Intergenerational Learning

When building and designing a curriculum it is important to take some time and see what resources are in the community. There are many opportunities available that could be used to enrich your curriculum: Library,nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, nature center, and many many more. Any of these locations would help make curriculum more engaging and meaningful. When I was in elementary school my art teacher teamed with the fire department. The fire department came in and discussed what they did, why it was important, and what we should do if we were ever in a dangerous situation. After they left we had to create the next fire poster that would be hung around the community with what we learned and took away from the firefighter talk. We were told to think about what was an important take away, what others need to know, and to make it look appealing so people would look at it. That is one example from my childhood that really made it meaningful to me. When I think about how I am going to incorporate areas in the community into my curriculum I think about visiting the nursing homes. Visiting nursing homes builds relationships and allows students to work on their communication skills. I would have the students brainstorm and write questions to ask their person when we go visit. When we are there the students would interview their person and take notes. Get to know them. The students would then create a memory box that is about the individual they interviewed. The box would be about the person and what the student learned. When everyone is finished we would return to the nursing home and the students would present the memory box to the individual they interviewed. When we got back to the classroom we would write a final reflection.

When bringing in volunteers to the classroom we need to teach our students to have appropriate and effective conversations. We need to do this by making sure our students know that these are guests coming into our classroom that they have taken time out of their day to come visit so we have to be respectful. Students need to know that they are volunteers. I would have the students brainstorm topics and ideas that they want to talk about with the volunteers. So the class period before we could make a brainstorming net so that we know our conversations are beneficial to our learning. I would also have the students collaborate in groups and come up with specific questions to ask. Normally, guests do not have time to answer everyone's questions so if we split into groups and think of questions together then more could be answered. I would also ask the students if they know what is and not appropriate to talk about. There are consequences if students ask inappropriate and negative questions. My teachers always  reminded us that if we were disrespectful and inappropriate that we would not have visitors again nor would any volunteers want to come back. Students are always eager to have guests, but we have to make sure that it does not get out of control.

A mentor to me is someone who has had a positive impact on your life and someone who you look up to. It is easy for me to pick my mentor because it will forever be my grandma. My grandma is someone who will do anything to help someone. She cares about me and has shown me how to be a person that I can be proud of. When I asked my grandma why did you care so much and raise me the way you did she stated, "Because I had to. No one else was raising you in a way that would make you proud of yourself." She wanted me to succeed and to be the best I could. My grandma has always helped achieve my dreams no matter if it was culinary school or becoming an art educator. I have learned so much from my grandma. I think talking to someone from another generation can greatly affect our perception. Learning how someone else grew up, the different time periods, and just talking can be a huge impact. This can effect my classroom because I think children can learn a lot of respect from someone from a different generation. In my first paragraph I talked about partnering with the nursing home to do a project and this can have a huge influence in the classroom. Students can learn many skills by interviewing, talking, and creating a project about someone.