Reflecting on your teaching and learning experiences:
Before beginning this module, take a few moments to reflect on your personal teaching and learning experiences. The following questions will help guide you through this process.
- Why are you interested in taking a student into your office?
- What have been the most challenging things you have experienced as a preceptor?
- What are the most rewarding aspects of being a preceptor?
- In thinking back over your educational experience, think about the person who comes to mind who was a great preceptor to you. What characteristics and/or qualities did this person have that made him or her a great preceptor?
- Are there any qualities that you would particularly like to work on to improve your precepting?
Reflecting on your teaching style:
We all have preferences. Some appear to be genetic.Others are based on what we have experienced. For example, at some point during your medical education, you encountered a clinician who had an interpersonal style you tried to emulate.
Although we all have preferences about how we teach, we can modify these to help us better meet the needs of a particular student. For example, if you have a student with a very poor knowledge base about a particular topic related to a patient, asking the student how they would manage this patient is probably fruitless until the student understands some basic factual material. This might be addressed through a more directive line of questioning from you; you might choose to relay certain factual material in lieu of questioning; or you might suggest that the student review certain reference material before speaking with you.
You need to be able to assess the student's situation and modify your approach to the student in order to maximize the educational encounter. In order to do this, you need to have a basic understanding of your own tendencies and a repertoire of approaches from which you can draw.