National Museum of the American Indian
Lone Dog's Winter Count: Keeping History Alive
What is oral tradition, and what unique tool did the Native Americans of the Northern Great Plains use to help them remember their complex histories? Through pictograph analysis, discussion, research, and an engaging hands-on activity,...
Park City Historical Society & Museum
Oral History Interview Questions Worksheet
What is an oral history interview? What goes into the planning and what should be said? Why is it important that we know and learn from oral history? This is an excellent worksheet to support your young historians as they conduct...
Curated OER
Oral History
Use oral history as a way to help learners develop communication skills. They interview a trusted adult about their life as a young person, challenges they overcame, and what they are proud of. Learners are then interviewed themselves in...
Curated OER
Interview An Older Person
Third graders interview older people about their experiences and memories. They include information about entertainment, travel, dress, toys, and food and present both written and oral reports. They publish their stories in a class...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Knowledge of Vietnam War
Kids compare and contrast knowledge of the Vietnam War. They consider what they know and how their knowledge has changed after listening to oral histories from the war. They compare the understanding of the war from the perspective of...
Curated OER
Oral History: Park City Museum
Bring U.S. history to your language arts class with this lesson. Middle schoolers complete an interview for an oral history project, and discuss the importance of oral histories - and how they embellish written accounts. They write...
Curated OER
Storytelling: Performance and Art Learning Center
Tenth graders explore the process of telling stories without words. In this literature lesson, 10th graders watch a music video performance made by Alaska Native students, and then examine art objects that may be used to tell a story,...
Curated OER
In Search Of Wisdom: An Interview With An Elder
The key to writing a good narrative is having good material to work with; and the key to getting good material is asking good questions. Working in groups, class members brainstorm questions that might result in the most interesting...
Curated OER
Studying Oral Histories
Students read stories from the 1930s and 1940s. They discuss homelife during World War II. students examine changes in lifestyle and technology that may take place in the future.
Curated OER
What is History? Timelines and Oral Histories
Students determine that their lifetime shows just a small piece of history. They determine how two or more accounts of the same event can be different. They write an account of the same event from two perspectives.
Curated OER
John and Mary Jones and the Importance of Oral History
Students examine the role of John and Mary Jones in the abolitionist movement. Using primary source documents, they discover the importance of an oral history and take notes on the Jones' role. They write a summary of the data to...
Curated OER
Telling My Story - Oral History
Young scholars determine the importance of the process behind creating an oral history. In this oral history lesson, students determine how to ask important questions in an oral history interview. They practice interviewing each other...
Curated OER
Discovering Your Heritage
Students interview a family member about their heritage. They listen to and record part of their family's oral history. Students also create and label a family tree going back a minimum of two generations and compare and contrast...
Curated OER
Through Their Eyes: Video Taping Oral History
Students identify the stereotypes they are faced with on a daily basis. In groups, they use this information to identify the ways stereotypes are portrayed in movies and television. They use a video camera to record oral histories of...
Curated OER
What is History? Timelines and Oral Histories
Students consider how we learn about the past and discuss how the framing of history is always done by the person who is telling it. They construct a personal and class timelines, compare two or more accounts of the same event and record...
Curated OER
History: An African American Cultural Celebration
Students prepare and organize a cultural celebration of African migration and immigration. Working in groups or individually, they research topics and present the information, including dance demonstrations, instrumental or vocal...
Curated OER
Baseball Memories
Students act as historians by, first, reading and analyzing oral histories of professional baseball players to become familiar with baseball figures. Then, they proceed to interview family members, relatives, or neighbors who have...
Curated OER
Immigration Oral History
Students explore oral history and how it is important to historical record. They interview someone who is a U.S. immigrant and create an oral history project/paper based on this interview.
Curated OER
I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Students write a first-person narrative from the perspective of a runaway slave, or a historical character of the period, and present their story orally.
Curated OER
Living History
Students investigate historic events through the eyes of people who were their age when the event happened. Through personal interviews, students gain insights on the impact of these events on these people's lives and on the world at large.
Curated OER
The Brick Industry
Students listen to an oral history radio program from the Countdown to Millennium project. They discuss the lifestyles of various workers heard on the radio program and how has the area changed.
Curated OER
Finding Friendship
Sixth graders interview community members associated with the lobstering industry. In this interview lesson, 6th graders carry out interview of members of the lobstering community to determine the folklore and workings of the lobster...
Curated OER
A Day in the Life of a Veteran: Oral History
Seventh graders conduct an interview with a veteran of a recent war to provide an account of military conflicts. In this oral history lesson, 7th graders research a recent war and write interview questions for their research. Students...
Curated OER
Cultural Comparisons Interview
Pupils interview a family member and give an oral report. In this oral history instructional activity, students create interview questions relevant to an American historical period. Pupils interview a family member and present an oral...