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Listening to History
Introduction
Family stories help teach us who we are, connecting
us to a heritage handed down across generations. But when we listen closely, family
stories can also be a resource for historical research. They can take us back
through memory to the scene of pivotal events or give us a feel for the impact
of broad social change, providing a uniquely personal insight into our nation's
past. This lesson plan is designed to help
students tap this resource by conducting oral history interviews with family members.
Through a series of classroom activities, the lesson introduces students to the
riches historians can discover in firsthand recollections; helps them choose a
topic and prepare for a productive family interview; provides tips for conducting
and recording the interview; and offers suggestions for sharing their family stories
in a historical narrative or report.
Guiding Question: How has American history touched the
members of your family? What stories can your family add to our national saga?
How does their experience shed light on our past?
Learning Objectives
After completing the lessons in this unit, students
will be able to: - Analyze examples of oral
history for what they reveal about the past.
- Develop
an oral history research topic and prepare questions to ask during an oral history
interview.
- Conduct an oral history interview
using a tape recorder.
- Present evidence of
the impact of historical events on individual lives.
- Recognize
how individual perspectives mediate perceptions of the past.
- Construct
an historical narrative or report based on oral history research.
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
1. This lesson plan consists of four learning activities
that you can use together as a unit or adapt separately to your curricular needs.2.
Review the suggested activities, then download and duplicate any online materials
you will need. If desired, you can bookmark specific web pages so that students
can access relevant online materials directly. (See the Resource Links section
below for a complete listing of online materials.) 3.
EDSITEment provides access to many websites that offer guidelines and suggestions
for conducting oral history interviews: 4.
There are certain ethical and legal considerations associated with any oral history
project. These have been spelled out by the Oral
History Association in guidelines frequently updated since 1968, and they
are summarized in several of the resources listed above. For educators, the key
considerations are: - All persons interviewed
should be clearly informed about the purposes of the project and the potential
uses of their interview.
- Because oral history
interviews are subject to U.S. copyright laws, all those participating in an interview—both
the interview subject and the interviewer -- should sign a release form. See the Sample Release Form included in the American Folklife Center guidebook, Folklife and Fieldwork: A Layman's Introduction to Field Techniques.
Suggested Activities1 Investigating
Firsthand History 2 Planning
the Interview 3 Conducting
the Interview 4 How
Stories Become History
Part I
Lesson 1 Investigating Firsthand History
This
activity introduces students to the experience of capturing oral history through
interview recordings accessible at the EDSITEment -reviewed website
History Matters.
Divide the class into
study groups who will each analyze one of the interviews listed below. Each group
will need an Internet-enabled computer and a Web browser equipped with the Real
Audio plug-in. Where computer resources are limited, teachers can lead a whole-class
discussion of selected interviews. Where classroom computers are not available,
teachers can provide students with transcripts of the interviews. Provide
all students with a copy of the Sound
Recording Analysis Worksheet available at the EDSITEment-approved website,
The Digital Classroom.
This worksheet was developed for the analysis of broadcast recordings but can
be easily modified to guide student analysis of oral history interviews.After
students have completed their analysis using the worksheet, have each group make
a brief class presentation on its interview, then lead a class discussion that
focuses on the historical content of each interview and its value as a resource
for historical research. For example, you might ask: - What
is the subject of the interview? What event(s) and/or social development(s) in
American history does it address?
- What did
you learn from the interview? How does it enhance or increase your understanding
of a specific moment in American history?
- What
information does the interview provide that could help you explain the causes
of the event(s) or social development(s) this person witnessed?
- How
would you learn more about the subject of this interview? What resources could
broaden your perspective on the event(s) and/or social development(s) it addresses?
Conclude
this activity by having students formulate one or two questions they would have
asked in the interview they analyzed, basing their questions on factual knowledge
of the period or subject discussed in the interview. (For example, a fact-based
question to ask in the interview on women's suffrage might be, "What did you and
your friends think about Elizabeth Cady Stanton?" A question such as "Did people
ever boo when you were speaking?" is not based in factual knowledge of the woman
suffrage movement.) Use this exercise to assess students' knowledge of early 20th
century American history and as preparation for conducting their own oral history
interviews.
Recommended
Oral History Interviews from History Matters
- Auto
Tours for Women's Suffrage: An Oral Memoir
Laura Ellsworth Seiler, interviewed
by historian Sherna Gluck in 1973, recalls campaigning for suffrage after college
on an automobile tour, with her mother in tow as chaperone.
