Nursing Education Concept By Ursula Springer

Who is Ursula Springer,Way to Nursing Education,Early Interest in Teaching,Journey to Education,Life as a Teacher,Educational Style,Qualities of a Teacher,Memorable Events,Embarrassing Event.

Who is Ursula Springer

    A native of Berlin, Dr. Ursula Springer studied at the Universities of Berlin, Bologna, and Munich. She received her MA degree from the University of Minnesota and her PhD from Teachers College, Columbia University. 

    She initially pursued an academic career and, for 15 years, was Professor of Comparative and International Education at City University of New York After her husband died in 1970, she took over his company, Springer Publishing Company. Dr. Springer is recognized for her outstanding leadership of Springer. 

    Many Springer publications are standards for the industry, and have received numerous awards from professional organizations, including many American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year awards.

    An early recognition bestowed on Dr. Springer was the invitation by Sigma Theta Tau International for honorary membership. In recent years, both the American Academy of Nursing and the Gerontological Society of America have named Dr. Springer as a Fellow

Way to Nursing Education

    Dr. Ursula Springer holds that a teacher must empathize with the learning mind and thus understand the learning mind of the student. Teaching is not telling students what they should learn but rather guiding them in how to learn. 

    She believes that enthusiastic mentors who are master practitioners and interested in the student’s learning are essential in providing an excellent education.

Early Interest in Teaching

    She comes from a family devoted to education. Her mother was an excellent teacher; her interest in psychology and pedagogy motivated her to keep diaries of her 3 children’s development from birth until the ages of 17, 18. 

    Into her seventies and eighties, her mother was tutoring high-school students in French, English, and mathematics before tests and exams. Her grandfather was a prestigious principal of a modern type of gymnasium (high school for boys) in Berlin. At home we often talked about school and education.

Journey to Education

    She started early showing interest in teaching: at age 6, she taught the kids of the neighborhood, so her mother gave me a portable blackboard instead of dolls. 

    During high school year’s she was constantly tutoring girls 2 or 3 years younger than she was. This provided nice pocket money and firmed up her learning. (The Latin saying is “docendodiscimus” = by teaching we learn.)

    When beginning university studies in Berlin, she took up languages/literature in German, English, Italian. One year of study she spent at the University of Bologna (Italy). By now her career goal turned to teaching at university level in pedagogy (education), with emphasis on modern methods of teaching

    After 7^th semesters at European universities, she obtained a scholarship for a year of study at the University of Minnesota. There she learned methods and styles of education that differed from the European traditions in challenging ways. She did her master’s degree and continued toward doctoral studies.

    The theories of John Dewey and his contemporaries interested her and made me ever more conscious of her style and methods in teaching. In the meantime she obtained a certificate for teaching Latin, French, Italian, German, and Social Studies (from the State of Minnesota).

Life as a Teacher

    Her practical experience began by teaching Latin in a small college related secondary school for girls in St. Paul. Her students were less interested in Latin than they were in me as their only teacher not in nun garb and German by origin. 

    Her most memorable student was Kate Millet; she often stayed at her desk after class and liked to hear about the world outside her narrow environment. She said “I want to go to New York, then to London, and then farther into the world.” 

    She did it all, became famous as an active spirit in the women’s movement and the “sixties” generation. In the late 1960s, she saw her briefly at a theater party in Greenwich Village; we recognized each other. She called out: “My Latin teacher!”

    Later on, in New York, where she completed her PhD in Education at Columbia University, she became active in the newly founded Comparative Education Society. During those 3 years she taught at Pelham High School, north of New York. 

    Besides German, she taught Social Studies for 8th and 9th grades, a very American mixture of history, geography, and basic elements of social and political science. 

    She never had that in her  own school days, but she found it interesting, and stressed geography, as this was nearly unknown to her  college teachers, thus quite neglected. 

    The school served children of privileged suburban families, thus the teaching was not problematic. One 10th grade student impressed me as remarkably knowledgeable about opera, an art form that she love. 

    A student who sometimes scared me was one 9th grader who looked like a young gang member. In summer his shirt was open to his navel, and she saw a knife on his clothing. His family lived on “the other side” of the railroad tracks.

