Everybody Has a Story: Learning History Through Community Elders

Grade Level: 9-12

Academic Areas: Language Arts

Duration of service: 1-2 Months

Character Virtues: Caring, Giving, Civic Virtue and Citizenship, Respect

Service Areas: Human Services, Education/Tutoring

Service Learning Project:

Near the start of the school year, students will be partnered with senior citizens who have compelling stories to tell about the time periods of the literature to be read that year in English-10, namely the years following the Great Depression (Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird), World War II (Hiroshima by John Hersey and Night by Elie Wiesel), the Communist scare of the 1950s (the inspiration for Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible). They will interview these residents and then draft a creative story based on the information they gather using one of those time periods as their setting. Student stories will be published in a booklet to be distributed to all who take part in the project. Copies may also be displayed in school and public libraries. Also, students will write letters to their elders throughout the year every time a major literature unit is completed. In the letters, students will explain how the information they gained from the elders during the interview helped them to better understand the literature that was read. The purpose of this project is for students to educate themselves of the settings of the literature being read that year in order for them to better understand the literature itself and to help them to realize that senior citizens are a wealth of interesting information. Also, the elders who are interviewed will gain a sense of self-esteem that the stories that they have to tell are important and appreciated.

Goals and Objectives

Academic

Learning Goal: Students will learn the important components of the interview process.

Standards: ELA #1 and #4

Learning Goal: Students will learn the components of writing a business letter.

Standards: ELA #1 and #4

Learning Goal: Students will learn the importance of historical background for understanding literature.

Standard: ELA #1

Learning Goal: Students will delve into their creative writing abilities and enhance them through writing the elders’ stories.

Standards: ELA #2 and #3

Service

Community need: There is a need to help bridge the gap between young people and the elderly population so that young people can gain a sense of respect for their elders and elderly citizens can feel invested in the school district.

Possible Community Partners: senior citizens, rotary club, veterans associations, local library

Objective: Students will gain respect for elderly citizens and the elderly will feel a connection to the students, therefore strengthening the community as a whole.

Objective: Students will break down barriers that exist between themselves and other generations.

Character

Virtue: respect

Objective: Students will increase their regard and value of their community.

Virtue: civic virtue and citizenship

Objective: Students will have an increased feeling of belonging, empowerment, and ownership due to their hard work as a result of being advocates for the community.

Key Activities

Key Planning Activities

1. The teacher will reach out to the community in search of residents who may have compelling stories to tell about certain time periods in history that coincide with the settings of literature to be read in English-10, i.e. The Great Depression, WWII, and the 1950s.

2. Students will learn/review the components of the interview process. It is possible that an expert in the field of interviewing (newspaper reporter, journalist, etc.) can come into the classroom to share his/her tips on how to conduct a successful interview in order to get someone’s story.

3. Students will learn/review the process of writing a business letter. This letter writing format will be used by students to introduce themselves to their elder partners and invite them into the school for the interview.

4. The idea that everyone has a story will be discussed as will the idea that everyone’s story can be made into something. Students will be made aware that the purpose of the interview is two-fold: one, for them to gain a better understanding of the time periods for the literature we will be reading this year and, two, for them to write a creative story using an idea that came up during the interview and embellishing it to make a good story. The idea is to be inspired by the elders’ stories and use them as a base for a story but add their own creativity to it.

Key Service Activities

1. Students will be paired with one another and then partnered with elderly citizens who may have compelling stories to tell about certain time periods in history that coincide with the settings of literature to be read in English-10, i.e. The Great Depression, WWII, and the 1950s. They will interview these elders and write a creative story based on the information they gathered, embellishing where possible and using one of those time periods as the setting of their story.

2. Stories will be published in a booklet to be given out to each elder who participated and the community partners that assisted in bringing the elders into this project as well as perhaps putting copies in the community, i.e. local and school libraries, historical society. A photograph of the students and their elder partner will be included.

3. Students will continue to write to their elders as each major literature unit is completed, most likely for a total of about four times throughout the school year. Students will describe what they learned from reading the literature and how the interview, specifically the historical background that they gained from it, helped enhance their experiences of the literature.

Key Reflection Activities

1. (oral) At the start of the unit in groups of 3-5, students will migrate to different areas in the classroom where they will view a variety of pictures of elderly people. In their groups, they will discuss what thoughts, ideas, words, and opinions come to mind as they study each picture. One group member will be responsible for jotting down the group’s responses to this brainstorm. Once every group has spent 3-5 minutes at each picture, the class will be called back together and a discussion will take place about what they noticed about each picture. This will bridge nicely into a discussion about stereotypes and how unfair they can be. responsibility/civic virtue and citizenship/justice and fairness/respect

2. (written) After the interviews take place, students will write thank you notes to the elders they interviewed. In the thank you note, they will include their thoughts and feelings about the interview and what they learned from the interview. caring/respect/giving

3. (performance) Students will compose a short monologue using their elder’s voice. They will read it to the class as if they are the elder that they interviewed. This activity will allow fellow classmates to get a feel for what each pair of students learned from their elder during the interview and encourage students to step into someone else’s shoes for a short while. giving/caring/respect/civic virtue and citizenship

Celebration Activity

A grand celebration complete with food and bringing students back together with their elder partners again will be given. There, each elder will receive a copy of the booklet of published pieces. Also, each pair of students will introduce their elder partner to the audience by giving a short biographical sketch, discussing the most interesting thing they learned from the interview, summarizing the story they wrote, and explaining why they chose that certain topic for their story. Booklets will be on display in the local and school library and perhaps the historical society. An article on the entire service learning project will appear in the school’s newsletter. Parents and community members will be invited to attend the celebration. They will read the stories that are published in the booklet and the article that will be published in the school’s newsletter.