| Course | NR 535 Theoretical Foundations and Instructional Strategies for the Nurse Educator |
|---|---|
| Week | 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion post with two replies |
| Length | About 580 words |
| Format | Discussion post with APA 7 citations |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | MSN, Nurse Educator |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 535 Week 1
Week 1 Discussion: Initial Post
The Hour at Bed 12 I Credited to Kindness: Rereading How I Was Taught Chest Drainage as Four Teaching Decisions, and What My Own Expertise Now Hides From Me
The Hour
I am the clinical nurse educator for a 28-bed thoracic surgery and pulmonary step-down unit, and I teach the new graduates in our residency program. Fourteen years ago I was a new graduate on this unit, and the hour I still remember is the one in which Ruth, my preceptor, taught me chest drainage at bed 12. For years I described that hour as kind. Ruth was patient and never made me feel stupid. This week's reading made me reread it, and I now think kindness was the least of it. Ruth made at least four teaching decisions, and I have been teaching chest drainage for six years without making any of them on purpose.
Four Decisions
Ruth let me find it before naming it. Ruth did not start by explaining tidaling. The first request was to watch the water seal chamber while the patient breathed and say what moved. I found it, and only then came the word.
One thing at a time. Ruth ignored the suction control chamber, the drainage columns and the documentation until I could read the water seal. Only then came the next piece.
Ruth made me say what I would do. When the patient coughed and bubbles appeared, Ruth asked what I thought it meant and what I would check first, and waited for my answer before giving one.
Ruth came back the next day. On my next shift, Ruth asked me to explain the system as if to a brand-new nurse. That was the check that I had learned it.
Benner (1982) described how novices depend on rules and context-free features, while experts perceive situations as wholes. Ruth seemed to know that I could not yet see the whole drainage system, and fed me one feature at a time.
What My Expertise Hides
The uncomfortable part is what this says about my own teaching. When I teach chest drainage now, I start with the whole system on a diagram and name every chamber in the first five minutes. It looks efficient. It is, I suspect, an example of what researchers call expert blind spot: experts who know a subject well can underestimate what novices find difficult and teach in the order the expert thinks, not the order the learner can follow (Nathan & Petrosino, 2003). I see the drainage system as one thing. My new graduates see seven chambers and three columns.
Question for the group: Think of a teacher you credited with being kind or inspiring. What did that person actually decide to do?
Reply to Joanna
Joanna, you remembered an instructor who stopped a skills lab to tell a story about a patient. You called it inspiring. I wonder whether the decision was to connect an abstract step to a consequence, which is something you could plan rather than hope for. Did the story come at a particular moment, perhaps just after the class had made a mistake?
Reply to Michael
Michael, your best teacher never answered a question directly and instead asked another question. That sounds like Ruth's third decision. I would add a caution from my own experience: it only worked for me because Ruth waited long enough for my answer. A question followed by the teacher's own answer three seconds later is still a lecture.
References
Benner, P. (1982). From novice to expert. American Journal of Nursing, 82(3), 402-407. https://doi.org/10.1097/00000446-198282030-00004
Nathan, M. J., & Petrosino, A. (2003). Expert blind spot among preservice teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 40(4), 905-928. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312040004905
NR 535 Week 1 instructions, in plain terms
The first NR 535 discussion usually asks you to reflect on a teaching and learning experience, often one that shaped you, and connect it to the week's readings on the nurse educator role or learning. Prompts ask for a specific experience, an analysis of what made it effective or ineffective, a link to theory and replies to classmates. Choose one moment rather than a whole course or teacher. Look past personality to the decisions the teacher made: what came first, what was left out, when the learner was made to think and how learning was checked. Then turn the lens on your own teaching. Cite one or two sources in APA 7, keep teachers' identities private and stay within the posted length.
How the NR 535 Week 1 example is put together
The post opens with the writer's role, the remembered hour and the admission that it had always been described as kind. A section then names four decisions, each in bold with a one-paragraph account: discovery before naming, one element at a time, commitment before correction and a check the next day. A sentence from Benner's novice-to-expert work explains why the order suited a beginner. The next section turns to the writer's current teaching, which starts with a full diagram, and uses research on expert blind spot to explain the problem. A question invites classmates to read their own remembered teachers as decisions. The replies ask Joanna about the timing of a story and Michael about waiting after a question.
Where the points sit in the NR 535 Week 1 rubric
Points in this forum generally follow a specific, relevant experience, analysis that connects it to teaching and learning concepts, application to the writer's own practice, scholarly support and meaningful replies. Graders tend to favor posts that explain why a teaching moment worked rather than praising the teacher. Naming the decisions behind an experience shows analytic thinking about instruction. Turning the analysis on the writer's own teaching demonstrates reflection and usually lifts the score. Sources such as Benner or research on expert blind spot should be applied to the example, not simply cited. Replies earn credit when they help a classmate see a decision behind a memory. Correct APA 7 format and timely posting complete the grade.
Common NR 535 Week 1 mistakes, and how to avoid them
A frequent weakness is a post that celebrates a favorite teacher with adjectives, patient, inspiring, caring, and never says what the teacher did. Name the decisions. Another is describing a whole course or program, which leaves no room for analysis. Choose one hour or one moment. Students also stop at the memory and forget to connect it to their own teaching now; that connection is usually the most valuable part. Avoid identifying real teachers or colleagues. Do not overload a short post with theory. In replies, avoid simple agreement. Ask a classmate what their remembered teacher chose to do first or chose to leave out, since that question often reveals the decision behind the kindness.
Get a NR 535 Week 1 example written to your instructions
Send us the discussion prompt for your week, the posting rules your section publishes and any rubric you were given. We write a custom example to those instructions and return it inside 24 to 48 hours, with the theory citation you need and replies included. The first one is free, and nothing about it is recycled from another writer's post.
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NR 535 Week 1 questions, answered
Does the example name a real instructor?
No. The finished post describes a teaching situation by its features, the size of the group, the level of the learners and what was being taught, and leaves every person unnamed. That is enough for the instructional argument to work, and it keeps a classmate or a former colleague out of a graded classroom document. Your own version can stay just as unidentified.
How many citations does a post like this usually carry?
Most sections publish a minimum rather than a target, and the example stays modest, usually one theoretical source plus one nursing education application. The count matters less than whether each citation is doing work in a sentence near it. A theorist named in the opening and abandoned afterward reads as decoration, and graders in this course tend to notice that quickly.
Can I use this example if my prompt asks about an ineffective teacher instead?
Yes, and the structure survives the flip cleanly. An hour that failed still had a design, and the theory paragraph simply predicts the failure rather than the success. The example's spine is the link between a decision and a learner response, which runs in either direction. Only the concluding line changes, because you would then commit to avoiding the decision rather than repeating it.
Where can I find a free NR 535 Week 1 sample paper?
This page holds the bed 12 post with both replies, which together make the NR 535 Week 1 sample, and all of it is readable here. If your remembered teaching moment is different, describe it to us and a post analyzing its decisions can be drafted.
Should the NR 535 Week 1 post focus on a good teacher or a poor one?
Either can work, as long as you analyze decisions rather than personality. The sample uses a preceptor remembered as kind and shows the four teaching choices behind that impression, then applies the lesson to the writer's own teaching.