Show class members how personal history can be using an oral interview project. Even the youngest learners engage with history using a resource to create and execute interviews with members of their community. The activity walks a class...

Get the story from those who experienced it. Engage learners with a structured oral history project involving Vietnam War era veterans. By conducting thoughtful interviews, class members learn what it was like to serve in the...

Oral history has brought a multitude of lessons, stories, and factoids to our current knowledge of the past. Let us continue to use oral history traditions through a lesson that encourages pupils to discover and appreciate...

Interviews can be so stressful. How does someone stay calm and confident in the interview hot seat? Senior job seekers get acquainted with common interview questions during the fifth of six career and college readiness lessons....

Young scholars gain insight into how historians record events by engaging in an oral history project. In preparation, class members brainstorm open-ended interview questions and take part in and debrief a mock interview simulation....

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...

Get up-close-and-personal with history using guidance for an oral history project. An engaging resource takes pupils through brainstorming through feedback for a project to interview and collect oral histories from members of their...

Young scholars reach out into the community and learn about different environmental science careers in this inquiry-based instructional activity. Beginning with a short research assignment, children gain background knowledge about...

Empowered by the previous lesson where they interviewed a family or community member, young historians examine Angel Island immigrants' oral histories. They use a matrix to record their interpretation of the feelings of the immigrant....

How can social media help my career? Explore the world of networking through a instructional activity about professional organizations. The fourth of six career and college readiness lessons has seniors research organizations in their...

As part of a study of the Civil Rights Movement from 1868 to the present, class members examine first person narratives, the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, and other significant events in civil rights history....

Celebrate April's National Poetry Month or enrich a poetry unit with a wealth of language arts material. Class members develop an oral interpretation of a poem and/or develop a podcast interview with a poet. 

Listen up! The game of Telephone launches a study of active listening. Class members watch a short video that demonstrates active listening and tips on practicing active listening. Pairs then interview each other and practice their...

Middle and high schoolers look at historical photos and written materials, and they develop questions which they use to interview an elder in their community. Learners are divided into groups and given sets of historical family photos...

The 1960's marked shifts in American culture, politics, and policy. Your class groups up to research a series of primary source documents resulting in a timeline and a 15 minute oral presentation. Active learning all the way.

Oral storytelling has been an important part of every culture. The time-honored practice uses stories as a conduit for a culture's values and customs from one generation to the next. Keep the tradition going with a family interview...

The Navajo people build their dwellings with the doors facing the rising sun in the east to welcome wealth and fortune. Pupils learn about the traditions of the Navajo people in the first part of a 16-part unit. They explore American...

Is your city's history a mystery to your class? Ever wonder if your county contains a bounty of folklore? Young computer scientists incorporate technology with time-honored tales during a project with both individual and group...

StoryCorp provides a resource that captures and preserves the remembrances of family or community elders. Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, class members select a person they want to interview, record the conversation, and then upload...

What makes a culture unique? Learners research life in the Appalachia region of the United States. Poetry, music, and oral history create Affrilachia, the term used to describe the lifestyle of the area. African-American mountain culture...

Responsible speaker + critical listener = effective communication is the equation at the heart of a responsible listening lesson about the power of words. Class members view the clip of the courtroom scene from the film A Few...

Watch young leaders as they totally rock this activity! Pupils partner up and set appointments with one another during the third in a series of 12 character-building lessons. Instructors call out the appointment time, then partners meet...

Class members explore cultural diversity through a variety of texts that showcase the importance of traditions. Then, they interview their family members to research their own cultural background and write their findings on quilt...

Using transcripts of interviews of African-Americans who served in WWII, class members work in pairs to understand their experience. Prior to the group work, the teacher provides background on WWII and the African-American experience....