Month: April 2018

Closing the Door on the “Closing Doors” Metaphor: Reframing our Step 1 Advice

reflectivemededLeave a comment

By Emily Green

Anyone who advises medical students about USMLE Step 1 will be familiar with the metaphor of “closing doors”.  Upon receiving their Step 1 score, worried students wonder if the sound they are hearing is the slamming shut of gateways to particular specialties.  The problem with the pervasive “closing doors” metaphor is that it presents career options as being either available or unavailable, with little in-between.  In a student’s mind, a score of 240 might mean that the door to a particular career is open, but a 239 means that it is closed.  Convincing students the wrongness of this thinking is a challenge.Read More »

In My Panic Zone: Teaching Feedback Seeking

reflectivemededLeave a comment

By J.M. Monica van de Ridder

Teaching is something that I have been doing for over 20 years. So, in general, I don’t worry about it. I think I know what works and does not work.

Things were very different for me this time. I was worried, and I felt very much out of my ‘comfort zone’ almost in my ‘panic zone’ (Brown, 2008; Palethorpe & Wilson, 2011). I had developed an intersession for M1 and M2 medical students on how to optimize their learning processes in the clinical setting through goal setting, self-regulation, receiving and seeking feedback. The content on feedback I am familiar with, from goal-setting and self-regulation, -I assume- I know more than average.

I tried to discover my fears. What is worrying me?Read More »