Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Have the student keep a reflective journal



Today's blog tip comes to us from one of our nominees to the 2013 Fieldwork Roster of Honour.  She wrote this when asked what tips she would pass on to other educators...

In my most recent placement I asked the student to send me weekly email reflections.  I didn't give any guidelines for length and the student could write them during unstructured/down time during the placement or at night if she thought about something after she went home at night.
The student and I had commented that it was a great opportunity for her to process what she learned and to showcase her clinical reasoning. I work in a busy environment that doesn't have a lot of "down time", so I thought this email dialogue would be a way to have more intentional focus on consolidation of info and an opportunity for a student to share her thoughts in a structured but informal way. This in turn gave me ideas of how the student was processing (above and beyond the debriefs that happen in moments throughout the day) and also where I should focus my energies in the weeks to come. 
Come evaluation time, I also had the 8 reflections to review....and reference the growth the student had undergone. I will do this in the future. 


For more information on using Journals, check out Section 4 of your red Fieldwork Site Handbook (which can be found on-line here).

 

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