There are 12 units of study

Communicating with Aging Parents

In our first lesson, you'll learn a few tools and techniques for effective communication that will sustain you as your parents age.

Helping Maintain Interest in Life

In this lesson, we'll explore ideas that can help you help your parent to maintain his or her zest for life as circumstances change. You'll discover some activities that you might not have thought of before. But you can only suggest that your parents get involved with a new interest. It can be frustrating if they refuse and you have to watch them lose their will to live. My intent is to give you many tools so you can keep trying until something works. If the only behavior you can change is your own, remember that your parent can't help but respond differently to that change. So at least that is in your control. You'll find suggestions on how to make the most of this fact in this lesson. 

Simplifying Life

In this lesson, we're going to talk about ways to change how you think about accumulating things. I'll give you some ideas about what to do with the things you and your parents already have once you decide to free yourselves from the burden of excessive possessions. You'll learn about trusts and gifting away financial assets in Lesson 8—for now, we're talking about artifacts and material possessions, the things that fill your rooms, have to be dusted, insured, provided space, and otherwise cared for. Today you'll learn how to protect yourself from the mind control of advertising in our society of getting and spending. At last, you'll have the awareness to control your own spending habits and help your parents start to unload their lifetime accumulation of stuff.

Important Papers

We often live under the delusion that we're immortal until something, like a death in the family, reminds us of our vulnerability in this world. We may not even think about what would happen to our cat or dog if we got hit by a bus, let alone how we would like our worldly goods distributed. If we think about our health care wishes at all, it's to hope that we do get hit by a bus and don't have to endure a painful or prolonged decline or death. Advance directives are written documents that serve as an individual's instructions regarding disposal of his or her property. In today's lesson, you'll learn what documents you must have, as well as those you should have for yourself and your parents. Today, we'll take a close at each of the important documents, and I'll provide you with tips on how to acquire and prepare them for yourself and your parents with minimum cost and effort. If you're at least 18 years of age, you should have your preferred medical, resuscitation, and funereal instructions officially documented, even if you don't yet have assets to worry about. You'll find out how to address this critical need in this lesson! 

What You Need to Know Now

Even if you think you know your parents inside and out, you might be surprised by some of the things you don't know. And some of those things may be important to you should a parent have to move to assisted living, become incapacitated, or die. In this lesson, I'll tell you about some of the things you should find out while you still can. In addition to the documents we discussed in Lesson 4, you or your parents may have cash, valuables, investments, pensions, insurance policies, safe deposit boxes, a personal safe combination, and account numbers that will be invaluable to the executor of an estate. Do you and your parents have all those things neatly filed in one place? We'll cover all that and more in this lesson.

Handling Emotions

You'll learn about practical and material matters in several of the other lessons in this course. In today's lesson, we'll take a different tack. Every emotion that there is to experience can surface at some time when you're involved in the inevitable changes that come with aging. Today, I'll help you learn what emotions to expect in yourself, your parents, your siblings, and others. We'll revisit some of the communication techniques you learned in Lesson 1 as tools for handling feelings that surface. We'll also explore some new applications of pacing and leading, and ways to manage your own emotions.

 Finding Help

In the past, it was the norm for family to absorb whatever additional burdens came with the declining health and abilities of elders. Community and government services were limited or nonexistent. That's no longer the case. You are not alone, and the good news is that there are services available no matter what financial situation you or your parents are in. In this lesson, we'll explore what's available, where to find it, and the levels or progression of help that you may need over time. You'll also learn how to tell when to move from one level to another. After that, we'll go over some strategies for handling that moment when you introduce the idea of getting help to your parents. This can be a delicate matter, so it's best to be prepared. Issues of self-esteem and layers of emotion may arise when your parents find that they just can't do all the things they used to. I'll teach you to be on the lookout for this as we explore finding help.

