Never Too Old for Email class is not dead yet

You are Never Too Old for Email class is not dead yet…just moving to a new address.

After more that 30 years of teaching adult learners, I am fairly confident about myself and my teaching style. I have been trained by masters in the conversation. I have been accused (rightfully so) in the past of being too structured and straight-laced a teacher. I have learned over the years that putting FUN and PLAY in your classes is a good thing. A great way to create fun and play is to engage your participants and create a bond. Thank you Carol G. from Habitat for helping me put both in my computer and financial management training. For one thing, your students enjoy the class more and it is a win/win for everyone.

There is a first for everything. Yesterday, the computer club decided to ask me to quit teaching at the club. I can still be a member and participate in anything I desire. The reason they cited for asking me to stop teaching is because there was too much fluff (fun and play) in my classes and/or too much participation and not enough learning. The club said they want instructors who use more structure in their classes. They even said my students told them they didn’t learn very much in my classes. In last week’s class that may have been the case because we did have one major breakdown and the rest of the class had a lot to do with recovering but I have written acknowledgements from many of my students acknowledging me for the class and talking about what they learned.

I did mention to the two people that visited with me at the club that it might be my personality that they didn’t like. But, of course they said it was my teaching style. It was a REAL performance based evaluation. Like I said, after more than 30 years of teaching I know who I am and what I stand for.

The computer club is a GREAT club. It is one of the best deals in town and a good way for students to learn new skills and/or improve on their skills. But, when several of the Board members think that Facebook and Google Gmail are not safe…or even evil, it is probably time for me to move on to a new address.

So, from now on I’ll be teaching at home and at several senior citizen venues in and around the valley and of course in Texas and who knows where else. My You are Never Too Old for Email class will live on as well and yes, Cathy the teacher is still alive and well…just moving to a new address. Teaching is a GREAT way to meet new and interesting people and pairing them up can be fun too.

As for my Thursday club visits, I can still do these but I’ll be reinventing this as well after I get back from Texas. I may have a brown bag lunch group at my house and/or on the internet. What a FUN idea. We might even use Facebook or Twitter to communicate…that’s a good thing.

Watch out world…Cathy’s still in the game and she knows who she is and what she stands for. One thing she stands for is customer-driven classes and the only way you can do that is to get your customers to give you feedback…preferably in writing. She also stands for living life from abundance not from scarcity or fear.

So thank you to my many students over the years who have given me feedback both verbally and in writing. My classes are better because of it. One of my dreams is to never stop teaching until the day I die. Another dream I have is to play with like minded, playful people who know that money is and should be part of the game. That it is a way to keep score and to know how many lives you have transformed in the process. As I said before, my life has never been about the money…it’s always been about making a difference in people’s lives.

Hope to see you in my travels.

In joyful partnership,

Cathy

Cathy.the.teacher@gmail.com