Bridging The (Generation) Gap

     For the past decade, distant generations have come together in William J. Henry’s fifth grade English classroom at Bourne Middle School. One is eager to learn; the other, to share.
     As part of his fifth grade English curriculum, each year Mr. Henry invites members of the Bourne Council on Aging into his classroom to be interviewed by his students.
     On the surface, this exercise is just a baby step into the world of biography writing for Mr. Henry’s students. The interviews are pre-arranged and the subjects are more than willing to chat.
     However, each year the curiosity of Mr. Henry’s students wins out, and a biography-writing assignment turns into something much more.
     Fifth grader Andrew Munson broke the ice with Manfred Witt, 79, of Head of the Bay Road by asking him questions about what he does with his spare time.
     “I asked him what his favorite hobbies were and it led to more questions and more levels after that. It was awesome,” Andrew said.
     Aspiring reporters that they are, the students started their interviews asking the basics. What is your favorite color? Where were you born? Do you have any brothers or sisters?
     However, as Andrew pointed out, from those introductory queries came a world of interesting details.
     When Kathryn Martinez asked where her interview subject was born, she got a little more information than she bargained for.
     “She said she was born in a barn,” Kathryn said.
     Through their interviews, the students were not only able to learn about their subjects, but also about the eras in which they lived.
     The students were universally awed when told by their interview subjects that they paid only a dime for a ticket to watch the Red Sox play at Fenway Park and just a quarter for a round-trip bus ticket.
     Benjamin Tkowski said learning about how Rutheda A. Witherspoon, 71, of Waterhouse Road grew up did not make him long for the past. “They didn’t have television or computers,” he said.
     Asked if they would want to live in a time without modern toys and technology, most of Mr. Henry’s students loudly asserted that they would not.
     One student, Amanda Shea, said it might have been nice to grow up before the advent of television and video games. “I would have liked to have been a kid in those days,” she said. “You would spend less time in front of the computer and more time outside getting fresh air.”
     As a group, the students agreed that they enjoyed their opportunity to interview the members of the council on aging, not only for what they learned, but for the time they were able to spend with their elders.
     “The questions I asked were the ones that were on the top of my head,” Trevor Scoville said. “Once they answered that question, I would just ask the next one that would come to mind.”
     The students suggested that Mr. Henry’s next class take the same approach.
     “Just have fun with it,” Hannah Salamone said.
     Her classmate Sean Hennessey agreed. “Just enjoy the experience and have fun with it,” Sean said. “It could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”