When It's Time to Move

The home care services you learned about in Lesson 7 can postpone a move to assisted living quarters, but there may come a time when it's no longer feasible for your parents to stay in their current home. You'll learn how to discuss the idea of a move with your parents, and ascertain their preferences, fears, and concerns. There are now several possibilities for increased care or services other than your home or a nursing home. I'll describe some common ones in this lesson. We'll explore the options progressively, from fully independent living to full-care nursing. We'll also talk about downsizing, as well as relocation and other services that you may need. Finally, you'll learn to choose wisely if sudden illness or impairment strikes, making a progressive approach impossible.

Choosing a Nursing Home

Today you'll learn the five symptoms that reveal when it's time for your parent to move to a nursing home. Selecting a nursing home is one of the most important decisions you can make. I'll give you criteria and a checklist for selection that will serve you well whether you find yourself in a sudden crisis or just ahead of a parent being released from hospital. You'll be able to use the information in this lesson to enhance your confidence in selecting assisted living or other residence options.

The Transition

When the time comes to move your parent to a nursing home, your behavior can make a big difference in how well he or she accepts the change. You'll have to face the emotions of your parent and other family members, and control your own. The communication skills based on neurolinguistic programming (NLP) that you have learned in previous lessons will serve you well: pacing and leading, gaining and maintaining rapport, and using disassociation to control emotion. In today's lesson, I'll give you some more tips for applying your skills during this stressful time. 

Death as a Life Event

In this lesson, I invite you to consider death as a life event, another rite of passage in the ever-flowing river of existence. I'll share much of my own experience with my mother's death, and some thoughts that friends and students have shared with me. What you learn will serve you well if you're dealing with the impending death of a loved one. If you aren't yet facing it, the information in this lesson will help prepare you for that eventuality. You'll learn practical tips to help the dying person, and a few more to help you cope. You'll be encouraged to conquer your fear and reluctance enough to be fully present when death is imminent, and this will free you for a profound experience.

Afterward

In Lesson 11, we talked about ways to handle the experience of a loved one dying. I urged you to choose to be fully present for that experience. In this, our final lesson, we'll address what to expect after the death. You'll become familiar with various theories about grief. We'll also cover some tips on handling issues that might arise. Finally, I'll offer you encouragement and suggestions for getting closure on this life experience, and ideas for getting on with the living.

There are 12 units of study

Keys to Success in Your Teaching Career

A great classroom starts with a great teacher—and that’s you! In this lesson, we’ll look at how you can grow in your job as an adult educator by enhancing your professionalism and managing your time effectively. In addition, we’ll look at ways to boost your confidence and establish your authority in the classroom.

Creating a Positive Learning Environment

Adult students are different than kids, and understanding those differences can help you reach and teach them. Today we’ll look at what makes adult learners tick and how you can best meet their needs. In addition, we’ll talk about preparing for that big first day by getting your paperwork in order. Finally, we’ll look at seven different seating arrangements and the pros and cons of each.

Understanding Learning Styles

Jill is a risk-taker who loves testing the rules. Germaine is a shy bookworm. Claire is an artist, while Dave’s your most popular student. All of these adults have different learning styles and intelligences—and to win them over, you’ll need to teach to their strengths. In this lesson, we’ll explore two different models of learning styles, and take a look at the eight intelligences you’ll want to factor into your lesson plans.

Managing, Supervising, and Counseling Your Students

Zzzzzzz. That’s the sound of Darren snoozing in the corner as you’re trying to lecture. Meanwhile, Emily and Sherelle are too busy gossiping about their weekend dates to pay any attention to you. Does this sound like your classroom? If so, you’ll enjoy today’s lesson, where you’ll learn loads of tricks to get misbehaving students back on track. We’ll also talk about ways to get shy violets to participate, and look at an effective conflict management technique.

Basic Teaching Methods

Remember the old days, when teachers lectured for hours while students took notes or dozed? Those days are gone—and good riddance! Today, we’ll talk about a host of innovative techniques, from window paning and role-playing to mnemonics and visualization, that work like magic in a student-centered classroom. But we’ll also take a peek at lectures and other classic teaching techniques, and see what part they can play in a modern-day learning environment.

