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Organizer
Curated OER

How To Interpret an Oral History

For Students 4th - 7th
In this history learning exercise, students will learn how to interpret an oral history. Students will complete a chart with basic information about the interview and answer 3 short answer questions.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gather Your Own Oral History

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students investigate the concept of oral history. They read chapter 10 of a history text that is provided through the school and the teacher should search for a text to provide the background knowledge. Students define and practice the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

According to Tradition

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students analyze a historical document. They review oral histories as a tradition of storytelling in Native cultures and listen to an excerpt from The Life and Traditions of the Red Man. They write an episode or story that has been...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Foot Soldier Project for Civil Rights Studies

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students investigate the concept of foot soldiers with oral history. They are provided with primary and secondary resources. Students differentiate the terms of oral history versus the written record of history. They have class...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oral History Memoirs of American Experiences in Japan

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students identify the process of producing an oral history/documentary. Students analyze and synthesize information and memoirs as a valuable tool for exploring the past using primary resources. Students differentiate facts of historical...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush: Native American Life

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students read," The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush" by Tomie dePaola and discuss the way legends are passed down orally. They then create their own legend and illustrate it on a simulated "Buffalo Skin" made from brown paper.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Could You Make an Oak Basket?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students listen to an interview with Lucreaty Clark, a White Oak Native American basket maker. They analyze the interview and record their observations on a worksheet. Students consider information that can be gleaned from an audio...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What We Can Learn From Oral History

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students read oral history accounts of the 1930s and 1940s from "The Greatest Generation" books. They discuss how the common good and civil society was strengthed by these men and what they did for America. They research another time...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Conducting Oral Histories

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students discuss and conduct oral histories, and prepare questions for interviewing special classroom guest.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How to incorporate local history into your Arkansas History class

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders explore their local history through research and then providing reenactments about the history.
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: American Folklife Center

For Students 9th - 10th
Set up to assist American families in tracing their family histories, this extensive guide explains how to begin the process, to conduct research, tp take oral interviews, and to locate and analyze documents.
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Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: "I Started Filling Rifles"

For Students 9th - 10th
You can listen to or read an interview with a woman who was a strike supporter during the Colorado Coal strike. In this interview she recalls how she helped save women and children during the Ludlow Massacre in April, 1914.
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Graphic
Library of Congress

Loc: From the Home Front and the Front Lines

For Students 9th - 10th
Exhibition consisting of original materials and oral histories drawn from the Veterans History Project collections.
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Website
Other

Earliest Voices: Gallery From the Vincent Voice Library

For Students 9th - 10th
This site addresses the advent of the voice recording. The introduction talks about the country at the time of this invention, the feelings of people on the topic, and early recording itself. Included are voice recordings of such...
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Website
Other

Story Corps: Every Voice Matters

For Students 9th - 10th
StoryCorps is a national oral history project that records and preserves stories of people around the country. Select recordings are broadcast weekly on NPR, with an archive of stories available for playback at the StoryCorps online...
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Activity
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian: Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide by by Marjorie Hunt is an excellent resource for collecting family and community cultural information. It provides step-by-step information on how to plan and conduct...
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Website
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Slavery and the Making of America: Freedom & Emancipation

For Students 9th - 10th
Using primary documents, oral histories and other historical resources, learn about the African American reaction to emancipation and to events from the Reconstruction period following the Civil War.
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Handout
Duke University

Duke University Libraries: Finding Primary Sources

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Finding primary sources can be difficult and confusing at times. This site provides a list of history databases, rare books and manuscripts, and research guides for those looking for primary resources such as diaries, letters,...
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Lesson Plan
Other

Exploring Diversity: Rural Roads, City Streets: Italians in Pennsylvania [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A great lesson plan that offers primary source materials to understand Italian immigration to Pennsylvania in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Website
Other

Milwaukee Public Museum: Indian Country: Oral Tradition

For Students 9th - 10th
The Milwaukee Public Museum provides this introduction to the Native American oral tradition and oral literature of the Great Lakes region. Describes common themes and characters, including trickster characters and windingo (ice...
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Handout
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian: Engaging Students With Primary Sources

For Teachers 1st - 9th Standards
This reference guide is designed to highlight the benefits of using primary source materials in any classroom and to provide the teacher with practical suggestions and examples of how to do this. It includes a bibliography and links to...
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Lesson Plan
Other

Digital Library for Earth System Education (Dlese)

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This resource provides materials for teachers on a huge array of topics. Search site by topic, grade level, and desired output (such as lesson plan, case study, assessment or tutorial). Site is focused on earth science, geography, and...
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Primary
Other

Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation: Family Histories

For Students 9th - 10th
Follow the stories of six Americans with different backgrounds who wanted to know more about their ancestors' journeys to America and used immigration and genealogy records to complete their family histories.
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Kids Afterschool Adventure!: Operation: Martha's Stem Stories Activity Plan

For Students 1st - 3rd
Welcome to Martha's STEM Stories! STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. You may already know that doing STEM means testing ideas, collecting data, making calculations, and drawing graphs and charts-but you...