This spring break I asked my
residents to take a Waldo cut out with them. I then asked them to snap a
picture of Waldo in a location of their choice, and upload it to our Facebook
page. It was neat getting to see all of the various places Waldo got to go, but
most importantly my residents got to view the other photos and connect with the
neighbors in a more hands on manner.
Another neat trick one can do to
promote communication amongst residents is to pass out door props at the start
of every semester. A good way to obtain door props is to visit one’s local
lumbar store. All one has to do is ask a worker if you can have the left over
blocks of wood. Chances are they will give you them for free. The reason being
the pieces are too small for them to sell, and you are doing them a favor by extracting
it from their hands. Once you have obtained your door props you can start
distributing them. You might think or assume residents will simply toss these
aside and render them useless; well you would be wrong. Residents will use this
door prop for a couple of reasons, such as smelly roommate, their room is too
hot or too cold, or simply because they like to people watch. The wickedly
awesome part about this is that your residents will get to meet other
residents. You see you cannot say hi to a door. If you find your residents are
not using their door props enough you can turn it into a reward system. Perhaps
you say the room that keeps their door open the most will receive a bag of
candy or something of that nature.
As an RA
you’re going to want your residents to feel comfortable not only with their roommate,
but with everyone else on the floor. If your residents don’t get along , then
Pandora’s box will fly open. Residents might inflict horrific pranks on another
or perhaps play music loudly without consideration for their neighbors. If all
of the residents get along then issues like this can be avoided.
No comments:
Post a Comment