Planning Your Course

"Proper prior planning" may be a cliché, but it’s also an excellent idea. In this lesson, we’ll look at the up-front work that can set you up for success in the classroom. First, you’ll discover the 12 steps for creating a dynamite course outline. After that, we’ll delve into lesson planning—and finally, we’ll talk about laying the groundwork for a welcoming orientation.

Educational Aids and Classroom Technology

Just as an interior decorator accents a room with bright colors and great fabrics, you can accent your classroom presentations with the right audiovisual aids. Today, we’ll look at high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech educational aids and technology you can use to capture and keep your students’ attention. In addition, we’ll talk about setting up your classroom so that everyone can benefit from videos and other on-screen material.

Creating Effective Presentations

What motivates your students to learn? Today, we’ll look at the 10 needs and desires that bring learners to your classroom—and you’ll discover how to tap into those motivators during your presentations. We’ll also look at how to create powerful presentation openings, content, and closings. Then we’ll explore the art of questioning and talk about the best way to ask and answer questions in your classroom.

Grading and Advising Your Students

In this lesson, we’ll discuss the A-B-C’s of grading and talk about ways to write top-notch test questions. In addition, you’ll discover great tools for assessing any type of skill, from cake-baking to hairdressing. You’ll also find out how to avoid the most common mistakes teachers make when they assess students, so you can achieve the Goldilocks standard of grading: not too harsh, not too easy, but just right.

Teaching Students Who Have Special Needs

You want every student to feel welcome in your classroom—so today we’ll look at making your class accessible and enjoyable for students with disabilities. First, we’ll look at the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and you’ll learn how to comply with this law. Next, we’ll talk about learning disabilities—in particular, dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). And finally, we’ll explore ways to show courtesy and respect to students with any type of disability.

Teaching Study Skills and Test-Taking Techniques

Even if you create great lessons, your students will succeed only if they’re good studiers and efficient test-takers. In this lesson, we’ll explore ways to beef up your students’ study skills and look at strategies for test-taking. In addition, we’ll discuss test anxiety and talk about tailoring your tips on studying to each learner’s strengths.

Starting a Career as an Adult Educator

Enough about your students—today's lesson is all about you! Whether you're a brand-new teacher or an experienced educator looking for new classroom opportunities, you'll find tips here on how to power up your job search. We'll start by talking about two keys to a successful job hunt: a great résumé and a winning portfolio. After that, we'll discuss how you can target the right schools and wow them with your letter-writing and interview skills

There are 12 units of study

Identifying Preferred Communication Styles
In our first lesson, you'll find out the answers to four very important questions that impact the success of your relationships with others. The answers to these questions will help you identify your preferred communication styles. By the time you finish this lesson, your skills for achieving successful relationships will markedly increase.

Analyzing Your Own Difficult-Person Situation
In this lesson, you'll begin to build a database about not only your difficult people (those who are different in communication style from you), but also enhance your skills in reviewing and resolving problems with them. You'll learn to see things from others' viewpoints based on their needs, values, beliefs, experiences, skills, knowledge, and self-interests. You'll also learn to use a well-structured approach to carefully review all aspects of difficult situations by answering these questions: who? what? where? when? how? and why? And by answering these questions, you'll review specifically who your difficult people are, what they're like, how you typically react to them, and their response to your actions. These answers will enhance your ability to find solutions to conflict rather than defeat.

Dealing With Hostile-Aggressive Personality Types
Today, we'll discuss four types of hostile, pushy, and rude people—with the emphasis on "hostile." These are people who want to control everything and everyone but have no self-control. This group is aggressive and unfriendly, and is appropriately called Hostile-Aggressives and/or Sensors. You'll learn how to analyze your own interactions, and see why some people are so concerned with "getting their job done" that they pay little attention to relationships with others. By observing others closely, you'll learn to read their identifying characteristics, and once you can identify which type of person you're dealing with, you'll be able to choose appropriate reactions to their hostile behaviors.

Deaing With Difficult Passive Personality Types
In today's lesson, you'll learn appropriate options for interacting well with those who are stubborn, tight-lipped, and critical—the people known as Negative-Passives and/or Thinkers. By comparing your own group of Thinkers and Sensors, you'll soon see why Thinkers are much more passive than Sensors. They're also more organized, precise, and thorough. You'll easily recognize Thinkers you know because they're perfectionists—always moving slowly and cautiously. By the time you finish this lesson, you'll know some specific approaches you can use to deal with this group.

