Steven Velásquez - Granting "Sirenity"

by Steven P. Velasquez, NREMTP Of all the courses I teach, I am probably most proud of teaching The Difficult Airway Course; EMS TM. (DAC). There are many reasons for this sense of pride, not the least of which is how a student can immediately put these assessment techniques to work, immediately begin practicing airway management more safely and based upon best evidence, can begin driving better outcomes for patients. Mark Bober NREMTP, Difficult Airway Course; EMS Instructor and Clinical Manager - JFK EMS   Less than a week ago, our team took the DAC to J.F.K. Medical Center's EMS Department in Edison, N.J. The audience included everything from the newest paramedics in search of good information (and perhaps a couple of CEU's) to seasoned practitioners, flight paramedics and critical care transport nurses. I personally have a near panic attack every time I get in front of a group of people and this group particularly because I directly work with many of...

Are You "Learning Enabled?" by Steven P. Velasquez May 6, 2013 I was doing some Spring Cleaning today, but not of the physical variety. I was mulling through folders and folders of previously important email, messages etc... when I happened upon one that is a keeper for sure. The words within it were touching, though not authored by the sender. The fact the sender found me worthy of such words is what touched me so deeply and leaves me glad I didn't hit delete. The person who sent it was a student of mine. She too is an educator, in the public school system if memory serves me correct. Often when I teach my classes, I share with the students a part of my life that is a little embarrassing, has caused me much grief (probably more for my parents) but I share it with my students willingly to help alay their fears. You see, they sometimes appear eager and are so quick to come tell me their problem, their issue, their excuse for their anticipated underperformance. ...

by Steven P. Velasquez July 25, 2011 An instructor should maintain control of their class at all times!  Photo by S. Velasquez So read the pages of many instructor's texts.  They offer an instructor ways to identify when a student is being disruptive (jokes, war-stories, generalized digression and argument), when the others are being annoyed/cheated by it, and ways to constructively and politely re-direct a student's focus/attention to the lesson at hand.  The texts even explain the utter importance of classroom control with how it affects time and budget management (i.e.  In a class of 20 students, if 20% of the class is disruptive for only 15 minutes each, you've either tacked an hour onto the tail end of the day or you have to cut valuable information out of the program to stay on time/budget and accommodate the disruption).  The long and short of it being -- an instructor should maintain control of their class at all times! An instruct...