Life Skills Blog - Feb 3, 2014

This weeks life skill was on the skill of trust. What i felt was ambivalence. I know that trust is important, and a key element in developing relationships and opportunity, but i have such a hard time with it. Again, Im not sure how to balance the knowledge that trust can and at some times, will be broken, while also knowing how key it is. I react to this emotion by trying to de personalize my response, and take in only what is being taught or talked about at that time, in our class. I think in life skills I need to constantly work to turn off my overactive brain and remain present in the moment, in the class, with only the content being presented. I watched the 'Other Resources' TED Talk at home. Some things He said that stood out to me were: 'experiment requires failure' - a reminder that failure is a learning experience, and a necessary one ' distrust in generation has increased ' - something i feel tangibly, in society and is especially echo'ed with all my time spent with my grandparents and their generation (born in 1916), volunteering in retirement homes. ' nothing replaces human contact ' - in light of all that we can now do online, or without interacting face to face. Theres nothing i would do differently, with this lesson

Life Skills - March 31, 2014

Yesterdays class was on each person presenting a portion of the life skills lesson they designed, as well as a lesson on Leisure. I felt really engaged during the presentation of one phase of student created lessons. I was interested in what each person did, and how they facilitated, and felt encouraged both for each person and by each ones presentation. I started to feel like 'ok I can do this, and be successful in Jamaica', for the first time. I learnt about creativity being more than the traditional outlets, was reminded of the importance of setting goals in the leisure lesson, and felt really connected to and supported by my classmates. What I would have done differently is that before my presentation I would review the one phase I was about to present, and then present that one phase only, and explain the other phases only in description, quickly. Id also like to present some lessons to a person, as a trial run, before leading them in person (In Jamaica) The life skill lesson on leisure was fun, and felt a bit indulgent. I couldn't help but wonder if this would be a helpful or not helpful lesson for the the students we will be coaching in Jamaica. I get concerned that it may be a reminder of limited resources, or limited ability to participate in self care / leisure activities. I feel very concerned in general, that a lesson I design may alienate or even offend someone. In this way, Im so pleased to have the YWCA book from Ron, and hope to review some of the lessons with my parish manager, to find out which ones she feels would be most relevant to the participants.