- "It
Was Considered Low Music": Pianist Eubie Blake on the Birth of Ragtime at the
Turn of the Century
In this selection from a 1970 interview/performance
conducted by musician Max Morath, the legendary composer Eubie Blake recalls how
he began playing ragtime as a young man at the turn of the century.
- "We
Ran Silent Movies For Years": An Italian Immigrant Goes Into Show Business in
the Early Twentieth Century
In this oral history, recorded by Roy Rosenzweig
in 1978, Italian immigrant Fred Fedeli recalls his experiences owning and operating
a movie theater in an immigrant working-class neighborhood of Worcester, Massachusetts.
- Lending
a Hand: A Woman Remembers Hoboes of the 1930s
Lora Albright remembers
the many hungry men who came to her door in Idaho during the Great Depression
and how she even let one hobo use her husband's razor.
- "It
Was a Wildly Exciting Time": Milton Meltzer Remembers the New Deal's Federal Theatre
Project
In a 1978 interview done by Elizabeth C. Stevens, Milton Meltzer
remembers the vibrant, creative energy along with the political controversies
that he witnessed during his stint as a publicist for the New York unit of the
Federal Theater Project, one of the relief programs created during the Great Depression.
- "80
Rounds in Our Pants Pockets": Orville Quick Remembers Pearl Harbor
In
this 1991 interview, conducted by John Terreo for the Montana Historical Society,
serviceman Orville Quick, who was very near Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941,
remembers the attack and provides a vivid, humorous, account of the chaos from
a soldier's point of view.
Lesson 2 Planning the Interview
This
activity guides students step-by-step through the process of preparing for an
oral history interview with a family member. Students identify a topic relevant
to the life experience of a family member, conduct background research to become
informed about their topic, and outline the questions they will ask in their interviews.Step
One: Choosing a Topic Oral historians typically
seek out people who know something about their research topic, but for students
planning to interview a family member, the situation is somewhat reversed. They
will want to choose a research topic that touches directly on the life experience
of a family member. And although some students may have relatives who can recall
events from the first half of the 20th century, in most cases this will mean choosing
a topic in postwar American history. Some broad
topics in this time period are listed below to provide students with a starting-point
for their research project. Those unable to make a choice might go over this list
with a parent to find a topic that suits a particular family member. They might
learn, for example, that a grand-uncle was active in the Civil Rights Movement,
or that a cousin served in the Gulf War. Or the list might suggest a different
topic about which one member of the family has plenty to say. At
this stage, students should keep in mind that they are choosing a topic for conversation,
not for a research paper. The topic should be broad enough to allow for wide-ranging
discussion and a rich variety of memories, yet focused enough to give the interview
a shape and direction. Too narrow a topic can turn an interview into an interrogation
("Where were you on the weekend of the Woodstock Festival?"). A more open-ended
approach makes room for the unexpected and can lead to real discovery. Topics
in Postwar American History
1950s
The Cold War The Arms Race The Space Race The Civil Rights Movement
Television: Sit-coms, Kid Shows, Sports, & Network News
1960s Youth
Culture & Social Protest The Women's Movement The Vietnam War The
Black Power Movement The Arab-Israeli Conflict
1970s Watergate The Energy Crisis The Environmental Movement
The Malling of America The Computer Revolution
1980s
The Gulf War Medical Breakthroughs: AIDS, Organ Transplants, & Genetics
The Collapse of Communism in Europe Insurgency and Repression in Latin America
The Struggle against Apartheid in South Africa Step
Two: Background Research Once they have selected
a topic, have students conduct background research to become familiar with the
basic facts behind the historical episode they plan to talk about. What people,
places, and events figure prominently in this chapter of American history? What
ideas and assumptions affected the climate of opinion at the time? Such information
can help students develop pertinent interview questions and will prepare them
both to contextualize the memories shared with them and to pursue lines of inquiry
that may arise. In addition to library resources,
such as encyclopedias, chronicles, timelines, and handbooks, students can research
their topics using the EDSITEment-approved websites listed below, as well as the
EDSITEment search engine,
which locates approved resources both on EDSITEment and on other MarcoPolo Partner
websites. EDSITEment Resources on Postwar
American History At the Internet
Public Library
- 20th Century Precursors
Links to key texts and background
information on important authors and literature of the 1930s to the 1950s. - The
Psychedelic Sixties
Extensive resources on the culture, politics, and
temper of a turbulent decade. - The
History Channel
Year-by-year timelines with links to capsule information
on important people, concepts, issues, and events. At
Learner.Org - A
Biography of America
Profiles of the Fifties, the Sixties, and the closing
decades of the 20th century, with links to additional web resources on topics
in each time period.
