I thought it was time to remind people why we are creating this learning community and how it can benefit you moving forward – either into third year or towards graduation.

Reflective practice is an important component of personal and professional growth. It is so important in dentistry and in undergraduate education. As is often said, there is only so many times you can drill into plastic teeth before you actually need to try it for real. Debriding on plastic teeth is really hard and then everyone is shocked when a tongue and saliva get in the way. So all students in an undergraduate dental program can be pushed out of the nest before they are ready to fly. And each student will have individual experiences that shape them.

These blogs are hopefully designed to bring all of us along on these individual journeys of learning. You are never alone, there are at least 50 other people experiencing the same trepidation, the same jitters and the fear of what they might have to do in the clinic this week.

I found the info below through a quick Google search but I think that this defines what I hope students will do – but perhaps instead of talking, you will be writing. Because between BOH 3 and BOH 2 we are about 90 people. You don’t know each other, you may not get along, but here in this space you can write about your experiences and share them safely with each other.

‘Neil Thompson, in his book People Skills, suggests that there are six steps:

1. Read – around the topics you are learning about or want to learn about and develop
2. Ask – others about the way they do things and why
3. Watch – what is going on around you
4. Feel – pay attention to your emotions, what prompts them, and how you deal with negative ones
5. Talk (CM – Write) – share your views and experiences with others in your organisation
6. Think – learn to value time spent thinking about your work

In other words, it’s not just the thinking that’s important. You also have to develop an understanding of the theory and others’ practice too, and explore ideas with others.

Reflective practice can be a shared activity: it doesn’t have to be done alone. Indeed, some social psychologists have suggested that learning only occurs when thought is put into language, either written or spoken.’

Read more at: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/reflective-practice.html

I hope that the blogs can feed into your Sonia forms and vice versa. The detail that you put into both the Sonia form and the blog are shaping you as a clinician, these pieces of work can be used as evidence when you go for jobs that you have learned from your experiences, they can also be used to demonstrate the areas where you have excelled and they show teamwork – you can learn from clinical supervisors and interact with classmates – all things employers are keen on.

I have enjoyed seeing many of you interact on the site – Linna, Mohammad, Thien and Jenny who have been providing supportive comments to each other and to their classmates regularly. And Hena last week giving valuable insight for a BOH 2 student about the use of topical. I feel overjoyed just reading the messages of support and hope that this is something that you also benefit from.

I usually only write in a journal when I am sad, or guilty, or have done something stupid. Writing a weekly blog for me has also been insightful and being part of your community is very important to my development as a teacher. I am really concerned about how many people didn’t want to come back to uni this year, and I am also upset that BOH 3 students didn’t get much out of their intensive. I want to do better for you and so whilst I keep your information private, it is propelling me to try to do my job better everyday.