2023 I remember when I was in nursing school there was a clinical instructor that everyone

I remember when I was in nursing school there was a clinical instructor that everyone talked about and no one wanted to be in her clinical group.  My second semester I ended up in her group and because of what everyone had said about her I was very nervous and anxious to be in her group.  She was very hard because she expected each of us to know our drugs we would be giving for our patients down to the smallest detail and what their medical conditions were and why exactly they were in the hospital.  It all seemed like a lot to remember or memorize the day before clinical and she always asked each of us questions before, during and in conference after each clinical day. 

It became a great experience when I understood that she was only trying to get us to critically think everything through and that she wasn’t out to fail us.  What she expected from us was that we participate and try to give her reasonable answers, she never belittled us when we were wrong, only provided answers.  She motivated me to challenge myself without fear of failure.  I enjoyed learning from her so much that I requested her again when I found out she was teaching clinical again in my fifth semester. 

I feel that the cognitive learning theory best describes the method by which I learn.  “According to this perspective, the key to learning and changing is the individual’s cognition (perception, thought, memory, and ways of processing and structuring information). Cognitive learning—a highly active process largely directed by the individual—involves perceiving the information, interpreting it based on what is already known, and then reorganizing the information into new insights or understanding” (Bastable, 2013, p. 73).  As a very visual learner I absorb what I see and hear in order to process it and be able to understand and use it in my practice.