When a couple of teenagers took it upon themselves to initiate a program offering to teach technology to residents of the Hartford Retirement Residence in Morrisburg, they didn’t really know what to expect.
Now after working with the residents for about seven weeks, Seaway District High School Grade 12 students Stormy Howard and Sophia Currier, have learned as much about teaching as the seniors have learned about using today’s technology.
For a couple of hours each week, Stormy and Sophia set up in the lobby to teach and help anyone with any tech related questions they might have.
Weekly, they would have about six people participating.
Ninety-one-year-old ‘star student’ Wanda Storto, tells The Leader that she doesn’t think of her age as a barrier, and through her time with Stormy and Sophia, she has learned to use a tablet.
“I’m curious about a lot of things, especially my home province of Saskatchewan. So, with this, I was hoping to be able to look up anything I’m curious about,” said Wanda.
Within the first couple of sessions, Stormy and Sophia were able to fulfil that wish by teaching her to use Google.
Not only that, they set her up with some of her favourite card games, like solitaire, and they even started her on Facebook.
Stormy points out: “Look at that Wanda, you already have eight Facebook friend requests!”
“We didn’t really know what to expect when we started this,” said Stormy.
It turns out that, actually, technology wasn’t the biggest barrier for the teens and seniors to overcome through this learning process.
“It was the lingo,” said Sophia.
“You have to crawl before you walk,” said Wanda as the group discussed the difficulties they had in the beginning.
“I kept using the term ‘keyboard’ and they didn’t know what a keyboard was,” said Stormy.
In trying to figure it out between them, they finally came to an understanding when they started talking about it being like a typewriter.
While all the seniors were very familiar with typewriters, it was Stormy and Sophia who had to make that connection.
“I haven’t used a typewriter, but I have seen one,” said Stormy laughing.
They found ways to explain what a news feed is, likening it to a bulletin board, and teaching other terms like apps and settings, and much more.
“They have had so much to learn, and they have learned it all, becoming pros, and that’s pretty awesome,” said Stormy.
For Sophia, who is interested in a teaching career, she says she learned a lot about teaching.
“I learned pretty quickly how important it is to explain every little step,” said Sophia, explaining that, while some things are second nature to us who have grown up with technology, it’s not for them.
While we aren’t afraid to just try things and see how they work out, it’s important for them to have every step explained.
“With technology, it is good to try things, and it is pretty difficult sometimes to convince them of that.”
“It was a real eye-opener for me to see how different people learn things differently,” said Sophia. “That was really interesting for me, and I learned a lot about myself, and have learned to be a better communicator.”
She said she really enjoyed the conversations that came from this experience. “That’s something you can only get here,” she said.
Marilyn Arsenault, a manager at The Hartford, was very complimentary of Stormy and Sophia and their initiative to bring this opportunity to its residents.
“I love to see this generational cross-over,” she said. “It’s awesome to see our seniors not afraid of these electronics, and to see them getting more use out of these devices.”
“It has been wonderful to see these teens come up with an idea and bring it to us.”
She also said that Chartwell has agreed to set up a new computer in the library for the residents to use. “It will be a nice for our residents to have this opportunity to continue to use the skills they have learned,” said Arsenault.
Stormy and Sophia were delighted to hear this and appreciated the support of The Hartford, the school and the local library throughout the program.
While Stormy and Sophia’s time teaching technology at The Hartford is coming to an end as they prepare to graduate, they and the Hartford staff and residents are hoping that new students will take up the initiative to continue the program in the future.
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