• Iowa Pharmacy Association
• American Pharmacists Association
• American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
• College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists
  

• Pharmacy Skills and Applications Team
• CPHS Equity Action Partner

• IPPE/APPE Experiential Coordinator

• CPHS Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion

• Faculty Senate - CPHS Senator
• Equity Action Partner

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY:

A philosophy of teaching aims to show the heart of professors, why they are committed to their students, and why they have a passion for teaching.  My philosophy: Approach teaching and precepting in a way that can be modeled and provide an open, supportive, communicative learning environment.

In the mental health profession, we have a saying that “all behavior is communication.” I believe the knowledge I share with students allows them to be more informed, compassionate health care providers. I recognize the importance of connecting with students and take the time to ask them how they are. Even a short conversation can be meaningful. It’s as simple as keeping my door open like Dr. Sid Finn, a Drake University faculty member, did for me those many years ago; catching a student after class; stopping to talk to a student while walking across campus; or buying a student a coffee when I see them in the coffee shop. These are all ways to open the door to a conversation. It’s not assuming the student just didn’t prioritize an assignment, but asking if there are some resources that you can connect them to, asking them to name the biggest barrier they face or asking how I can help. 

I learned this approach partly because Professor Finn modeled it: as a student, I found myself at Dr. Finn’s office. Noticeably overwhelmed, he looked up from his work, yet without pause or hesitation, he invited me in. He proceeded to work with me one-on-one for more than three hours, never expressing frustration or making me feel uncomfortable or incapable of achieving understanding. Not only did the time he spent with me enhance my understanding of pharmacy calculations, but the time also made me feel like I belonged at Drake and that I would be a member of the pharmacy community. He changed my career path.

Those precious hours may have seemed minimal to Dr. Finn, most likely he doesn’t even remember them. However, that time in his office will stay with me for a lifetime. The feeling I had that day is what I aim to emulate with my students both inside and outside of the classroom.

My teaching strongly connects to my core values of servant-teaching outlined below:

• Inspire Others.  Recognize and cultivate potential in others. Lead by example and value relationships. As the pharmacist on an interprofessional health care team, I strive to model positive communication skills to the student pharmacists.  A student in LGBTQ Health wrote, “I admired how passionate she is concerning the rights of marginalized communities. I think it is easier to learn the subject when your professor embodies what an ally to under-privileged communities should look like. Also, she consistently advocated for her students to take the knowledge that were learn inside class to the outside world, for she wants us to be the best version of ourselves as people and as health care providers.”
   
• Recognize Individualization. Get to know each student I teach. Show empathy and compassion while working diligently to educate the learners in the way in which they may connect best with the material. I believe that significant learning results from significant relationships. For example, I work with students on my advanced pharmacy practice experience to set goals on their first day of the five-week rotation. This time allows us to cater the rotation experience to their career path. A recent student commented, “Dr. Fornoff related to me as an individual and took a genuine interest in both my professional and personal growth and provided opportunities for me to excel in my goals.” Many students will not specialize in psychiatric pharmacy, but most pharmacists will help manage patients with mental health conditions.
   
• Build Community Connections. Seek opportunities to connect classroom learning with service in the community. I aim to bring an understanding of the patients we care for into the classroom. As the coordinator for the health disparities care introductory pharmacy practice experience, I connect our second-year professional pharmacy students to free clinics in the Des Moines area to take the learning outside the classroom.  This comment was written by a former student in my first-year seminar course, “Anisa was always available to students and her course was engaging and the service-learning we did in this course was life-changing.”
   
• Enthusiasm for Learning. Foster a love of learning and continue to master new skills. Promote curiosity. Embrace life-long learning. I am often asked by students to speak to organizations about my clinical practice as a mental health pharmacist. This time allows me to share my passion and enthusiasm I have for caring for patients with mental health and substance use issues. I follow a professional development plan to continually build my own knowledge and skills and actively seek opportunities to learn something new.
   
• Reflect. True growth cannot occur without thoughtfully considering what has happened. Write to help the process. Not only do I have my students on a service-learning experience reflect often, but I also actively reflect.

In the work by Charles Jennings, he discusses there are four ways in which we learn.  I teach in both the experiential setting as a faculty preceptor as well as in the classroom setting. Below I will outline my teaching as it relates to experiential teaching of Drake student pharmacists in the fourth professional year.

1. Challenging Experiences. Students will learn about mental health in the classroom, but when they are at the hospital we can connect the knowledge to real-world experiences. These experiences are often challenging, as it is the first time a student may be interacting with patients with a severe mental health issue, such as active psychosis. We work through these challenges as a team, and I work to create a safe space to ask questions. 
    
2. Opportunities to Practice. On my service in the mental health units at Iowa Lutheran Hospital, I teach six pharmacy medication education groups to patients each week. To prepare students, I have them review notes from other Drake courses and review treatment guidelines to build foundational knowledge. We then discuss typical questions that may be asked in group and best ways to navigate difficult conversations. The pharmacy program has five-week blocks for advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs), which allows me to model patient interaction the first week, encourage more active participation on week two, and then have the students lead the medication groups with minimal assistance for the remaining weeks. A former student wrote, “She took the time to provide a multitude of experiences throughout these five weeks for an all-encompassing and wholistic reality of the mental health progression to wellness. She gave me opportunities to take the initiative for this rotation and my learning experience by allowing me to lead medication groups and give presentations to patients. She also gave helpful feedback for better understanding my strengths and areas for continual improvement throughout this rotation and into my future rotations. I gained a very strong sense of improvement in my patient counseling and communication skills as a result of this rotation.”
    
3. Conversations That Allow for Critical Thinking. My APPE students and I serve as a drug information resource for an office of six mental health providers. Most questions we receive do not have a black and white answer; we must critically think what is best for the patient.
    
4. Reflection. Reflection on our interaction and communication with patients and providers allows the opportunity to build skills and to learn what we may improve upon for next time. A previous rotation student stated, “This rotation was clearly developed with students in mind - it was a perfect combination of learning/clinical activities and reflection, of structure and independence, and of comfort and challenge. Anisa is clearly invested in every student she interacts with and thrives both in her clinical specialty setting and in the classroom. She provides good feedback, is flexible and engaging, and is an incredible role model in how she balances the many aspects of personal and professional life.”

I have adopted these four ways as guideposts to my teaching, and I strive to provide knowledge and skills so that students can critically think about the world around them.

Additionally, in the book How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching by Richard Mayer, et al (2010), the authors suggest multiple strategies improve teaching. This book provided me multiple reflection activities to consider my effectiveness as a teacher and ways to improve. For example, how can we motivate students to learn and specific strategies to help students build positive expectancies for learning. The four above guideposts are important for my teaching, and they are also important in my continued growth as a professor.

Ultimately, the subject matter I teach is just a small part of that student’s Drake education as they walk across the stage at graduation; however, the ripple effects of small things can be extraordinary.