Yesterday 60 new students joined the world of occupational therapy as they began the first day of their Sheffield Hallam University undergraduate OT course. After a morning of orientation and course information (not to mention the dreaded round of immunisations!), they spent the afternoon with SHOUT letting off some steam.
Getting to know 60 other students can be a bit overwhelming, so we played the "Name Game" to help us store each others' names in our long term memory through repetition and association by assigning a descriptor to ourselves beginning with the same letter as our names and an action to demonstrate it. Awesome Alisons, Beaming Beckys and Eager Edens ensued... and much giggling. But it worked! So remembering everyone's names is now one less thing to worry about :)
One of SHOUT's favourite activities of the afternoon was "Draw your ideal OT". In groups of 5 or 6, the L4 students came up with some fantastic ideas for essential OT attributes, tools and resources. Golden ears were added to one drawing to highlight the importance of listening and good communication; a backbone was added to another drawing to express the need to be resilient and stand your ground in a changing healthcare environment; and extra-long green-trouser-clad legs were drawn to enable the OT to take everything in his / her stride. Great work, showing just how switched on to professional attributes this cohort already are.
We hope you settle in during your first week L4s, your future profession awaits :)
SHOUT
