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This advanced module seeks to extend the practice of gathering information on the historical context of the local community from multiple perspectives, and utilizing that historical knowledge as a foundation on which to build academic experiences.
I will practice the targeted skills in this module by creating and teaching a community history project with my students.
Determine a focus for your community history project
Determine a focus for your community history project
In this module, you will be engaging in a collaborative local history project with your students. This activity can take as much or as little time as you want (think one week, to a whole semester). First, think about what aspect of community history you and your students might explore. Examples could be the history of the school, community settlement or relocation history, climate/weather history or natural landmark history. The focus will change depending on the age of your students, potential curriculum connections, your community, and your own interests.
Ask good questions
Ask good questions
Next, you and your students are going to come up with the questions you'll ask the interviewees about your topic. As a general rule of thumb, you can ask about 8-10 questions in 30 minutes, so don't overplan! Brainstorm a lot of questions, then reduce the list to the good ones.
Don't forget the Oral History Interview Tips, and there are some oral history questions to use as a point of departure.
Complete your interviews!
Complete your interviews!
Next, you will need to make some decisions about who to gather information from in your community, where the interviews will take place, and who will do the interviewing. Here are a few considerations:
Live interviews are engaging and can take place in your classroom if guests are willing to visit. Use this handout on Facilitating a Guest Speaker to make sure the visits go smoothly.
If people can't come to you, task your students with recording interviews with community members. Students can use a recording function on their phone (with permission from the interviewee of course) and then bring the recording back and the class can listen to it together.
Have your students practice asking questions and showing attentive listening skills with each other before they interview someone from the community.
You might enjoy this article on how to be a good listener from the New York Times
You might enjoy this article on how to be a good listener from the New York Times
Document the information you gather
Document the information you gather
Create a handout for students to take notes on each interview they listen to. The handout can be simple for younger students (example on the left), or more detailed for older students (example on the right). Have students complete a sheet after each interview they listen to. It helps to have them not write during the interview itself, and instead complete the sheet after the interview is over. However, it can be helpful if you (as the teacher) take good notes during the interview so you have the information to refer to when the students are completing their handout.
Supplement your learning with local artifacts
Supplement your learning with local artifacts
The short reading at the site below provides some guidance on what you might find in your community to complement your oral interviews.
Look for historic photographs of your community, either on line or in your school library. Books like Menadelook can be used to compare what your have learned from your oral interviews to other historical resources.
Don't forget about the Photograph Analysis Worksheet (in the original learning plan) or a simple "What do you notice?" and "What makes you say that?" set of prompts to guide your students in looking at artifacts.
Finally . . . Consolidate and Celebrate your learning!
Finally . . . Consolidate and Celebrate your learning!
There are many different products your students can create, either individually, or as a group, to share and celebrate their learning. Some ideas are shown below. Make sure to share your final product(s) with the people you interviewed!
Make a class book
Create a quilt, with paper or fabric
Create a VoiceThread or an iMovie
Have students present orally to others in the school
You will reflect on and document your class' community history project in Canvas.
You will reflect on and document your class' community history project in Canvas.
Task 1: After guiding your students to learn more about their community's history, reflect on the following questions in Canvas:
Describe the focus of your class’ community history project:
Who did your class interview to gather information? Where did the interview take place? Who did the interviewing?
What questions were asked of the interviewee(s)? (Don’t forget to upload the template created for students to document the learning from the interviews in Task 2. A copy completed by a student would be great!)
What additional resources did your students use to supplement their research?
Give a description of how your class shared their learning. Don’t forget to upload an artifact (such as a photograph from a community event, a sample of class product, a slideshow, a Voicethread etc.) in Task 3!
What are 2-3 new things you learned about your community as a result of your project?
Task 2: Upload the template created for students to document the learning from the interviews. A copy completed by a student would be great!
Task 3: Upload an artifact that shows how your class presented their learning, such as a photograph from a community event, a sample of class product, a slideshow, a Voicethread etc.
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