Generativity vs. Stagnation

Sometimes my work is being a nurse taking care of patients, communicating and doing the required paperwork. Sometimes I am a clinical instructor and take nursing students to psych/substance abuse facilities. For several years, I have had students who are nearing graduation and often lack enthusiasm because - nursing school being the tough course it is - they just want to get out. For the past three weeks, I have had some students who have been in nursing school for only six months and are as we say "green." They seem to be happy to be there, ask many questions, and get more involved. Each student is assigned a patient and then must gather information and come up with a plan of care for that patient. Part of their assignment is to decide which of Erikson's stages their patient is in, and then, where along the continuum. I feel that when I am working with these students, I am far along on the generativity side. The students are, too, because they are struggling to learn and achieve often in spite of some difficult circumstances. Teachers can make a difference. I often think of the ones I have had in my life and the impacts they had on me. I wonder what of me, what words or behaviors or the ways I made them feel, will be in my students' memory banks.