Lifelong Learning Lessons

At the beginning of the year, I posted the question, "what contribution to your community's calendar are you the most proud of in 2012?" One of the options was "add a new educational program" and it was not selected once. I was very surprised and it made me think to share some of the ways that I have added more educational opportunities to my retirement community's activity calendar. 

First, when I think about education and what would appeal to the independent living residents in my community, the subjects are varied and endless. Some of the topics off the top of my head are Art Appreciation, Crafts, Dance, Drawing, Picture Matting and Framing, Music Appreciation, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Theater, Environmental, Self-Improvement, Cooking, Sports, History, Current Events, Literature, Foreign Language, Digital Photo, Social Networking, Computers, Nature, Scrapbooking, Jewelry Making, Health and Wellness and more.

The benefits of participating in educational programs are great for the resident. Learning in their own community relieves the resident of  the pressure associated with attending a real class and they find like-minded residents who share a common interest with them. They can explore unfamiliar subjects, broaden their horizons, and feel more alive as they learn new concepts.

As the activities director, it is my job to provide these educational opportunities to the residents. There are two different was that I do this. The first is that when there are programs of interest happening in the city where we live, I get the details, promote the event and provide a bus for the interested residents to attend.  The other way to provide this type of program is to host an educational program in your own community. 

Some of the places that you will find educational opportunities, also know as life long learning, continuing education, or adult education are to take your residents to or to contact about coming to your community are:

• Libraries
• Places of Worship (Churches/ Temples)
• College and Universities
• Individual Professionals
• Parks and Recreation Department

You should be on the mailing lists for these places so that you can see what is offered. Then you are able to do the research necessary to find the professor, speaker, or presenter yourself.

With the colleges and universities, you can send the resident to attend a paid course, find out if there are free classes that they can sit in on (usually available after the paying students have sign up), or do your homework and hire the same professor to come to your community. Bringing the professor to your community usually means looking for their contact information from the catalogue the school provides for their lifelong learning course or seeking them on-line.

You might also find subject of interest to your residents on-line. Be careful that you are not bringing a business into your community whose intention is to sell your residents a product or service. One of the sites that I found helpful is USA.Gov  It takes a bit of your time to read through and find what might be of interest for you, but it would be worth it.  Another good source of programs that you could bring to your community are from Road Scholar (which use to be Elderhostel). These are DVD programs that you would buy and have in your community forever. 

Speaking? Face Your Fears!

A few years ago, my company started at Toastmasers club in our retirement community for any staff member who wanted to participate. As the activities director in the community, I am one of the people who is regularly on stage introducing programs and talking in front of groups of residents. I thought,  why do I need to join this program? Well, the answer was not far from the surface, once I took a good look at myself. “Because, I can be better!”

If you are like me, it is not a problem to introduce a speaker, entertainer, or to speak to “my” residents… or even to a group of fellow staff members. I use to be fearful when my boss was in the audience, but that is not the case anymore. When I asked myself the question, “Why join Toastmasters?” I realized that I am not be comfortable in other settings except the one inside my community’s four walls. I also felt that I had another weakness that could be reduced from joining the group, and that was to be sociable in situations where I was not the leader.

Toastmasters has a section of their meetings where members are asked to speak on their feet, called Table Topics. I found that this section of the meeting to be very helpful to me, because there are many times when I feel that unless I speak to the residents about a recent activity, their health, family or community issues, that I am uncomfortable in carrying on a worthwhile conversation. And of course, in a social setting outside of work, it is the same thing.

As you start the new year, I ask you, how can you step your game up? Have you taken a look at yourself honestly and found an area where you are uncomfortable or possibly even afraid? Those are areas within you that you can address this year! I’m sure you are great already – but in 2013, you can be better! For me, I will continue to work on my public speaking and one-one exchanges, along with other things. What will it be for you?

Joining the ToastMasters club at work has been an awesome opportunity for my personal and professional growth. Here are some free resources from ToastMasters that I found on-line. Also, take a look into the Resources for Activities Directors  tab at the top of my blog for some books on becoming a better speaker, which are available through Amazon.

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic. - Unknown

Fun Extras

It is the first day of the year and I am thinking about work on my day off. Shows you how much I love my job as activities director.... or some would say, how I "need to get out more!".... anyway, I am always looking for new inspiration for an activity and I found, again, a few websites that show us unique days  or themes for the month.

I like Holiday Insights.com a lot because when you click on the link, it gives you information about the special day. I think if you have the background information, it helps you promote the idea of the program to your residents. Some of these ideas inspired me as I reviewed them this time, because I've been trying to find a way to get resident's names and quick facts of interest out to the community, either through the monthly newsletter or our in-house TV channel. I believe that when they see their name, or that of their friends, that they will read or watch with greater interest. Another cute site that I like to get ideas for unique days to celebrate is brownielocks.com

And here is one that is food related: http://www.tfdutch.com/foodh.htm

The ideas that I got from the sites include:

• 2/17 - Random Acts of Kindness Day - Promote the day in advance, as for submissions from residents re: who did what kindness for them/what they did for others. Promote results on TV and/or newsletter.
• 6/4- Hug a Cat Day (June is Adopt a Cat Month) - Take pictures of residents holding their cats in advance and share them with the community..... Lobby wall display or TV channel (monthly newsletter costs per photo, so that is not a good option for me.)
• 8/13 - Left Hander's Day...... Ask the month before and list their names in the monthly newsletter as a "space filler" along side the information about the development of Left Hander's Day
• 9/8 - Grandparents Day - This might be a big list... so be careful what you ask for on this one.
• 9/21 - World Gratitude Day - Promote the day in advance, as for submissions from residents what they are thankful for, and promote the results on TV and/or newsletter.
• 10/7 - World Smile Day - Take random pictures of residents with great smiles - but just of their smiles, post them in the Lobby. Assign each photo a number and have a contest to see who can determine the most correct identifications of each smile. A prize can be an item with a yellow smiley face on it.... those are easy gift items to find
• 11/16 - Button Day - Ask residents to wear items with lots of buttons.....the most buttons is the winner, or maybe they have a large button that they never get to wear, encourage them to add it to their outfit. (ie. "Birthday Boy," or "Kiss Me, I'm Irish.")  It could be very funny. Or, make craft items with buttons and have them for sale by your craft group as a fund raiser for the craft group or your favorite charity. See my Pinterest page for some more pictures of crafts with buttons.

Source: Uploaded by user via Recharging Retirees on Pinterest

So there you have it, a few bits of inspiration. I hope they make you think of ways that you can add something fresh and simple to your calendar. Set your plan in motion now. These are fun add-ons to a calendar and newsletter that tends to be predictable at times.  If you don't follow through this year, there is always next year, and no one will know if you did them or not since they are fun extras! 

If you have any ideas that are along these lines, "fun, extras," please take a minute to post them in the comment section below so that we can all benefit from one another.