Gene V. Gandelman
Lesson Thirteen: A Link To Our Past
Objective To teach students the value and importance of their senior neighbors and how much they can contribute to the community.
The teacher will arrange for her class to visit a Senior Center where seniors and students can talk with each other. An alternative might be to have seniors visit the school. The students can either ask a panel of seniors questions about their histories or interact on a one to one basis—or both.
The students should prepare a number of questions in advance. A good class exercise might be brainstorming to come up with as many questions about New Haven’s past as possible. The teacher should make sure that students know that the epoch involved would begin around 1910 to 1920. However, some seniors might be able to relate experiences from 19th century through stories that were passed on to them.
A sampling of questions might be like the following:
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1. What was New Haven’s 300th anniversary celebration of 1938 like?
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2. How bad was the Great Depression in New Haven?
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3. What were the Old Yale football games like when the bowl had 80,000 people every week and Yale was a national power?
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4. What was downtown like in its heyday?
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5. How many movie houses did the city once have?
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6. What was Savin Rock?
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7. What were trolleys like?
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8. How safe were the neighborhoods?
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9. What was the steamer to New York like?
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10. What did kids do for fun in the City 60 or 70 years ago?
Students should be informed that they will be talking to actual “living history.” They should show respect and appreciation. Also, students should write down the information they are given and stress patience because retrieving memories can be a slow process for an elderly person. Teachers should explain this to the class first. Also, students should bring something of theirs to share with their new “old friend.”
Writing Activity #1
Have students write down stories or experiences told by the seniors they interacted with. Later organize your notes and report to the class. This activity provides a wonderful activity to walk back through our century holding hands with someone who’s been there.
Writing Activity #2
Write a story about living as a youngster in New Haven in the 1920’s, 1930’s or other decade this century. Where would you go for fun? Where would you shop and go to school? What would you wear and how would you travel? Ask your “old friends” to help you with this assignment.