Dealing With Aggressive Subcategories of Difficult Intuitors
In this lesson, you'll learn and practice appropriate options for dealing effectively with aggressive subcategories of Intuitors whom you'll learn to recognize because of their fashionable and stylish appearances, as well as their stimulating, cluttered, and friendly workplaces. You've probably experienced what happens when Intuitors aren't getting their needs met. They become neglectors, empire builders, and prima donnas. And by the time you finish this lesson, you'll know how to deal with each one.

Identitfying and Dealing With Relaters
Today, we'll take another look at Relaters and see how they differ from Intuitors, who are also people-focused. Plus, you'll learn ways to effectively handle the difficult subcategories of Relaters. You'll see from examples that Relaters are more passive than Intuitors, they concentrate more on pleasing others than Intuitors do, they're very attentive to the needs of others, and they set high value on friendships and being accepted by others. But if their needs aren't met, they may become approval-seeking to the extreme. We'll go over how to deal with them in today's lesson.

Overcoming Your Own Difficult Characteristics
Some of your difficult people probably also feel that you're their difficult person, but you may be totally unaware of this. Do you feel that ignorance is really bliss? You wouldn't if you value relationships with others as well as personal and professional success. If so, you need to know whose difficult person you may be. We'll go through some exercises in this lesson that should help you figure it out. The greater your versatility, the more likely you are to experience win-win relationships—those in which the needs of everyone in a relationship are met.

Developing Skills to Become More Flexible
In this lesson, you'll work toward improving your own flexibility skills: Confidence, tolerance, empathy, positivity, and respect. To help, you'll answer a few questions about each of your own skill sets as you move through the lesson's materials. You'll also select and use techniques and processes to increase or improve your flexibility skills, and then you'll review your success or results achieve.

Exploring Resilience-Building Strategies
In today's lesson, you'll learn that a certain set of characteristics is essential if you want to relate well with others. As you'll find out today, you must first improve your versatility skills to maintain a positive attitude, and then learn to view obstacles and problems as "opportunities." You'll also learn that versatility is based on your levels of resilience, vision, attentiveness, competence, and self-correction. Plus, you'll review techniques and processes by which you may increase or improve your versatility skills, and then apply the skills to your own situations and relationships and analyze their effectiveness.

Discovering the Importance of Assertiveness to Positive Relationships
After we finish today's lesson, you'll understand what assertiveness is and what it isn't. You'll begin to see why assertive behavior is so important to your success in getting along well with others, and you'll carefully examine your own level of assertiveness, know which of your skills need fine-tuning, and have access to the tools needed to accomplish your tune up. You'll learn that assertiveness involves taking responsibility for getting your own needs met in a way that also preserves the dignity and rights of others. Plus, you'll learn how to both show and tell others through assertive actions and language what you mean and what you need or want.

Changing Your Own Assertiveness Skills
You're going to be amazed by the results you'll be able to accomplish after you complete this lesson! The assertive-communication techniques you'll practice are simple, yet powerful. You'll learn to use self-disclosure appropriately to share information about yourself—your thoughts, feelings, and opinions—to build relationship trust and common ground. Then you'll find out how to use persistence, or the broken record technique, to get results from someone who's not listening to your wants or needs. Next, you'll find out how to effectively use your voice and language assertively to improve your relationships. Added to the many other techniques you've already explored in this course, you'll now have all the tools you need to improve and maintain even your most difficult relationships.

Learning Techniques to Improve Your Listening Abilities
Today in our final lesson, you may be surprised to discover that your listening skills need improvement because listening well is a complex process in which your own selective filtering often keeps you from real understanding. Even more astounding, we spend more time listening every day than we do in other types of communication, yet a majority of us have never learned how to listen effectively. When paired with assertive speaking skills and other nonverbal skills, assertive listening skills will give you a lot more personal control over difficult situations—including living and working with difficult people.