Activities

Introduction

As a class, discuss the following:

Note: Looking back at the good and not so good times of childhood can produce strong responses. Sensitivity to the individual student's experiences is important throughout this unit. Try to maintain a sense of perspective and positive outlook during the unit. Respect the privacy of students and remember that some students will choose not to share personal recollections with others. The teacher may wish to offer alternative assignments, so that students can choose ones with which they are comfortable.

Recollections of Childhood

The recollections in the following selections offer a perspective on childhood and its influence on our lives.

We all come from the past, and children ought to know what it was that went into their making, to know that life is a braided cord of humanity stretching up from time long gone, and it cannot be defined by the span of a single journey from diaper to shroud.

                                                                        - Russell Baker

Our childhood is a time for establishing our roots as well as developing our sense of "home" and "place". It is a time of wonder and imagination. It is a time of innocence and, eventually, of innocence lost. It is a time for establishing our place among family members, caregivers, and peers and our niche at school and among friends. As students near the end of their youth and prepare for adult life, it is also time to put childhood experience and memories into perspective.

Have students listen to excerpts from Before We Begin (When We Were Young) (McLean). For example,

As I continued to read more stories, I began to scribble down the things I was remembering. My two pages of notes are a cryptogram of my childhood. Breaking my leg. Hamsters. Red-winged blackbirds. Cold hands on Bedbrook Avenue. The smell of my parents when they had been out to dinner. Walking to school ….

These moments, among so many others, are what is left of my childhood. Memories that have become the connective tissue of my life; the path I can follow backwards to my younger self. Although even as I remember I cannot say with any certainty what it is I am remembering--the moment or the memories of them; the person I was, or a construction of the person I wanted to be.