GORE BAY—It will definitely be a case of seniors and Grade 8 students learning and teaching each other.
“I think now that everyone has been introduced to each other, we’er ready to start the process to teach and learn from each other,” said Courtney Lockyer, Grade 8 teacher at Charles C. McLean Public School, last Friday. The Grade 8 class met with seniors at the Gore Bay and Area Senior Centre on April 20 to work on ‘The Reciprocity Project.’
“You might be wondering what exactly the Reciprocity Project is,” said Grade 8 student Rachael Orford, who went on to explain that “it is a proposal that our teacher, Mrs. Lockyer, submitted to the Rainbow District School Board (RDSB) as part of a Community Connected Experiential Learning initiative that aims to create a mutually beneficial partnership between the intermediate students at C.C. McLean Public School and the Gore Bay and Area Seniors Drop In Centre.”
“We recognize that you have talents and experience that we could benefit from,” said Ms. Orford. “We also may have knowledge and talents that you could benefit from. So, why not teach and learn from one another.”
“We would now like to invite you to come across the hall into our classroom where Trish Patterson and Sophie Hietkamp have created a Google slideshow that may make things a little clearer. Maybe we could even teach you how to use Google slides in the future. You never know,” said Ms. Orford. “If it is okay, the Grade 8s will lead the way.”
After the seniors and students introduced themselves, the students noted that they could help the seniors in learning some things as computer use, texting, using Ipads and Chromebooks, while the seniors could help by teaching students about things like how to cook, crochet, card games, playing pool, fishing and many other activities.
The senior adults mentioned teaching about genealogy-family trees, yoga and dancing if students are interested.
A sign up sheet was left for the senior adults to indicate what they would be interested in teaching the students and what in turn they would like to learn from the students.
Ms. Lockyer said sign up sheets will also be left in the seniors centre and that everything should be set up within the next few weeks. Based on the great response from everyone on hand, “I think we are all ready to teach and learn from each other,” she added.
