Students minds are thinking about their future & making a difference.
One year a teacher assistant handed over her friends documentary Painting the Past, I was beyond words. This documentary takes place in Massachusetts, where a 5th grade class partners with senior citizen residency to illustrate the participants childhood memories. You can find it on vimeo vimeo.com/12398643.
Our students learned from the senior residents at Grand Oaks about finding love in a factory (Raytheon Manufacturing 1942), a man dressing up as a lady to get into a baseball game for ladies night, the sighting in the sky of the Led Zepplin, how the memory of a lost brother was the most present after all these years and a former astronaut sharing his suit for students to try on and a former ballerinas collection of ballerina slippers from her Kennedy Center years. All of these life experiences, mostly multi-generational, touch our youth and seniors in the profound moments of our lives.
This artsaysthat jounral entry shares students are good listeners, appreciate their elders, want to hear of how the times have changed and can make a difference.
Paige P. Byrne 