This post will change your life!

November 22, 2013 5:41 AM

How can I best fill two hours in order to help young adults?

I teach a class for students who have experienced academic difficulty. I've arranged things a bit differently this semester and I'm left with about two hours to fill on the last day of class. I could just let them go early, or show a film or...maybe leave them with a couple of gems that will change their lives! OK, maybe not, but I can try. So what should I cover? We've already done:

Time management
Goal setting
Note taking
Reading/writing basics
Working in a group
Critical thinking/levels of understanding (Perry, Bloom et al)
Presentations and public speaking
Managing stress
Memory and concentration
Self advocacy

The students are mostly between about 21-30, and it is a very international group. Assume I'm a good teacher, we have a good rapport and they will listen. Flossing and staying out of consumer debt are definitely going in for the last day but I need more. I have already looked through this and this.

posted by Cuke to Education (15 answers total)

I'd talk about smart and modern workflow methods (pomodoro or something else breaky-downy), and go on from there to the topic of promising realistic deadlines (in whatever one does, really).
From there you have an easy avenue into discussing managing stress.
I'd end with something about how difficult it is to find out what preferences for learning and working one actually has. And how absolutely crucial it is to try and find out about these things nevertheless, in order to function better without feeling bad about what one does.
Memory and concentration are enhanced by not being stressed and by being motivated by what one does and by how one does it. So that's an outcome, like a last word type of thing.

I would also try to encourage the students to fill in their own examples - prepare questions, for example, that make them reflect upon your topics on the basis of their own experience, and reserve some time to listen and react to their answers, whatever those may be - so that whatever you're going to say becomes their experience. I'm adding this because the concept of "my talk will change your lives" is really difficult to get across otherwise.
posted by Namlit at 6:13 AM on November 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I can't remember where it was from, possibly apocryphal glurge, but a teacher asked the kids in her class to each write something kind about the other students so that each kid left the classroom with a small piece of paper listing thoughtful compliments that they all hung on to for years.

You could turn it around with a group like that and ask them all to think deeply and come up with advice - the most helpful and kind thing someone has ever said to them, the most helpful and kind thing they've said to someone else, and something they think everyone should know how to do. Tell them no religion, politics, drugs or sex. Then bring all their ideas together and discuss them and at the end, compile it on a single page for them to take with them.

They're adults, it's a two hour class at the end of term, you need to get them involved and contributing rather than listening to a talk.
posted by viggorlijah at 6:15 AM on November 22, 2013 [2 favorites]

I would talk about people, both public/famous and personal, that have positively affected your life and why.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:16 AM on November 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: A practical life-changing lesson would be not just the admonishment to avoid consumer debt but the nuts and bolts of how to do that. Finance is a very sneaky industry. Multinational banks and even title loan companies these days are taking the advertising approach of "local, neighborhood, client testimonial" marketing, warm and fuzzy enough to fool people who don't have academic difficulties.

Two hours isn't enough to teach everything, but you could show some payday lender videos & teach them red-flag terms, like "I got to keep my car!" and "no credit check" and "your title is your credit..." They'll need to know how to find reputable financials like local credit unions in their city (& maybe the bus routes to get there), how & why to use online banking, why plastic is better/safer/cheaper than cash but also the risks of plastic, how to understand a fee schedule, how credit works, where free internet access is in their town (libraries, community centers), etc.

Even high schools, if they teach financial literacy at all, are still teaching things like how to balance a checkbook. That's not going to help anyone navigate the real world. There are good online tools, like SavvyMoney, that teach budgeting and offer advice on problem areas.

(full disclosure I work in marketing for a credit union)
posted by headnsouth at 6:25 AM on November 22, 2013 [2 favorites]

This won't take two whole hours, but you might set aside some time in the final class for them to process and reflect on what they've learned, and make a concrete plan going forward. You could make up a little guided worksheet to that effect, bring snacks, and let them find a comfortable place to think/write on topics like:
What have I found most useful in this class?
What has surprised me?
What tasks do I approach differently since learning this material?
What areas of my learning process still need the most work?
What are my top 3 resolutions for applying this stuff going forward?

