Kids, seniors and the 1930s

Teaching Pre K-8, Nov/Dec 2001 by Bittel, Barb, Harris, Becki

An eighth grade project in which teachers, students and senior citizens teach... and learn

How do you inspire and empower learning communities? Listen to our story. It will give you a great project for your students, a project that's driven not only by technology but also by human beings. It involves learning by all participants: 14 technology-- fearful middle school teachers, 48 typical eighth grade students (you know, the kind who already know everything) and residents of an adult care facility.

Lyncourt Union Free School District is a small K-8 school district on the outskirts of Syracuse, New York, with 340 students. At the middle level (grades 6-8), there is one social studies teacher, one English teacher, one science teacher and so on. This can make some things difficult, but when you want to complete a project where everyone is involved, it can be a blessing.

It all started as an assignment for a professional development class taken by three of our middle school teachers: Sandy Major, our 6-8 social studies teacher; Becki Harris, who teaches vocal music for grades K-8; and Carol Glor, the 6-8 home and careers teacher. They came up with the idea of creating a unit based on the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"Hallway portfolio:' The first year, it was just Carol, Becki and Sandy who implemented the project with their eighth grade classes. Students were given assignments that correlated with the New York State Learning Standards and SCANS skills for each of the three subjects and, over a three-week period, completed a "hallway portfolio" to be displayed on the walls. The teachers found 30 local senior citizens who had experienced the Depression firsthand and who would consent to being interviewed one-on-one by the students.

When the day of the evening presentation arrived, there were a few students who still had nothing to display on the wall. Whether it was peer pressure or embarrassment, these students did some scrambling between three and six o'clock and by the time the first parent arrived every student had something on display.

The next level. As a result of this success, the students' pride in their projects and the interest of other teachers, we decided to take the project to the next level. This meant: first, integrating technology into the project; and, second, getting all of the eighth grade staff involved.

Barb Bittel, the district's computer coordinator, and Nancy Schmidt, a systems consultant, came up with a preliminary plan to help teachers learn how to use HyperStudio, a multimedia authoring program.

Teachers would create their own 1930s slide show with a threefold purpose: (1) to provide information on a 1930s-related topic from their area of expertise; (2) to model for the students what could be created using HyperStudio; and (3) to learn enough about HyperStudio to assist student groups in its use.

During three half-day inservices, the teachers amazed themselves by producing their own 34-card "stack," many of them complete with graphics, music and even video. The stacks were then linked to a home stack from which students could choose which teacher stack to view

Thanks for the memories. We were concerned about where we'd find 48 senior citizens for the current year's project. We had nothing to worry about. A local adult care facility was conducting an "Intergenerational Reminiscence Project" which sought to improve residents' short-term memories by using their long-term memories. How? By letting the seniors tell their stories to anyone who would take the time to listen - especially school children. It was just what we were looking for.

Next, students were given an overview of the project, including the interview process, and each teacher assigned a 1930s-related project to be completed within the allotted time. For three weeks, the students interviewed the residents and completed their projects, which were required in every content area.

For English, students read and discussed poems from the Dust Bowl era, then wrote their own poems describing conditions during that time. For science, students researched and wrote about a 1930s invention like the octopus furnace. They compared it to models produced today, (energy use, ease of operation, etc.), built a model and created a poster that included their report, and pictures and drawings of furnaces then and now.

The math project involved researching prices and salaries in the 1930s and now, and creating graphs based on the information. The students also completed projects in the content areas of health (racism then and now), technology (advancements of the 30s, like the construction of the Empire State Building), music (songs from the 30s) and physical education (the origins of swing dancing they even learned to dance!). The project covered all these curriculum areas and more.

Interviews with the senior citizens filled the social studies requirement of our 1930s unit. Knowing that a major segment of the eighth grade curriculum is an introduction to career planning, we made the most of our visits to the adult care facility, giving the students a tour so they could see the variety of jobs that were available.