1st State Stories: Delaware Oral History - Oral History for Grades k-3

Grades K-3
Activities, projects, lessons

Conducting group interviews: Young children have limited access to adults outside their family and most are not completely comfortable communicating with unfamiliar adults. For this reason, many of the projects for this cluster suggest group interviews, which is not typical oral history methodology but which will introduce students to the process. Teachers should plan to conduct the question and answer session in an orderly fashion. For example, each student might have the opportunity to go to the interviewers "desk," read one question and practice being a good listener. The teacher can arrange for the media specialist or other volunteer to record the interview (video or audio) so that it can be reviewed later. Students who are able to read and write could be asked to take "notes" or write answers next to the prepared list of questions.

Invite a local or state representative or an appointed official to your class to conduct a "group" interview.
	Invite a local business person from a company that makes something or provides an essential service to be interviewed by the class.
Invite a long-time resident to talk about changes to the community.	Courtesy DE Agricultural Museum

Focused/At home interviews: Students in this cluster will not have access to recording devices nor will they be able to use them on their own. For this reason, interviews at home should be a combination of conversation and written responses from adults. Take-home questions should ask the adult to first answer the question orally, then write down a summary of the answer (or assist an older child with writing it down themselves). The students can choose which part of the response they feel is most important and interesting. Students may collect copies of photographs or objects that help to illustrate what they have learned.

Courtesy DE Agricultural Museum	Students will interview an older person they know about the family economy in the past.
Students will conduct a focused interview with a friend or family member born in a different country or a close connection with their ethnic/cultural background.
Students will "interview" parents or family members at home to discover their views on citizenship and chart the results as a class.
Courtesy Dotson Family Archives	Interview a family member or close friend about what they think is the "most important" time in their life.

Safety Note: At this age level, group interviews and interviews with family members are emphasized. Adult guidance is both essential for a quality educational experience and necessary for the child's protection. Young children always should be supervised if they are in close contact with an adult outside of their immediate family and will likely need adult assistance to conduct a meaningful interview. Teachers should emphasize this point to parents or guardians for any related assignments to be completed outside of school.

Printer Friendly All K - 3 Activities