Conversations
With History Interviews with leading authorities on many aspects of postwar
American foreign relations, as well as other social issues. We
Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement A virtual
tour highlighting key events and personalities in the struggle for racial equality. Step
Three: Planning Your Questions Once they are familiar
with their topic, students should be able to set a goal for their interview. What
do they hope to find out through the memories their family member will share?
This goal can be fairly specific (e.g., How did the family member react to the
Watergate scandal and why?) or more general (e.g., What has been the family member's
experience with computers over the course of his or her life?). Some students
might even have several closely related goals. It is important, however, that
students prepare for their interviews with some objective in mind, and frame questions
designed to help them achieve it. Have students
state their interview goals in writing and then develop a list of at least ten
questions that will help them gather the kind of historical information they are
looking for. Remind students of these guidelines for asking effective interview
questions: - Avoid questions that invite a "yes"
or "no" answer. Instead of "Did you support the Vietnam War?" ask "What were your
feelings about the Vietnam War?"
- Avoid leading
questions that suggest the response you want. Instead of "Wasn't it exciting when
Neil Armstrong first stepped onto the moon?" ask "How did people react when Neil
Armstrong first stepped onto the moon?"
- Ask
open-ended questions that prompt a wide-ranging response. For example: "Tell me
about your experiences during the Energy Crisis." or "What do you remember about
the beginning of the Space Race?"
- Plan to
ask follow-up questions that elicit specific details. Ask "where" and "when" questions
to pin down an anecdote. Ask for examples to back up a general observation. And
always be ready to ask "why?"
When they
have completed their question lists, have students role-play interviews with one
another to test whether their questions are effective and easy to understand.
Teachers might also review each student's questions to assess whether they reflect
factual knowledge of the topic, a clear objective for the interview, and an awareness
of effective questioning methods.
Lesson 3 Conducting the Interview
This
activity guides students through the process of conducting an oral history interview
with a family member by providing a checklist that outlines preparations, documentation
procedures, and interview techniques. Review the
checklist with students in class, discussing any points that raise questions.
Use this opportunity to arrange for students who do not have access to a tape
recorder to borrow one from a classmate. If tape recorders are unavailable to
your students, explain that they can still conduct their interviews the old-fashioned
way, by taking notes and writing up their family member's responses immediately
afterward. Students might also want to experiment with conducting interviews by
email, with instant-messaging software, or via webcam.
Provide
students with a release form to use at their interviews. See the Sample Release Form included in the American Folklife Center guidebook, Folklife and Fieldwork: A Layman's Introduction to Field Techniques. Include your name, the course name,
and your school name on the release form, along with an explanation of this research
project.
Have students check off the items on the
checklist when they conduct their family member interviews, and assess their completed
checklists to determine that all students have obtained a signed release and properly
documented their research. Oral History Interview
Checklist - Plan to tape record your interview.
Practice operating the tape recorder before you hold the interview. Bring extra
tape and extra batteries.
- When you schedule
the interview, ask your family member to bring along photos, news clippings, and
any other items that might help them tell you about your topic. Such "pieces of
the past" can stir vivid memories and provide a tangible link to distant times.
- Print
out your list of questions in a type size and format that is easy to read. Bring
a pad of paper and a pen so you can make notes during the interview.
- When
you set up your equipment, label the tape with the date, the full name of the
family member you are interviewing, and the topic you plan to explore.
- Before
you begin the interview, ask your family member to sign and date a release form
that explains the purpose of your interview and how you plan to use the information
you collect. You should also sign the release form at the same time.
- When
you turn on the tape recorder, create an aural label by saying, "This is (your
name) and I am interviewing (your family member's name) on (the date) at (where
the interview is taking place). We are going to talk about (your topic)."
- To
get things started, you might ask you family member to talk about where he or
she was born and raised, or you can simply ask your first question.
- Take
your time during the interview. Let your family member take as long as he or she
wants to give an answer. Don't feel you have to rush through your questions, and
be careful not to interrupt. Sometimes just sitting in silence for a second or
two can prompt a whole new set of recollections.
- Resist
the impulse to challenge the accuracy of your family member's memory. Telling
someone they have the facts wrong usually makes them reluctant to keep talking.
It can also turn a good interview into a pointless argument.
- When
you have asked all your questions, always ask one more: "Is there anything I haven't
asked about that you think I should know?"
- Before
you turn off the tape, remember to thank your family member for helping you with
your oral history project.
- After your interview,
you might send a copy of the tape to your family member along with a thank you
note.
Lesson 4 How Stories Become History
This
activity offers suggestions for helping students analyze their interviews with
family members and present their findings in the form of an historical narrative
or report. Have students listen to their interviews
and produce a summary using their list of questions as a preliminary outline.
