Focusing Loop: Strategies

From my previous Focusing I writing, two things stood out that were interesting for me to think more about. One of those:

"What students need are strategies...and I think, in the projects that are successful, these students are demonstrating some of the strategies that just might serve as predictors for clinical excellence."

I thought it might be useful to work on unpacking a little more what I mean about strategies. I often cringe at that word...knowing that there are a million (and one?) books available that claim to share teaching strategies, or clinical strategies, yet tend to be isolated activities that can be useful or not useful depending upon context. Context is critical, therefore, to me when thinking about strategies. From Merriam-Webster I learn:

Main Entry: strat·e·gy Pronunciation: -jE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -gies Etymology: Greek stratEgia generalship, from stratEgos Date: 1810 1 [snipped] 2 a : a careful plan or method : a clever stratagem b : the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal 3 : an adaptation or complex of adaptations (as of behavior, metabolism, or structure) that serves or appears to serve an important function in achieving evolutionary success