need ideas for educating new members!
 

I was wondering if anyone can help me out. I recently became pledge educator of my sorority and couldn't be happier. The only problem is I have 40 new members that need to be educated but don't seem enthused about doing the reading. I plan on playing jeopardy with them and handing out little prizes but thats as far as my creativity goes haha.. i want them to have fun while learning and make them memorize the information as best as possible.. any ideas? thanks so much!!

Make flashcards for all of the new members. You can print them up and have them cut out their own. This way, they won't have to read pages and pages of information.

Try giving the information in a lecture, or historical discussion, rather than just having them read out of their new member manuals, or whatever they have that they need to read from. Talk about why your history is important. Talk about what the symbols of your sorority mean (without giving away any information you shouldn’t), and discuss the intentions of the founders. When people find meaning behind things, they are more likely to want to learn about them.

And remember… a lot of people are visual learners. Try making a Powerpoint presentation with pictures and descriptions. Give the new members actual items or pictures that they can see when learning the information. Something as simple as having a banner with your crest on it during the discussion, or having a picture of the school where your chapter was founded, or pulling lines from your creed and using visuals for each one can help people to remember.

I know that when I was memorizing the founders of my sorority, I used visuals… and even though some of them seem absolutely ridiculous, it helped me to remember who they were at the time.

Just a few examples of what I used…

Ruth Dutcher = map of the Netherlands
May Gephart = ‘May’ page of a calendar
Harriet Marx = picture of Karl Marx
Adriance Rice = rice!
Mayene Tracy = Dick Tracy movie

And although it might sound absurd, it helped me to remember. Me and one of my sisters, Lindsey, we also turned one of our ritual songs into a kind of rap, and we remembered it better that way when it came time to write it down. Now I know how it goes and what it should sound like, but it helped us to learn it at the time… and it was fun!

I learned our founders, Dodge, Havens, Curtis, Bingham, through "Dogs Have Curly Bangs".:)

We had a song for our Founders. Please don't ask me it. I don't remember except for part of Calva's refrain.
To learn the creed, we learned to fill, to find, to know first. Sometimes it's easier to break it up into smaller parts.

Bows and Toes if they get it wrong.

Hit your school's library for a copy of "Games Trainers Play" and "More Games Trainers Play"

Lots of ideas there for short, adaptable activities that make learning more interesting,

And don't forget to study your sorority's handbooks and manuals. :rolleyes:

Make them hold a match...

So they don't want to read up on their new sorority? :eek: Why wouldn't they want to learn about the organization they signed on to join? I would question what kind of members they are going to be if they can't even muster up the enthusiasm to READ about the sorority...but that's just me.

I can still say it so damn fast to this day thanks to the match. I can now hold a match and say it in modern greek as well.

Pull in different actives to help with things. Like have the chapter historian do a presentation on chapter/national history, have the ritual person come in for the symbols part, etc. Sometimes having the same person talk can get pretty boring- especially considering these are women that sit through lectures every day. Plus having other actives help with help the new members get to know the officers.

^ My chapter started doing this a few years ago after a visit from our Educational Consultant. Every new member meeting, two or three sisters would attend the meeting, and they would talk for 5-10 minutes about their position in the sorority. Certain members would show up depending on what was being discussed that day. If it was a day to talk about philanthropy, the philanthropy chair would briefly discuss our national philanthropy (the new member director would talk about that a little more), and they would discuss some of the local philanthropies we participate in, and why. It breaks things up during the meeting, and the new members get to hear from more than just one sister.

And actually, from what I understand, I think that at Convention this past summer, AST added this idea to the new member program for all of the chapters to do.