Generations: Creating Connections

Preface: This blog post reports on a special program begun at my school in the Fall of 2018. My inspiration to create this club was my passion for wanting to connect our young students with seniors in the community. Three students and three seniors volunteered to be a part of this endeavor. It was very gratifying for me to see how much the students and seniors bonded during the three visits we had to the Peninsula Regent Retirement Community in San Mateo, CA. The experience gave a real "in the community" opportunity for our Stanbridge Academy students to practice their communication skills and spread their goodwill to strangers who became friends almost instantly.

The founding members of the Generations Club  

The students prepared for meetings with the seniors by practicing the art of reflective listening in mock interviews with each other. Students also practiced interviewing a grandparent or other older person at home between club sessions. A short final project is completed by the students to share what the club experience meant to them.

Club advisor Craig Siulinski, who has experience as a personal historian and genealogist, believes the club is important for providing students with an experience that goes beyond themselves such as what happens when students are involved in service learning projects. The club was designed with two main goals in mind. First, the club aims to help students have a better understanding and respect for senior citizens. Second, the club aims to improve students communication skills, particularly listening and speaking.

Generations Seniors: Karley, Delores, and Barbara...all former teachers

Interviewing seniors provided our students with opportunities to listen intently and reflect on what they are hearing. The idea is for the interviewer to elicit life stories from the senior by having the encounter play out like a friendly conversation. One way to allow for this to happen is for the student to share their own stories by answering the same question that they are asking.  Another way to encourage storytelling during the interview is to allow for “going off the script” as one question leads to another or provides a branching point to another topic. This video clip shows this process well and it provided the inspiration for me to offer a club like Generations: Watch Here

There are many benefits in providing intergenerational experiences to young students in particular. Among the benefits are: 

• an appreciation for senior citizens
• an awareness of the larger community
• hearing a sense of the past and gaining an understanding of how things used to be
• increased confidence in communication skills from the practice of preparing for and delivering a life story interview

Here are some samples from the interviews held at the Peninsula Regent in November 2018:

Owen asked Delores: What words of advice do you have about living a long life?  Dolores responded:  "Get plenty of sleep, get regular exercise and have a spiritual component in your life because that helps. Life isn’t always easy. " 

Muriel asked Karley: What would you say are the major values and principles that you live by? Karley responded: “Caring for people is at the top of the list; caring for everybody…even sometimes when I don’t like them, I care about them. Also, being honest with people. I think that’s important.  How about you?” Muriel responded: “I’m concerned about other people when they get hurt. I care about people too.”