Conduct & analyze oral histories

Essential Questions: What can we learn from our family/community's history? What was it like when our parents/grandparents grew up?

At this point, the students should be ready to conduct their own oral histories on tape. Using the tape recorders from the Early American Museum, this can be done in a number of ways. Community volunteers can come into the classroom so that the class can interview them as a whole. Relatives who are in town for a short time could be interviewed by a pair of students and then the tape could be analyzed by the class later. If you conduct these interviews near the holiday season and many relatives or community members are available, you could conduct an "interview fair" at school and invite everyone in at once. Split up the interviewees into different rooms and have students interview them. Again, the tapes could be analyzed later.

To analyze the audiotapes, use the "Tape Recording Analysis" page. Do the first few tapes as a class, with students writing down information as they listen. Then this activity could be done in a center with a tape recorder and headphones.

Collect & analyze artifacts

Lesson 1 - What is an artifact?

1. In a computer lab, have students sign on to www.history.org/history/argy/argykids.cfm This is a Colonial Williamsburg site with lots of games for kids to play related to artifacts.
2. Have them select "Artifact Challenge" and play.
3. Go on to "Artifact Match."
4. Go on to "Find Artifacts in your Room."
5. When students are done with these games, ask them, "What is an artifact?" They should by now have the idea that artifacts can be old, but they don't have to be! They can be anything that represents history - a diary, a spoon, a Bible, a book, etc. The objects in their house right now are artifacts.

Lesson 2 - Collect artifacts

1. After getting a good idea of what artifacts are, ask students to write a letter home requesting artifacts from their families. Students may want copies made to send to community members they've made contact with or relatives they don't live with.
2. Before these come in, show students examples of artifacts from your life - pictures, report cards, toys, etc. Show students pictures of relatives and begin to post on the class timeline.
3. Bring in pictures of some of the Early American Museum artifacts - the combs, depression glass, toys, etc. Pass pictures around so that students can get an idea of how different these are from items in their home, but how ordinary some of these are. Artifacts can be lots of things!
4. Split students into groups of 3-4. Give them an artifact or a picture of an artifact, and the corresponding analysis worksheet. Have them analyze the artifact and then report to the class.
5. Continue to do this activity as the artifacts come in. Make sure that students get the chance to do several different examples - photos, written documents, newspaper articles, etc.
6. Students will be assessed using the "Analyzing a Primary Source Evaluation" (rubric, form).

Lesson 3 - Writing historical fiction

1. Take a field trip to the Early American Museum to explore the museum and have the educator do their Writing Historic Tales program.
2. Upon return to the classroom, have students write stories that relate to the collected artifacts.

Lesson 4 - Culminating activity

1. Have the Early American Museum staff come to the classroom to do their Kids as Curators program. Students will design and put together a collection of their taped oral histories, their peer biographies, their collected artifacts and analyses, etc.
2. Have students write invitations to many people to advertise this "museum opening." Everyone who donated artifacts or was interviewed should be invited, as well as parents, school disctrict personnel, media representatives, etc.

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