Preserving the Past with Oral History

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...

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...

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...

Begin this powerful study on the Guatemalan genocide with a nine-minute video clip, which can be easily found online. The excerpt introduces the class to this tragedy through a personal account, which is what they will be collecting....

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,...

Students consider the insight to the past that oral histories can provide. They, in groups, analyze oral histories, prepare to interview a family member on their recollections of a historical event and then write a historical narrative.

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...

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...

Explore women's history through films and filmmaking. An innovative research project prompts class members to create their own screenplay about a figure in women's history. After outlining their characters, settings, and plots, young...

Using individual computers, class members read a story and listen to oral histories of Madison County. They then conduct a scavenger hunt to locate items on the list. Although designed for Madison County, North Carolina, the approaches...