Teach students to do oral histories

Lesson 1 - Introduction

Before beginning, create a large KWL chart with the title Oral History. Continue to add information to the W section and the L section as the unit continues. Asking each student to keep a Learning Log is also a good idea - they can collect things in a folder and use a notebook to write down information as they proceed through this unit.

  1. Essential Question: What is history?
  2. Discuss this with the class. Write everything they think they know under the K part of the KWL chart.
  3. Pass out the "What's New" page and explain the directions. Ask students to use the class discussion to write down information in the What I Know section. Give students about 5 minutes to complete the section entitled What I'll Find Out. Ask students to read pages 26-29 of their United States book and complete the What I Learned section.
  4. Discuss this with the class - what did they learn about history? How can they discover information about their history or the history of their town, state, country?

Lesson 2 - Examples of primary sources

  1. Review the ideas students had the day before at the end of the lesson. How can they discover information about their history? Our community's history? Our nation's history?
  2. Discuss primary sources. What are some examples of primary sources? Create a class list.
  3. Have students do "Identifying Primary & Secondary Sources" on their own. After about 5 minutes to complete this, discuss the answers. Add any other examples of primary sources to the class list if necessary.
  4. Direct their attention to question 1 on the worksheet. One way to get information about history is by interviewing people on tape.
  5. Watch the Franklin Middle School video.

Lesson 3 - Listen to interviews

  1. Review the FMS video with the students. What did these girls do? What did they find out about the community members' history? What did they have to learn to do this project?
  2. Point out Flatville and Royal on a map of Illinois. Post the News Gazette article "Trail from Germany ends in northern Champaign County." Read the first few paragraphs of the article and explain the process of collecting the interviews with these people.
  3. Give students a copy of "Web It!" (blank, example) and fill out the center ovals with the students. What/who should be in the center? What kinds of things might we find out about these people? If students need help, you can have them choose from the following categories asked about in the interview: personal information, family life, geography, religion, work, struggles, recreation.
  4. Put in the audiotape and listen to the interview.
  5. Students will write down information that fits in their web as they listen. Stop the audiotape every 10 minutes or so to review and discuss what they're hearing, what they've written down, etc. This gives students who are having difficulty a chance to catch up!
  6. Repeat if necessary with another audiotape.

At this point in the unit, it is a good idea to begin collecting names of family members or community members who are willing to be interviewed about their history. Some may not be available at the time, which is fine - this may very well be a long-term project! Others will be available now, and they can choose to come into the classroom to be interviewed, or students can go to their houses (accompanied by an adult, of course). It is recommended that schools planning to post their histories on the internet have each participant complete an "Oral history Legal Release Form."

Also included are: "Interview Information Sheet" (html, pdf) and "Family History Information" (html, pdf) handouts to assist in the interviews.

Lesson 4 - Peer biographies

  1. How have these interviewers conducted a good interview? Write down class ideas from having watched the FMS videotape and listened to the audiotape(s).
  2. Add any interviewing tips that you feel are necessary. Use information from the "Interviewing Techniques" page.
  3. Construct a Four Square (other pre-writing organizers are fine, too) organizer with the class and write in the subtopics that you and the class would like to find out about each other. (For example, family information, favorite things, goals)
  4. Using this pre-writing organizer, help students develop a list of questions that they would ask each other.
  5. Conduct the interviews on tape.
  6. Listen to one tape as a class and complete the pre-writing organizer on a large poster to be used as a reference. After that, have students listen to tapes on their own and complete their organizer.
  7. Students should write their five paragraph biography about their group member(s).

Lesson 5 - Practice oral histories

  1. Discuss the process of collecting oral histories from our peers. What did we find out about them? Review the list of names of family/community members we have compiled by now. What can we find out about history from them? Read the "Family/Community History Questionnaire" questions with the students. What other questions do we want to ask?
  2. Choose a person you have "easy access" to - the school principal, for example. What could we find out from him/her? As a class, make a list of interview questions specific to them.
  3. Choose about five students to actually conduct the interview in the classroom. The other students in the class should use the "Checklist for Practice Interviews" to give feedback once the interview is over.

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