“My Highly Capable reading class and I were trying to decide on a great project for our class to do this past school year,” said Stewart Middle School teacher Edith Stewart. “Principal Krestin Bahr came up with an excellent idea that would include not only reading and writing skills, but also interviewing, researching, and decision-making skills, as well as using technology. She said it would be fun for my students to go over to Gibson House, a retirement home across the street from Stewart, to interview some of the residents there, and then write stories about their lives.”
Each week, Stewart took her class on a mini-field trip over to the Gibson House. Thanks to the activity director, each resident who wanted to participate was matched up with one or two students. ”The seniors we had the privilege of interviewing told the students stories about their past, about the world they grew up in and about what they thought and how they felt. My students took many notes over the 10 weeks we visited,” Stewart said.
Back at school, the students began the process of turning their notes into heart-warming stories about the people they interviewed. They worked for many weeks, writing, typing, editing, researching and rewriting, getting the stories ready to publish in a book. “Once the stories started to come together,” said Stewart, “we spent some time talking about how to embellish our stories so they would be interesting and create a picture in the reader's mind. That took some imagination.”
After the book was published, each student received a copy and they also autographed a copy that was delivered to Gibson House for each of the residents they interviewed.
Stewart Middle School students with Gibson House residents they interviewed for a book called "Memories of the Past."