began to have fun. Overall, the question that I leave would be, is it possible for an individual to be unsuccessful and have no fun, yet believe that their job still has meaning?
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