Grade 10 English students interview seniors during intergenerational project

The 53 sophomores in Amanda Faulkner's two English 10 classes got to talk in class for 90 minutes Thursday.

In fact, they had detailed conversations with retirees about a variety of topics – everything from describing their first car and favorite childhood memory to their most embarassing moment and their opinions on President Bush and the war in Iraq.

"This is a great experience because the kids get to see something from another person's viewpoint – we really try to bridge the generation gap," said Faulkner, who recruited retirees from her church, through the GIVE service learning program and by "calling a lot of people."

This was just the first step of a journey. The students will write an essay about the retiree in the first person, from the retiree's viewpoint. It can be based entirely on their discussion with the retiree or just on part of it, with the rest of it blending fiction.

The retirees will also write about their "interviewers," detailing their impressions of the student, what they liked most about it and what they learned about the student.

Students will continue writing to their seniors for the next several months and, in May, a year-end celebration is held to reunite the students and seniors.

Faulkner said several of her students from last year stopped by to greet the retirees who they had interviewed last year.

She said the project was in conjunction with reading Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. A character in the book learns the importance of learning another person’s experience and how they shaped their view of the world.