Abstract of

Teaching Tips
Reading and Writing With Residents

Victoria Lynn Gadecki

In this service-learning, intergenerational exchange, sixth graders sharpen their communication skills by sharing with residents of a retirement home. The students select and review materials to read to the residents by going through several different books and magazines at school. Then, they visit the home regularly to read and discuss stories. At the end of each visit, students converse with residents about their daily lives. They also prepare interview questions to find out about the experiences and historical events that these elderly people remember. The students interview these residents to collect information to write biographies, which they also illustrate and have other students edit. Then they return to the retirement home and deliver the completed biographies. Finally, the students and their teacher reflect on and evaluate the experience.

Abstract from Gadecki, V. (2005, December). Reading and Writing With Residents. The Reading Teacher, 59(4), 383–385. doi: 10.1598/RT.59.4.8