Encourage students to transcribe key parts of the interview as they listen, stories
and statements that are especially revealing or that bring a moment in the past
back to life. Students might also listen to their interview a second time using
the Sound
Recording Analysis Worksheet to gain a more objective viewpoint on their family
member's recollections and their own role in shaping the interview. When
students have completed this initial analysis, lead a class discussion designed
to help them focus on the relationship between personal experience and what we
tend to think of as the impersonal unfolding of historical events. Ask students,
for example, to share evidence from their interviews of the impact events can
have on individual lives. Some might describe the experience of family members
who were directly involved in events like the Civil Rights Movement or the Women's
Movement. Others might describe how events altered a family member's life, sending
an uncle on to graduate school, for example, during the draft for the Vietnam
War, or prompting a grandmother to become vigilant about recycling in response
to the Environmental Movement. Events can also have an emotional impact on individuals
that may be revealed when family members compare what they thought at the time,
about Watergate, for example, and what they think about the event today. And in
some lives, events can mark a turning-point, standing as the moment when an individual's
personal history became swept up in the historical process and he or she made
a choice, for example, to escape a volatile political situation in Latin America
or to become an enthusiastic evangelist for personal computers. Follow
up this discussion by helping students explore how individual perspectives mediate
our perceptions of the past. Ask them, for example, to compare a family member's
recollection of an event with accounts they read while conducting their background
research, and invite them to compare how individuals from different families remember
the same event, such as the first moon landing or the destruction of the Berlin
Wall. Through such comparisons, investigate how an individual's level of engagement
may color his or her recollection of specific events, how an aunt who led a psychedelic
life during the Sixties, for example, may remember those times much differently
than a grandparent who only observed the hippie movement. Investigate also how
subsequent events and nostalgia can color memories, leading a cousin, for example,
to have a more positive impression of early television shows than most viewers
had at the time. Conclude your discussion by
asking students to provide evidence from their interviews of the way oral history
can bring us closer to the past, give us a real feeling for the climate of the
times, and evidence of the way it can filter our view of the past, turning grays
into black and white, assigning minor factors a major importance, under the influence
of a lifetime's experience. Use these examples to help students recognize that
a historian must balance information gathered through any single oral history
interview with information gathered through background research, and information
provided in other interviews on the same topic, in order to construct a valid
account of the past. Have students combine
their background research and their interviews in this way to construct their
own historical narratives or reports. Those who decide to create a narrative will
aim to tell their family member's story in his or her own words, using their background
research to fill in details and provide historical context. Remind students who
choose this option to quote accurately and to indicate which parts of the narrative
are direct quotation, indirect quotation, and their own summary. Students
can also use their oral history interviews to write a report on their research
topic, developing a thesis based on their interview goals. In this case, they
might draw on portions of the interview to vividly illustrate a point in their
argument or to cast a new light on the facts of history, one that suggests a new
way of understanding what happened and why. Remind students who choose this option
also to quote accurately and to document excerpts from their interviews appropriately. In
addition to written narratives and reports, of course, students might share their
oral history findings in a class presentation; in a recorded essay modeled on
reports like those heard on the National Public Radio programs "This American
Life" and "All Things Considered;" in a multimedia computer presentation that
combines text, sound, family photos, and images, audio clips, and video clips
discovered on the Internet; or in a short story or play that dramatizes a family
member's experience in the past.
Selected EDSITEment Websites
American Memory Project
—Using
Oral History The
Digital Classroom
—Sound
Recording Analysis Worksheet
History
Matters
—Auto
Tours for Women's Suffrage: An Oral Memoir
—"It
Was Considered Low Music": Pianist Eubie Blake on the Birth of Ragtime at the
Turn of the Century
—"We
Ran Silent Movies For Years": An Italian Immigrant Goes Into Show Business in
the Early Twentieth Century
—Lending
a Hand: A Woman Remembers Hoboes of the 1930s
—"It
Was a Wildly Exciting Time": Milton Meltzer Remembers the New Deal's Federal Theatre
Project
—"80
Rounds in Our Pants Pockets": Orville Quick Remembers Pearl Harbor Internet
Public Library
—The
Literature and Culture of the American 1950s —The
Psychedelic Sixties —The
History Channel Learner.Org —A
Biography of America —Conversations
With History —We
Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement Additional
Resources Oral
History Workshop on the Web
Folklife
and Fieldwork: A Layman's Introduction to Field Techniques Usual
Oral History, and the Model Forms
Standards Alignment
View your state’s standards
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