Living History: Interviewing Elder Gardeners
Author: Barbara Richardson
Overview
By
engaging with and interviewing elder gardeners in the community
and presenting their findings to the class using various media,
students will hone communication, observation, and organization
skills. They’ll discover the gardening techniques and remembrances
of previous generations and other cultures. Ideally, they’ll get
a sense that history happens every day, right where they live,
and that each one of us is a part of it.
Objectives - Students will:
- learn and improve interviewing skills
- gain information through interview skills
- present specific reference
details as they compare the past and present.
- Audio recorder or video camera
Laying the Groundwork
We’re used to having a world of information at our fingertips via
the Internet, but for most of human history information was passed
from generation to generation via the spoken word. Older people shared
their lifetimes of knowledge with younger generations through
hands-on
experiences and storytelling. The availability of instantaneous –
and often overwhelming amounts – of information has not diminished
the value of learning from a wise elder.
1. Get in touch with some seniors with experience
and love of gardening and farming who are willing to speak with students.
Ideally, these
volunteers will represent a range of cultures as well. How to find
them:
2. Divide students into teams to pursue interviews. Set up times
for elders to visit the school or for students to visit them.
3. Develop potential interview questions with students.
Here are suggestions to offer students:
- Your questions should prompt descriptive stories,
so avoid questions that can be answered with simply “yes” or “no.”
Instead build your
questions around who, what, when, where, and how.
- Think
about what you’re most interested in learning from elder gardeners.
- Be
curious
about what it was like to be a kid when they were young,
where they lived, and how their families gardened.
- Think
about the practices we use in our school garden or that your
family uses at home, and ask what techniques your elder
friends used for the same purpose (e.g., weed and pest control,
watering).
- Like clothes and cars, gardening has its own
fashion cycles. Do a little research on current garden trends
using the links below.
These may stimulate questions about what was “new and cool” when
the interviewee was learning to garden.
Nova
News Now
Southern
Style
- Gardening and history – were there political or economic events
that influenced what and how much their family gardened? For instance,
in the United States, World War II and the 1970’s energy crisis both
had widespread impact on home gardening. If your subjects are from
another country where regional or national events affected the economy
or food supply.
World War II and Victory Gardens
1970’s
oil/energy crisis (this is a dated article, but it contains
good information
on the link between energy costs and the increase
in community gardening)
4. Once you’ve prepared your questions, have students practice interviewing
one another in front of the class to practice their skills and accept
helpful feedback from you and their classmates.
Exploration
5. Have teams of students conduct interviews. If elders are comfortable
being recorded, students should use a tape recorder or video equipment
to capture their words. That way they won’t have to worry about
taking notes and will be able to pay closer attention. Also, if
the interviewee mentions a particularly interesting subject that
students don’t have questions prepared for, they can more easily
ask spontaneous questions. This will allow them to obtain more
detail and better enjoy the interview.
If your subject doesn’t want to be recorded, team members can take
turns taking notes and asking questions, giving everyone a chance
to participate without slowing down the whole group.
Students should record their impressions and thoughts directly
after the interview to share with the whole class.
6. Back in the classroom, you can play back (or share from your
notes) the most interesting segments of the interviews. Groups
can share their post-interview impressions, and the
rest of the
class can make their own comments. You may develop new questions
about gardening techniques or historical or cultural elements that
you can pursue as separate projects. For instance, did interviewees
raise animals in addition to having a garden? How did the livestock
relate to the garden (e.g., used manure as fertilizer, had to fence
out chickens)? Did they preserve their harvest, and if so, what
techniques did they use? Did they have a root cellar? Did they
grow ornamental plants, or was gardening focused on food production?
How much of their annual food supply did they grow/raise themselves?
How did gardeners learn to garden? From family or books?
7. Send thank-you notes to your elder friends.
Possible discussion questions:
-
What is different between gardening now
and when your elder friends were your age? What is similar?
-
What
did you learn about gardening or plants from your elder friends?
-
What
do you think it’s like to look back over decades of history
and the changes that occur over
that span of time?
-
Currently, energy prices and global food demand
are driving up the cost of food. These factors, combined with
the growing
“eat local” movement,
are encouraging more people to plant food gardens at home
and in community plots. Compare what’s happening now to
the conditions that led to the rise of community gardens in the
1970’s using this article as a reference.
1970’s
oil/energy crisis (This
is
a dated article, but it contains good information on the link
between energy costs and the increase in community gardening.)
-
Has
technology changed the way we garden? How?
Branching Out
- Compile your interview segments into an oral history “program”
to share with other classes, your elder friends, or to stream on your
Web site, or create a book from these stories with your commentary.
- Design a garden using ideas, plants, or techniques described
by your elder friends. Perhaps they can even help you work on it!
- Maintain a connection to your elder friends through mail or e-mail,
keeping them informed of your garden projects and inviting them
to
your garden events.
- Tackle a service project in partnership with senior gardeners.
Garden Mosaics provides a complete curriculum and interactive Web
site
for such projects. Learn more at the Garden
Mosaics Web site.
- Have students imagine they are now the elder interviews. How
might they answer the questions they posed earlier?
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