Toll Gate students have `Great Thanksgiving Listen' with family

By Tessa Roy
Posted 12/22/16

By TESSA ROY Toll Gate sophomores had a historical homework assignment over Thanksgiving break.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Toll Gate students have `Great Thanksgiving Listen' with family

Posted

Toll Gate sophomores had a historical homework assignment over Thanksgiving break.

A total of 85 students under the direction of social studies Department Head Thalia Wood, English teachers Christen Collins and Sherri Smith, English Department Head Elizabeth Noren, and Principal Candace Caliori interviewed their family members using an app called StoryCorps as part of the “Great Thanksgiving Listen.” The interviews about the family members’ early lives were archived in the Library of Congress and, since stories from the app are often broadcast there, might have a chance to make it on NPR, said Wood.

A few of the recorded interviews were played at the school on Monday morning, each prefaced by a student’s name, age, the date and location. Some students heard about what it was like “back in those days” when their relatives worked jobs for a few quarters, lived in homes with many siblings, and even lived through times of war and violence. One grandmother remembered the assassinations of President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. A grandfather recalled being raised by his single mother who worked every day, and another detailed the chores he had to do at home.

A few got sentimental – one student asked a relative to describe his grandfather he never got to meet, and another got to hear about his grandfather’s childhood idolizing of Mickey Mantle. A sister remembered a family trip to Armenia.

Student Victoria St. Jean interviewed her grandfather, Ed Healey, and said she learned a lot she didn’t previously know about his childhood.

“It was nice to get to know a lot more about him,” she said. “There were a lot more people in [his] house…and they had fun a lot different than we do today.”

Healey said it was fun telling his granddaughter about his life. They both plan to listen to the interview again a few years down the road.

Student Jacob Paul also interviewed his grandfather, Tony Ricci. Both enjoyed the experience.

“I think this is great. I think a lot of times we lose what happens in the past, and I think it has a good reflection on what today is like. I know everybody always says it’s not the same today as it was when I was a kid, well it’s not. But that’s change,” Ricci said.

Wood was moved by the stories she had heard in the interviews.

“It really went to the heart,” said Wood. “It’s really to re-emphasize the importance of primary source evidence and firsthand accounts, keeping a record of the past, and not thinking that the only sources we have to look at are written documents, that interviews are actually a source of events when we look at the past.”

Correction: Some titles of the teachers involved were incorrectly reported. This article has been updated with the correct titles. 

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here