T-LC: developing friendships between teens and adults - Teaching-Learning Communities

Children Today, Sept-Oct, 1985 by Carol H. Tice

The Intergenerational Linkages Program: The Teaching-Learning Communities Model is a demonstration project of the Institute for the Study of Children and Families, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan. It was designed cooperatively, and is currently being implemented, with the American Association of Retired Persons/Retired Teachers' Association and the Ann Arbor, Chicago and Atlanta Public Schools. The project is supported with grants from the Administration on Aging, the Administration on Children, Youth and Families and the Office of Program Development, OHDS.

The project's goal is to use the concepts and technologies of the Teaching-Learning Communities (T-LC) Program, an integenerational program begun in the Ann Arbor elementary schools in the early 1970s, to address the educational, health and well-being of young people at risk of drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, dropping out of school or delinquent behavior. T-LC is based on the assumption that when mind, body and spirit work together in balanced ways, health, well-being and excellence of achievement follow. This is true whether the person is young and in the early years of development or older and in the later stages of growth.

The program was pilot tested in Chicago and, with the federal funding, two additional demonstration centers--in Ann Arbor and Atlanta--were established last year. Eight satellite programs are currently being set up within a 50-mile radius of each of the three centers. Project staff members assist the sites in identifying possible activities, provide technical assistance and training for all volunteers and are available for ongoing support and assistance.

Although the T-LC concept was unique when the program was introduced into the school curriculum 15 years ago in Ann Arbor, the process is a familiar one in the 1980s, when intergenerational programs are so widely recognized and used in schools. Older adults, who serve as instructors and role models, are invited into classrooms and other places where youths gather to share special interests and exchange skills. Typical activities might include woodworking, photography, creative writing, storytelling, sewing, cooking, soft arts, graphics and music. The variety and scope of activities continue to grow as the older and younger people begin to know each other and are encouraged to offer what they have to share. Since the teaching and learning are exchanges, the interactive involvement of all participants is strengthened. The goal is to foster the development of responsible, interpersonal friendships between the teenagers and the older people.

Most of the older volunteers come to the program site once a week, although a few may visit more often and in more than one school. Coordination is provided by a paraprofessional aide--a man or woman from the community who knows the neighborhood and the school or other program setting. A team consisting of a volunteer who is at least 55 years old and a graduate student coordinates the satellite projects through the Model Demonstration Centers.

In addition to the ongoing activities, special initiatives have been designed. In Chicago, a number of schools have hosted Prevention Fairs, at which service agencies present information at booths set up in the school. Speakers of all ages talk about how to make responsible decisions concerning health matters and how to lead a more healthy life. The talks are far from dull and moralistic--and the students seem eager for guidance from people of all ages whom they respect and trust. In one school, after the planned presentations were concluded and students were invited to speak, a 13-year-old girl, who was recognized as a student leader, stood up to announce--to everyone's amazement--that she was pregnant. She said that she had made a mistake and was telling her story so that her classmates would not make a similar error.

Another middle school has used a room opening off of the cafeteria to set up a resource center for career options. The room is staffed at noon by counselors--older people from the community who are invited to have lunch with the students and talk informally with them about their work lives before retirement. Efforts are made to cover a wide variety of career options, and students are encouraged to ask questions that provide a real look at the field of work and the steps that need to be taken to arrive at a particular occupational goal. The students learn that many of the older adults have worked at more than one career, as well as at numerous jobs along the way. They are able to observe first-hand that reaching a particular work goal involves much more than "wishing" to be a doctor or "wanting" to be an airline stewardess.

While T-LC and other programs serving inner-city youths need to address the suffering felt by young people who are alienated and lack self-esteem and a purpose in life, it is also important to focus attention on the deeper needs that often produce such symptoms as drug abuse, dropping out of school or pregnancy. Response on the part of T-LC participants indicates that the program is moving in the right direction.