Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Discovering Oral Histories of the Vietnam War Era

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars collect and examine the oral histories of various Vietnam War participants and share the results of their historical research. They investigate the oral histories of one of the defined participants of the Vietnam Era. ...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Ag Interview

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Young scholars examine the role of agriculture in the American economy. They interview a person in the agriculture business and create original questions to ask. They present their findings to the class and write thank you letters to the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Interview a Professional: Professional Sports

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students research a career featured on a career website. They email an expert in the field of their choice. They conduct a questionnaire of the expert and record their findings. They collate their information and write a written...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Interview a Professional: Marine Mammal Rescue

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars choose a career featured on the school to career website. They research the career and email an expert in the field of their choice. They answer a series of questions and write a written report on their findings and...
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: Oral and Literary Strategies

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Readers are first introduced to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart by making a map of Africa. They will better understand the novel's historical and literary contexts, European and African literary traditions, and how...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Everybody Has a Story

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students read short stories and folk stories to explore oral history and story. They interview elderly family members and/or others in the community and record these stories and histories. They evaluate in a final essay what they have...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Test Your Speaking & Listening Skills

For Students 5th - 6th
In this speaking and listening worksheet, students work with partners reading and replying to questions and statements. Students write down their responses after the complete the activity orally.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oral History: Interviewing Elders

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders examine oral history traditions. They interview family members about their childhoods and compare them to their own. Students use the collected information to make posters, letters, essays, or poems about their research.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Skill Building for Educational and Vocational Advancement

For Teachers 8th - 9th
Over ten weeks, 8th graders refine their visions of future careers, develop skills needed to write resumes and business letters, and learn to make a strong impression at interviews. Three specific activities are included, but mostly the...
Lesson Plan
Judicial Branch of California

Faces of Citizenship: Jury Duty

For Teachers 8th Standards
An interesting middle school lesson focuses on the rights and responsibilities of citizens. Academics choose a civic project to complete, such as an oral history or photo essay. They then conduct interviews with members of the community...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Press Conference on Hurricane Georges

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students experience Hurricane Georges. In this Peace Corps lesson, students examine the devastation of Hurricane Georges by acting as a Dominican Republic citizen being interviewed by an international television network. Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where Do People Move To Or From?

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students identify countries of origin of their ancestors, graph patterns of migration to the U.S. and Hawaii, then utilize oral history as a primary document by interviewing their ancestors or parents to explain why they moved to their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Lives of the People: To Understand the People is to Understand the Times

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine the time period of the Great Depression. Using primary source documents, they read excerpts of interviews done by author Studs Terkel for one of his books. They practice interviewing their partner in front of the class...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Radio Program #5: Moonshining

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students interpret the conditions that surrounded the "moonshining industry" in southeastern Ohio. Interview people who may have been influenced by some experience with someone involved in this type of industry. Prohibition laws are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sharing Information: Schools, Police and FERPA

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners research Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), interview school officials to see how FERPA is interpreted in local schools, speak with community journalists to find out if they have ever had a hard time getting...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Beary O'Mometer Learns About Careers In Meteorology

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students explore the field of meteorology. In this meteorology instructional activity, students explore weather-related careers as they research the field of study as well as various weather concepts. Students interview meteorologists,...
Lesson Plan
Rutgers University

African-Americans in WWII

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Costco and Zoning

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers research zoning laws in their own communities through literature, Web and interviews, identify retailers attempting to build in your community, find out what kind of outlets have been built in nearby areas, explore ways...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

School discipline includes paddling

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers analyze corporal punishment, debating the pros and cons. Students investigate, collecting background information and interviewing school community members. If high schoolers disagree with the district's policy, students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Police patrol the city's garbage

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students debate the pros and cons of police searching the trash of suspected drug dealers. Students collect background information, and students interview city officials and garbage collectors. Students develop a strategic plan for...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Immigration/Migration: Today and During the Great Depression

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders compare experiences of their families to those living through the Great Depression using famiy interviews, photographs, films and document from the Library of Congress.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Recycling Survey

For Teachers 6th - 9th
How many people really recycle recyclables and how do they feel about it? High schoolers create a survey to find out. Once they agree on what questions to include, they each interview four people outside of the classroom....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Who Are We?

For Teachers 8th
Over the course of a week, class groups interview one another, search for similarities and differences within the group, and then prepare a PowerPoint introduction of their group for the entire class. An interesting way to incorporate...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

President Kennedy and Kentucky Politics

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars explore the interactions between Kentucky Governor Bert Combs and President Kennedy. They examine JFK's interest in Kentucky politics and construct history through Governor Bert Comb's interview.