Cedar Rapids Washington students build conversation skills with elders

CEDAR RAPIDS — An interest in community based learning, as well as an observation that in-person communication is declining led Washington High School language arts teacher Carrie Tinkham to recently launch the Conversation Project with her ninth grade students.

For the project, students were paired with residents at Cottage Grove Place with the goal of working on 'real, face-to-face communication skills,' Tinkham said.

'These are skills that, in today's technological age, students admit they are not necessarily as adept with as the generation prior,' Tinkham wrote in an email.

The project began in mid-September with classroom lessons.

'A couple times a week, we would have lessons with the students on basic conversational skills like questioning and active listening skills and how to keep a conversation going past those first two minutes with a stranger,' Tinkham said. Students also discussed whether technology helps or hinders them in conversations, she said.

After this portion of the project, students planned what they wanted to discuss with their partners. They decided they wanted to hold a show and tell week.

In October, students started to go to Cottage Grove every Monday.

'The first week was a little bit awkward because they were just meeting for the first time,' Tinkham said. 'After that, most of the kids drove it on their own and did really well.'

One of the students who developed a strong relationship with his partner was Isaac Twedt-Ball, 14, an aspiring engineer. He was partnered with David Hodgin, a former engineer at Rockwell Collins.

'I really enjoyed talking to Dave,' Isaac said. 'Talking to him was really fun. I learned better conversation skills, especially with people that aren't necessarily friends. I also learned quite a bit about engineering.'

'He and Dave absolutely hit it off,' Tinkham said. 'They didn't stop talking the entire time.'

But Hodgin died before the Conversation Project ended, Tinkham said.

'Isaac took it pretty hard because they hit it off so well,' Tinkham said, 'He ended up going to the service and the week that we met again at Cottage Grove Place following his passing, his grown children were waiting for Isaac in the place where we met because they wanted to meet him because Dave talked about him so much.'

Tinkham said she hopes to do the project again next year. She is in the process of designing a project for the spring with a new group of community members.