Calm before the Storm

So we’re back at uni today after a 5 week long “holiday” and everyone seems to be refreshed, relaxed and surprisingly quite positive considering we’re now in our last few weeks of teaching before the end of Phase I exams. Most of us have very few stories to tell of the exciting things we have been up to over the Easter break and indeed a lot of people have stayed around to use the library or MTC whilst revising. My own story of weeks of revision interspersed with a few trips to Tesco and a couple of appointments with Occupational Health haven’t exactly had my friends or housemates rage with jealousy, though a couple of lucky people have been travelling in some capacity whether to America, Europe or back home for some of the international students.

 We’re all keen to get cracking with Block 5 - Reproduction and Child Development, though the thought of having loads of new stuff to learn just before exams is pretty scary. We were also told today that the decision has been made for us to stay in the same small groups until the end of Phase II. This will mean that half of our time at medical school will have been spent with the same 8-10 people. In my last blog I mentioned how important it is to make friends and take care when choosing your housemates because you’ll be spending a lot of time together. Unfortunately, you can’t choose your group. At Warwick we do a lot of group based work, including CBL cases and general “groupwork” sessions, and a lot of groups schedule extra sessions to help each other cover particularly challenging concepts or for revision. It’s so obvious but it really is important that you can work well together. So much of your time is invested in group learning and you really will get out of it what you put in. I love my CBL group and, fortunately, I think they’re all a wonderful group of people and I like to think that actually we are really good friends. Your group will help you through these tough first years where actually your base of knowledge, at least in the beginning, is really quite limited. For all the studying you’ve done previously, you’ll probably find that actually you don’t know much about the topics you’re going to cover, but why would you? It really is a case of 9 minds are better than 1 and brainstorming will help you to find those tiny gems of knowledge you do have, whether from your past experiences or from watching Holby City and House.

 In every group, people tend to fill different types of role and it is quite useful to think about what sort of person you are and how you tend to communicate. Are you a vocal member of the group and likely to lead the session and take control? Would you prefer to be a bit quieter and let others take charge, contributing when you feel confident that you know what you’re talking about? The key to good group work is to maintaining flow and focus in a session, ensuring that all group members contribute and keep up, and to learn to be flexible and accommodating when it comes to each other’s learning styles. If you haven’t already, when you arrive at medical school you’ll begin to think about the different styles of learning and hopefully identify in a quite general way, the sort of learner you are. Characteristics include visual or verbal, sensing or intuitive, active or reflective and sequential or global and in your group there will be people with all kinds of combinations. It’s important, not only for group work but your own learning, to know your learning style, know what kind of person/personality you are and to own it. Recognising your own strengths and weaknesses will help you to become more mindful of others, appreciative of their skills and to become more flexible and adaptable when it comes to team work. We’re going to have a lifetime of being part of a huge multidisciplinary team and the time to learn how to work effectively as such is now.

 So when you get here and you hesitantly go to meet your group on the first day, look around and think about where you fit in, and how much you’re going to achieve together over the next two years. Those 8 people will help you through thick and thin and whether you like them or not, you’re going to have to work together to reach your end goal. Hopefully…..probably, you’ll be as fortunate as I am and by the end of Phase II, if not before, you’ll have 8 really good friends.

 Now back to chatting about all those shopping trips and to enjoy the buzz of the MTC. I’m sure this atmosphere will pass by the end of the week though, and the computer room will return to its usual silence, except for that incessant tapping of keys!

See you soon,

 Amy

: 23 Apr 2014 09:37 |  Tags: Amy Group Work Mbchb Medicine Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem