Generations
Working Together
December, 1996
- The Illinois Association of School Boards and the Illinois
Intergenerational Initiative have joined forces to present a
series of intergenerational topics. The first in the Generations
Working Together series presented the benefits of intergenerational
connections for students and schools and the basic of introducing
the ideas to the schools. This issue provides insight on recruiting
older adults and looks at how intergenerational efforts enrich
the curriculum.
Recruiting and Linking Older Adults
and Students
- Recruitment is an invitation to get involved in activities
that, if well planned, will be fun, rewarding, and beneficial
to all involved. When asked about recruiting students for an
intergenerational program, educators smile and say "We have
a captive audience." Extending that notation to older adults
and their organization through partnerships has proven to be
a smart management strategy for schools and teachers around
the state.
Partnerships Are the Key
- A partnership between a school and a senior citizen organization,
senior center or retiree group simply brings together old and
young and minimizes the management. For example, older adults
from Northbrook and Glenview Senior Centers want to learn about
computers. They heard about the computer activities of the students
from Field School and asked if the students might be interested
in teaching. The students said: "YES!" They invited the seniors
to enroll in a computer course and come to the school. The program
has been a win-win proposition for all, particularly since managing
the program is shared. The seniors are involved and screened
by the senior center. The schools takes responsibility for preparing
the students and welcoming the seniors. This type of intergenerational
management seems to be one of the most successful methods of
promoting ongoing intergenerational efforts.
Another example is cited by Jerry Montague, Principal of
Gilson Brown Elementary School in 1993.
- He viewed the nursing home next door as a learning resource
center for his students. They had to cut a hole in the fence
to formalize the partnership, and then young and old read together,
wrote journals, planned and held wheelchair square dances, planted
and harvested gardens, celebrated the Chinese New Year, and
sent balloons into the sky with messages. Montague's advice
in forming a partner ship with the nursing home: "Become personally
involved and make your key contact person the social services
director or activity director of the facility."
- A pen pal program in Homewood began through a partnership
between the AARP Chapter and the first grade class at Churchill
School. According to Frank Ertl, the AARP coordinator, "The
children come into school and are taught to make letters then
words and sentences and finally write letters. By December are
ready to write to a pen pal. By March 1st, after
several letters have been exchanged, they meet their pen pals
for the first time in a classroom get-together." Ertl organized
the older adults. The teacher organized the curriculum. This
is cooperation at its best.
Involving the Community
- The invitation to become involved with the schools may come
from a community group. For example, Superintendent John Conyers,
in Palatine District 15, saw the need to reach out to the community.
He convened a small group representing teachers, principals,
community residents, AARP representatives and parents to discuss
the possibilities. Out of this discussion, a process was created
to involve older adults in the schools, with the focal point
being the district office. Generations Exchange, a program that
trades volunteer time for tax credit, was the result.
How to Recruit Older Adults
- Just ask
- Advertise newsletters, newspapers, radio, or TV
- Organize Volunteer Fairs
- Invite seniors to social activities in the school
- Have grandchildren invite grandparents and their friends
- Have middle aged sons and daughters involve their parents
- Attend retirements planning seminars
- Retirees may also take it upon themselves to investigate elder
involvement in the schools. In Naperville, two retired teachers
that they wanted to give something back to the schools that
had given so much to them; and besides, they really missed the
students. The two retired teachers met with the district office
and planned a program called HURRAH (Happy Upbeat Recycled Retirees
Actively Helping) HURRAH volunteers come to the schools to help
the students with reading. The program has expanded through
the joint efforts of the community and the schools and as a
result of a strategic plan developed by HURRAH. .
Individuals Invitations
- A partnership may not be feasible for all schools, and if
that is the case recruiting individuals may be the answer. The
invitation to individuals may be extended in many ways. For
example, in Berwyn, the principals invite seniors to have coffee
and continental breakfast with him. The students serve the breakfast.
(and it is a coveted honor to do so. ) In Sullivan, older adults
are invited to participate in a pencil pal program. At Bensenville
High School the fine arts department invites seniors to attend
the school play. McDowell School in Chicago hosts a family History
Festival and seniors are invited to participate. At Alonzo Stagg
High School in Palos Hills, they are invited to a volunteer
recruitment fair. In schools throughout the state, grandparents
and older friends are invited to the schools for Grandparents
Day. .
Places to Find Older Volunteers
- Relatives of the school staff
- Congregations
- Civic clubs
- Libraries
- Fraternal and social clubs
- Area Agencies on Aging
- Senior centers
- Volunteer centers
- American Associations of Retired Persons
- Older adult programs in the community colleges
- Senior Corps Programs R.S.V.P or Foster Grandparents
- Retiree villages or housing developments
- Retiree organizations (labor, professional, etc.) .
Enriching the Curriculum
- As the U.S. population ages, more and more people realize
that seniors are an important resource. Tapping that potential
is daunting for some principals and teachers who have never
worked with older adults. Educators seem to feel much more comfortable
with intergenerational programming if it fits into the existing
curriculum. And it does so easily, according to Pat Bearden,
Family Historian, Chicago. Family history is a topic that crosses
the curriculum. Fourth and fifth graders are involved in a family
history curriculum at McDowell School in Chicago. They become
investigators searching their past and in the process develop
great interviewing and research skills. Gread McKinnis found
that his grandfather Gread McKinnis Sr. was a great star in
the Negro baseball league. McKinnis can now trace family members
and discuss the major historical events that took place during
their lives. Lucille White, principal of McDowell School says,
"The children find their place in history and discover that
they are also leaving a legacy." Fifth graders at Hurley School
celebrate Family History by preparing displays, writing family
history timelines, and using math skills in preparing a life
continuum for their family history.
- Students from Edison School in Pekin learned that history
becomes a personal experience when veterans showed the photos,
clothes, awards, medals, weapons and money from different countries.
One veteran passed out a smelly rutabaga, green kohlrabi, and
pernickel bread. He said that they would make water soup with
the vegetables and share the food among 10 men. William Gray
describes the 14 months he spent as a prisoner of war in Yugoslavia
and held students spellbound with the stories about the prison
camps and combat overseas in the 1940s. The experience was a
joint effort of the Pekin Public Library and Edison School and
was so successful that they made a 15 minute video about it
that is available from the Illinois State Library.
- In Northbrook's Field School, a seventh-grade class experienced
the negative images of aging and decided to learn more about
the images of age on TV, movies, commercials and magazine ads.
They used graphs to visualize the images, wrote letters to the
publishers and producers about the depiction of aging, and then
composed a paragraph, "What I Will Be Like When I Am Old." Teacher
Barbara Kurth speaks dynamically when she explains how the aging
curriculum contributes to the performance of the students.
- The intergenerational experience can be woven into the curriculum
in English, history, social studies, geography, biology, math,
music and more. Older adults can be involved with computers,
reading, oral history, community history, tutoring, mentoring,
arts, the environment, gardening, and other programs. One teacher
describes an ambivalent and bored class complaining about preparing
speeches. Their attitude abruptly changed when they interviewed
older adults and prepared presentations based on those interviews.
The students were enthusiastic and animated in their presentations-they
obviously enjoyed what they were doing and wanted to talk about
it.
- Thanks to Mary Walsh, Illinois Associations of School Boards;
Barbara Kurth, Field Schools; Jerry Montague, Marquette High
School, Alton; Kay Woelfel, Palatine District 15; Lucille White,
McDowell School; Pat Bearden, Family History, Chicago; Yolanda
Simmons, King Junior High; Russ Marineau, Naperville District
203; Frank Ertl, AARP, Homewood; Joan Wood, Pekin Public Library;
and Jeanne Flynn, Illinois State Library.
- Jane Angelis is Director of the Illinois Intergenerational
Initiative, a coalition of individuals and organizations committed
to enhancing education and the quality of life for all ages
through intergenerational connections. The initiative works
through a Higher Education Cooperation Act partnership of 32
statewide organizations and is funded by the Illinois Board
of Higher Education. The newsletter, Continuance, is published
quarterly and is free to Illinois residents. Contact the Illinois
Intergenerational Initiative, Southern Illinois University,
Mail code 4341, Carbondale IL, 62901; 618-453-1186, or FAX 618-453-4295;
www address: http://www.siu.edu/offices/iii.
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