Welcome to Week 4 of this series - using Pixar’s storytelling framework through the lens of nursing education to improve our case studies and classroom activities.
If you missed the first few weeks, you can read the previous articles here:
Week 1 - Principle #1
Week 2 - Principle #2
Week 3 - Principle #3
Here comes #4!
"No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on—it’ll come back around to be useful later."
As nurse educators, we pour time and energy into developing lessons, activities, and teaching strategies. But sometimes, despite our best efforts, things don’t quite come together as we envisioned. Pixar’s principle, "No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on—it’ll come back around to be useful later," offers a valuable perspective as a nurse educator who creates.
Just because an idea felt like a bit of a flop, it doesn’t mean it’s useless. In fact, what seems like a misstep today could become the foundation for something innovative tomorrow, sparking a new idea or approach or creating a much-needed addition to our teaching toolkits.
So how can you embrace this principle? Here are three practical tips for incorporating this Pixar principle into your teaching practice.
💡 Keep a teaching "idea bank"
If an activity or lesson plan isn’t working, don’t abandon it completely—file it away. You might revisit it later with fresh eyes, or a new group of students may respond better to the concept. Maybe you created a patient scenario for a simulation but had difficulty coordinating the schedule with the simulation lab and had to discontinue it. Imagine other ways this patient could be used in class - there are tons of ideas over at the Idea Bank that may spark a new home for the patient.
Notion is also an excellent place to keep your idea bank. I generate A LOT of ideas (not all of them are great!), but I keep them in a “someday/maybe” database in Notion. Notion's organizational features, such as filters and tags, allow me to categorize and prioritize my ideas. Using a filter, I can see the most important projects that I am currently working on and also access all of the "someday/maybe" ideas and notes when I am ready to start a new project. Keeping a library of resources in reserve allows you to adapt and grow your teaching toolkit over time.
If you want to learn more about using Notion to organize your work as a nurse educator, check out the Nurse Educator Operating System!
|
🔑 Collaborate and share
Another strategy is to collaborate with colleagues and share the things that didn’t quite work. At my first teaching job, openly sharing teaching ideas was not necessarily the culture. But I feel this is changing! I shared my theory course with a wonderful educator (hey Laura! 👋), and I would share an activity idea with her, and she would say, “Why don’t we try it this way?” It was a bit intimidating to seek feedback, but her ideas were always a huge improvement!
Peer collaboration not only helps repurpose unused work but also develops a supportive community. Teaching can feel lonely, but by being vulnerable and sharing ideas, you can build a supportive network. If you don’t have this in your immediate geographical location, connect online with me and 4,000+ other nurse educators who are interested in active learning ideas!
🧭 Use feedback tools
Finally, be open to using student feedback as a guide for revisiting and refining your work. After trying a new activity or teaching method, gather feedback from your students about what worked and what didn’t. If something didn’t land as expected, rather than scrapping it altogether, use their input to make adjustments. You can read more about using surveys as a nurse educator HERE in this article that includes sample survey questions. This iterative process allows you to improve over time while ensuring that no effort is truly wasted—just refined for better results.
It takes courage and vulnerability to share and move ahead with an activity that you poured time and energy into. By putting it aside for a while in your “idea bank,” sharing it with a peer or seeking feedback, you can trust that what you’ve created may still serve a purpose later on. Remember, no effort is wasted!
📍What's next?
Next week will be the final installment of this series. I haven't quite decided which topic to explore next, but I would love to hear your ideas! Just reply to this email and let me know if you have a topic in mind.
Also, there are two new decks currently in production! They have been created and tested and are currently with the printer while I put the finishing touches on the answer keys.
I am excited to share these with you in the next few weeks. See you then! 👋
|
🫂
Connect in the Facebook community
Say hi →
|
|
|
|
|
|
