T-LC: developing friendships between teens and adults - Teaching-Learning Communities

The Intergenerational Linkages Program: The Teaching-Learning Communities Model is a demonstration project of the Institute for the Study of Children and Families, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan. It was designed cooperatively, and is currently being implemented, with the American Association of Retired Persons/Retired Teachers' Association and the Ann Arbor, Chicago and Atlanta Public Schools. The project is supported with grants from the Administration on Aging, the Administration on Children, Youth and Families and the Office of Program Development, OHDS.

The project's goal is to use the concepts and technologies of the Teaching-Learning Communities (T-LC) Program, an integenerational program begun in the Ann Arbor elementary schools in the early 1970s, to address the educational, health and well-being of young people at risk of drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, dropping out of school or delinquent behavior. T-LC is based on the assumption that when mind, body and spirit work together in balanced ways, health, well-being and excellence of achievement follow. This is true whether the person is young and in the early years of development or older and in the later stages of growth.

The program was pilot tested in Chicago and, with the federal funding, two additional demonstration centers--in Ann Arbor and Atlanta--were established last year. Eight satellite programs are currently being set up within a 50-mile radius of each of the three centers. Project staff members assist the sites in identifying possible activities, provide technical assistance and training for all volunteers and are available for ongoing support and assistance.

Although the T-LC concept was unique when the program was introduced into the school curriculum 15 years ago in Ann Arbor, the process is a familiar one in the 1980s, when intergenerational programs are so widely recognized and used in schools. Older adults, who serve as instructors and role models, are invited into classrooms and other places where youths gather to share special interests and exchange skills. Typical activities might include woodworking, photography, creative writing, storytelling, sewing, cooking, soft arts, graphics and music. The variety and scope of activities continue to grow as the older and younger people begin to know each other and are encouraged to offer what they have to share. Since the teaching and learning are exchanges, the interactive involvement of all participants is strengthened. The goal is to foster the development of responsible, interpersonal friendships between the teenagers and the older people.

Most of the older volunteers come to the program site once a week, although a few may visit more often and in more than one school. Coordination is provided by a paraprofessional aide--a man or woman from the community who knows the neighborhood and the school or other program setting. A team consisting of a volunteer who is at least 55 years old and a graduate student coordinates the satellite projects through the Model Demonstration Centers.

In addition to the ongoing activities, special initiatives have been designed. In Chicago, a number of schools have hosted Prevention Fairs, at which service agencies present information at booths set up in the school. Speakers of all ages talk about how to make responsible decisions concerning health matters and how to lead a more healthy life. The talks are far from dull and moralistic--and the students seem eager for guidance from people of all ages whom they respect and trust. In one school, after the planned presentations were concluded and students were invited to speak, a 13-year-old girl, who was recognized as a student leader, stood up to announce--to everyone's amazement--that she was pregnant. She said that she had made a mistake and was telling her story so that her classmates would not make a similar error.

Another middle school has used a room opening off of the cafeteria to set up a resource center for career options. The room is staffed at noon by counselors--older people from the community who are invited to have lunch with the students and talk informally with them about their work lives before retirement. Efforts are made to cover a wide variety of career options, and students are encouraged to ask questions that provide a real look at the field of work and the steps that need to be taken to arrive at a particular occupational goal. The students learn that many of the older adults have worked at more than one career, as well as at numerous jobs along the way. They are able to observe first-hand that reaching a particular work goal involves much more than "wishing" to be a doctor or "wanting" to be an airline stewardess.

While T-LC and other programs serving inner-city youths need to address the suffering felt by young people who are alienated and lack self-esteem and a purpose in life, it is also important to focus attention on the deeper needs that often produce such symptoms as drug abuse, dropping out of school or pregnancy. Response on the part of T-LC participants indicates that the program is moving in the right direction.

The principal of a middle school, whose school scores at the bottom of the city's achievement scale and at the top on drop-outs and poor attendance, recently commented:

"I was skeptical when I heard about the program. I thought it would disrupt our new efforts at 'time on tasks.' At the end of the year, when parents whom I haven't seen in this school in the three years I have been principal came rolling in to participate in the T-LC Open House, I knew we had a hold of something important here. Some of those parents had been drinking, mind you, but they were there. And those kids were so glad they were there they weren't even self-conscious because their parents were drunk. Maybe once parents come to school again and feel welcomed and valued, they too will have another chance. That's a part of what we're talking about in lifelong learning, isn't it?"

Jacqueline Binion, a 7th-grader in Chicago, said, "When I was in the Michele Clark school program, I learned a lot from the older people who came from CAM [a nearby day care program for older adults]. I learned about the work they used to do, what they liked about it, and what they didn't like. I also learned how they coped with what they didn't like so they could keep working a long time."

The involvement of the American Association of Retired Persons provides a potential pool of 19 million volunteers--and as the aging population increases, that pool will continue to grow. For older people who feel lonely and believe that they don't have much to contribute, the Intergenerational Linkages Project gives the a chance to interact with young people and to make a difference in their lives.

"Grandpa Curley" Bell, for example, started working with the T-LC program 15 years ago in Ann Arbor. As an AARP member, he now serves as a volunteer coordinator of the Intergenerational Linkages Project in the Ann Arbor-Detroit area. Why has he stuck with it all these years? He gives several reasons:

"I know by experience that the program improves the lives of the children and that it enhances the status of the elderly volunteers. In my personal life, it has caused me to feel more important, needed and appreciated. In other words, it has provided a focus for my life. I was 62 years old when I joined the movement and am now 77, which, I think, makes me a proper 'Grandperson'."

When problems of health, unhappiness to the point o despair, and lack of motivation, opportunity and achievement become acute in both the young and the old, we are able to diagnose and prescribe specific treatments and remedial measures to try to "make people well," or make them function and perform again. There is no single, easily monitored approach to prevention. Rather, what is called for is many people of diverse backgrounds and ages working together to create safe and supportive environments that are conducive to building communities of caring. The primary cost is one of commitment, time and energy. We beleive that the Intergenerational Linkages Project is a step in that direction.

Further information on the Intergenerational Linkages Or Project may be obtained from Bruce L. Warren, Project Administrator, Institute for the Study of Children and Families, 102 King Hall, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Mich. 48197.

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