Sensitivity Module: Senior Interview
State Standards
Idaho: US2: 1.1/ 1.4/ 5.1
Utah: US2: 7/ 8
Honors U.S. History II
My thoughts for this unit are to make it for an honors or
leadership class. It involves a lot of work on the teacher’s part and places a
lot of responsibility on the students, and until it could be perfected I would
not recommend it be done for a standard History class.
Interviewing elderly about their childhood (1940’s or
1950’s) unfortunately the placement of this lesson will change over the years
the original lesson was with WWII vets and there are not many left.
The ideas for this lesson come from Values
Clarifications: a Handbook of Practical Strategies for teachers and Students
(Simon©1972) Strategy Number 45
Objective: Students will gain a greater respect for those
that lived through history by interviewing the elderly in their community. This
will give a primary source on growing up in these periods.
Before begging this unit contact a local Nursing Home,
Assisted living center or Senior Citizen organization and see if there are any
seniors that would like members (no more
than two) to come and visit them and ask them about their early years. Find out
general information to give to the students such as: Birth, Place of birth, perfusion,
family status, and best times to meet with them, as well as any other things
that may be nice to know.
Before assigning seniors to students teach the students the
importance being professional with these seniors, and preparing them to be the
interviewer. Take a class period to have them practice interviewing as pares
and then have them write down a list of questions that they would like to ask
their senior. There are many movie clips that can be shown to help this way.
Also remained the class that when taking a recorded interview and typing it out
it is customary for folklorist to write exactly how it is said with ums and accents
sounded out…
If you have made arrangements with a nursing home or
assisted living center, and time permits class time could be used to go as a
class and do the interviews, otherwise arrangements will need to be made on an
individual bases, the interview should take at least a half hour but not go
much longer than an hour. If the students want to visit more have them return
another day…
From the interview students will write a report, or the stories
that they learned. A rubric will need to
be created for students to fallow according to the desired outcome.
Flow, Spelling and Grammar 15pt
Strong introduction
10pt
Narrative
(story 3-4 paragraphs from interview) 50pt
Reflection
20pt
Above and beyond
(just over the top good) 5pt
Total
100pt
Extra:
if this project is a success and there are a few students that bond and create
a great report and interview have a life time achievement night to honor one or
two of the seniors that were interviewed. Have the students do most of the work
and expound on their lives. Have them make a presentation and honor the seniors
at a “big event” a dinner with the class their family and friends or whatever
fits your community.
It
is my hope and belief that by having young people interact and learn from these
seniors they will gain a greater respect for their elders and grow to become
more understanding of others.
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