    Those were the late 1950s, and “homeroom” was an accepted element in the schools where teachers had personal contacts with their students every morning for 20 minutes. 

    One 9th grade girl had the misfortune to become pregnant. She asked the guidance counselor to be placed in her home room. It made me very proud, as it showed that the youngsters could trust me, and she supported them.

Educational Style

    Her teaching methods were based on a mix of German and American systems. The latter, of course, determined most external elements of conducting class teaching, also an emphasis on individual attention and guidance. 

    The presentation of new materials-in American schools-was chiefly relegated to the textbooks, whereas in German schools, it is mostly the teachers’ task and a professional skill. So she followed the German tradition (which is also that of John Dewey). 

    Another German element in her teaching was a strong insistence on written corrections after tests were returned. This often met with lack of enthusiasm. But she insisted, pointing to sports where the training stresses the weaknesses, not repeating strengths all the time.

Qualities of a Teacher

    People who learn easily and who have learned a lot are usually not very good teachers, as they lack acquaintance with the slower minds. 

    In her case her early years of experience in tutoring mediocre students gave me valuable experience in teaching slower learners. It also strengthened her patience. 

    Usually she used praise as much as feasible, not only in general terms (”You are a good student”) but more specifically: “Look how you got to solving this problem,” or, “Look how you found all those facts for your report; tell us some details.” so students could experience recognition for their efforts.

    While teaching a class, small or big, she demanded attention, absolutely. As a professor at Brooklyn College, she was given once a very large class, something like “Introduction to Education.” 

    It was for more than 150 students, in a large auditorium, where she was on stage, with a mobile micro- phone in her hand. She walked up and down, trying to “entertain” while teaching. Unavoidably, students in the highest rows in the back seemed bored and took out a newspaper to read. 

    She stopped in the middle of a sentence startling everybody and said, “Gentlemen back there: Can’t you see how she try to entertain you, mixing jokes with her teaching. And you disappoint me like that, finding the newspaper more intriguing than her presentation. What a competition! She has hurt feelings. Please!” Everyone laughed; the newspaper vanished, and she could continue her talk.

Memorable Events

    Humor is a great helping element in the classroom, but never at the expense of a person, of course. Another useful feature is the mutual help within one class. She remembers how, as a young teenager, she used to help class mates with homework or test preparations. 

    It is a matter of “chemistry” and fact. As a teacher she have occasionally put “two together.” If two students (or more) are on similar levels of achievement, it is even easier.

Embarrassing Event

    Her most embarrassing experience happened during her last year as a college professor, teaching a postgraduate course. The students were all men, about 16 of them, all majors in physical education and demonstrably not interested in any course that they needed to get their degree (either BS or MS). 

    Several of them misbehaved, talking to neighbors, reading, or sleeping. She was more amazed than upset. This was one of the last classes sheever taught an irony of fate to make it a total nonsuccess. When one day these nearly grownup young men passed underpants below their tables from one to the next, laughing. 

    She warned them that sheconsidered this unacceptable for passing this graduate course, etc. The final test produced several failures. She gave Fs to 5 or 6 of them, preventing their finishing college for the degree. Well, shegot phone calls from fathers saying “would sheplease change the grade.” “Absolutely not,” was her answer. 

    The dean called me in to request a change of grades. She explained the situation, refused to change the grades, and went home (somewhat afraid for her safety). She doesn’t know what the final outcomes were. This was a sobering note on an otherwise quite happy and satisfying career in teaching.

    She has also found that running a company requires teaching skills. She would have teaching sessions from time to time for the staff. 

    From the beginnings of a book (acquisitions), through editing, production, marketing. selling, and shipping, shewould ask individual members of departments to give prepared “introductions” to their fields of daily work. 

    In an informal setting, the other staff members would ask questions and learn.When she became President of Springer Publishing Company, as an educator, it was quite natural for me to take an interest in nursing education. 

    She established the Springer Series (of books) on Nursing Education, which is still vigorous today, over 25 years later. Through publishing, she have continued to teach indirectly, by providing students and teachers with the texts they need.