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- Introduce the activity by sharing our working definition of open questions and closed questions. Closed: 1 or 2 right answers (usually short) or yes/no. Open: a list of 3 or more, or multiple right answers, or opinion questions that aren't right or wrong.
- Give an example of contrasting closed and open questions, preferably from your subject area! "What's the first step in process X?" vs "What are some of the early steps in process X?"
- Ask each preceptor to share a question he or she asked in a recent study group, and as a group decide whether it's open or closed. Don't be scared if preceptors say a question is in-between - these are like endpoints of a spectrum, and there are some ambiguous questions that are hard to categorize. You can tell preceptors that if it comes up.
- "Open questions promote participation, so we're going to practice turning closed questions into open ones. And we're going to practice letting silence hang, so we get more comfortable with that. People need time to think when they've been asked a question." Or something like that, in your own words.
- Each preceptor ask a closed question to the group, wait silently for at least 5 full seconds, then ask an open question over the same or similar topic. Everybody takes a turn. If someone talks before 5 seconds are up (this is likely to happen), interrupt them and ask them to start over. Even though you'll be counting 5 seconds, try NOT to cue the preceptor - it's more effective if each question-asker has to do his or her own counting.
Guide, not giving answers
One of my preceptors' main concerns was not knowing what to do when someone didn't know the answer to a question or didn't know what to do without "giving away an answer". I decided to do something similar to what we did during our SP training with making the PBJ sandwiches.
First round:
1 preceptor to direct the others.
Find a simple drawing online (we used an owl cartoon). Only the director knows what the drawing is. They have to guide people through the drawing, adding one part at a time (similar to draw the dog). However, they can't directly say what the part is. They can describe the function, say a shape, size, direct positioning, etc. (So the people drawing are really clueless about what they are drawing).
Second round:
New preceptor directs the 1st director in drawing a part of the figure (new picture now). The director, once they are done, can then come help the new director in giving instructions, however other preceptors can ONLY listen to the instructions given by the newest director.
**Simulate one preceptor helping another in working through something and helping other students. Encourages working together**
Third round:
Two preceptors who haven't directed before are directing. They each guide one student in drawing each part of the picture. However, they can only guide their student, and they can't communicate with each other.
**Stimulates working together blindly, not knowing what to expect from the other preceptor.**
My preceptors seemed to really enjoy this game, and I like how it turned out! We also talked about servant leadership at our meeting this past week, and I was surprised that none of them had heard that term before.
big thanks to Morgan Merriman SP sp15 for sharing this!
Impromptu Speeches
- Print out a pair of quotes on a slip of paper for each preceptor in your group. Quotes are available from the attached document Impromptu Quotations.docx or you can find your own. The two quotes on each slip don't have to be related.
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