The highlight of teaching elders is never knowing quite what to expect. I sat between two gentlemen, one who was the first to have signed up for the class. He is extremely sky, soft spoken and says few words. When he first signed up his friends had told me rather loudly that he had been the first to drop out of the last computer class because it was too much terminology. The other gentleman tells me that his batteries are not working in his hearing aids and he had a stroke five years ago. I assure him that I will stay close and he will be fine. He remembers his email before he retired and ask me why his old email had .gov at the end. (I told him he must have worked for the government. He had been a mailman.)
Today I am trying to too talk too much as we go over the safety handout on Cyber for Older Americans created by Homeland Security and downloaded from the Dept of Health Services https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Cybersecurity%20for%20Older%20Americans_0.pdf I do not go over the handout word for word. Just some items: Don’t give out your password – social security number. Do not believe emails that say you just inherited “lots” of money or won lots of money. We talk briefly of how the internet works and being online, different technology available to use to get online. We look at our equipment in front of us. My two guys have not had typing classes but I explain how the keyboard is like a typewriter with a screen that allows you to see what you type as you go, making corrections easy and even helps with spelling. That we will learn typing letters but not today. I hold the mouse upside down and say – when you hold the mouse like this it sort of looks like a mouse. What do you think? I then talk a little how important being able to use the mouse since it helps to select and do special things. Today we will learn the basics – clicking and scrolling moving around. This is followed up by: hands on mouse skills, http://www.pbclibrary.org/mousing/mousercise.htm This takes longer than I had expected 20 -25 minutes but it is very good and there is a Certificate of Mousing Skills proudly earned by my students. We were only able to touch upon keyboarding, continue study and why, class for next week.
My students learned something today that was new and positive. How do I know that (more than the evaluation that was filled out) ? A lovely lady came over and ask them if they had learned how to turn the computer on and how to do things? They both shook their head yes. She said she would come next Thursday, but both gentlemen told her that on Monday they would share with her what they had learned. They had their copy of the lesson plan and knew what to do. I was so proud of them.