Sharing in small groups afterwards is also a possibility, depending on the class dynamic.
posted by Bardolph at 6:33 AM on November 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

I think the financial skills headnsouth mentions are a great idea. Additionally, maybe an introduction to the idea of interest vs position negotiation, and some things about de-escalation and other non-combative ways to approach conflict?
posted by rmd1023 at 7:33 AM on November 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Practical advice for how to access mental health care (and the importance of doing so) in your region would likely be useful no matter the demographic breakdown of the class - assume that 25% of them will experience mental health problems in their lifetime, and that close to 100% will be reasonably close to someone else going through the same thing.
posted by terretu at 8:02 AM on November 22, 2013

I talked with a similar group of students in the summer about motivation, and they really responded well. I showed this TED talk: Neil Pasricha's The 3 A's of Awesome, in which he describes how he was motivated to start his blog and what he sees as the secrets of life. We had a discussion afterwards about the importance of attitude in whatever you're doing, and their own ideas about the secrets of life.
posted by bizzyb at 8:06 AM on November 22, 2013

Best answer: You might want to cover various forms of help, and when it's time to reach out to someone vs fixing things on your own. This could mean things like metal health, but could also cover things like when to go to an emergency room, when you should call the police, when you should call a plumber/electrician, when you should call your landlord, when you should call rape crisis, etc.

I know lot of people who are competent adults until there's a crisis, and then not only do they not know whom to call about it, they don't have a grasp of when you need to stop screwing around and make the call. Talking people through "So, if you call [source of help x], this is what will happen..." could be hugely helpful.
posted by MeghanC at 8:33 AM on November 22, 2013

BUDGETING. It is taught nowhere and it is a critical life skill, particularly when you are already disadvantaged and have less to work with.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:51 AM on November 22, 2013

Budgeting and time management.

Alternatively, give them a bit of rationality with this presentation.
posted by henryaj at 10:07 AM on November 22, 2013

There's a FPP from the past month or so that points out a study showing that those who think a skill is innate will give up if they have difficulty thinking they are not good at it while those who realize a skill is more dependent on effort persist and prevail.
posted by Obscure Reference at 10:32 AM on November 22, 2013 [2 favorites]

Dealing with strong emotions (anger, lust, fear) and how to build healthy relationships with other people. How to recognize unhealthy relationships and how to extricate or protect oneself from an unhealthy relationship.
posted by HMSSM at 1:16 PM on November 22, 2013

-how to write an effective email
-how to leave a professional message on the phone
-budgeting
-early signs of an abusive relationship
-how to study well
posted by Margalo Epps at 1:55 PM on November 22, 2013

Love the ideas on financial literacy/budgeting - this could easily fill 2 hours, especially with a hands on "practice this" component.

Also:

Depending on how many students you have and whether you could swing this financially, another exercise I have done that was very valuable was "writing a letter to your future self." Give each student a stamped envelope, have them write their address for next semester on it, and then they put their letter in it and you mail after a certain amount of time. In this case, it might be nice to mail it right at the start of spring semester, or at a common "crunch time" (if there is a set time for midterms or finals at your school, that would be perfect). Have students include in the letter things like:

--Strategies they learned in this class that they want to remind themselves of
--Aspirations/goals for the semester, year, time in school, after graduation, etc. etc.
--Positive affirmations of themselves
--Etc. etc.

Then, maybe include a printed "greatest hits" letter from yourself that is common to all students before you put it in the mail (i.e. your list of best strategies to remember, contact info for where they can go on campus in case they're in crisis or just need some help, a positive quote, etc.).

Obviously this depends on your number of students -- more feasible for you to buy stamps to send letters to 15 students than to 100! But if you can swing it, I think this is an awesome way to carry lessons forward in the future. And, it is really fun to get a letter in the mail from yourself in a couple of months time and be like "Hey, I forgot I did this! What was I thinking about? Cool!"
posted by rainbowbrite at 5:16 PM on November 22, 2013 [1 favorite]