2010 Teacher’s Alumni Workshop Series

1. 2010 Teacher’s Alumni Workshop Series

2. Teaching with Primary Sources:The Oral History ComponentSeptember 2010 the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Department @ California University of PennsylvaniaNik Roberts roberts_n@calu.edu 724.938.6022 Keystone 112

3. Who is here? • Where do you teach/work? • What’s your grade level and subject area? • Why are you here today? • Why did you choose this course in particular? • Are you new to Teaching with Primary Sources? • Have you used primary sources / oral history in your classes? • Hobbies / interests?

4. The Library of Congress • Largest Library in the World30 miles of bookshelves • 140 million items • 29 million books and other printed materials • 2.7 million recordings • 12 million photographs • 4.8 million maps • 57 million manuscripts • 2,200 new items daily • 16 million digitized items MISSION: To make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations.

5. TPS From the Librarian of Congress.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L2XwWq4_BY

6. Primary vs. Secondary Sources What’s the difference?

7. Primary vs. Secondary Sources A Primary Source is… one obtained by, coming from, or being a direct personal observation or experience. Is Secondary Source is… one created using information provided by someone else (i.e., using someone’s recollection to create the item). What are some examples of each?

8. Primary Sources Art Clothing Artifacts Autobiographies Diaries Interviews Journals Letters Music News footage Newspapers Photographs PoetryPost-it notes Speeches Coins Case reports Etc. Secondary Sources Textbooks Encyclopedias Dictionaries Biographies Documentaries Monographs Primary vs. Secondary Sources

9. Why use Primary Sources in the classroom? • Creativity and critical thinking (e.g. Bloom) • Bring life to historical events • Multiple perspectives • Empathy building • Excites students • Deepens content • Technological aspects

10. How do you define inquiry?

11. Inquiry Defined: Take One • Inquiry is a multifaceted activity that involves making observations; posing questions; examining…sources of information to see what is already known; planning and conducting investigations; reviewing what is already [known]; using tools to analyze, and interpret data; proposing answers; explanations and predictions; and communicating results. • National Academy of Science, 1996

12. Inquiry [Re]defined • “Inquiry is a simple three-syllable word that requires a paragraph to explain and a vision to make it real.” • National Science Foundation, 1997

13. Inquiry-based learning makes education more like the PROCESS of learning IBL models emphasize not only WHAT we know but HOW we know it.

14. Inquiry-based Learning Models

15. Common Connections?

16. IBLM Commonalities • Connecting past knowledge and experiences with a problem • Investigating problems through research • Designing a pathway to find an answer to a problem • Constructing meaning through evidence and analysis

17. Session 1: Conceptual Framework • What? • Definition • Demarcation • Where? • Historic scope • Modern scope • Why? • Pedagogical justifications

18. Agenda for Session One • A) Definition • A primary source? • Demarcation (from other oral sources of information) • B) History • Distinguished from written history • C) Pedagogy • Unique knowledge available • Trans-disciplinary uses • Critical thinking • Compatibility (student-centered, inquiry-based & project-based learning) • D) Digital Collections Demonstration • E) Web-quest

19. What is Oral History? • Definition(s) • Demarcation Videos Oral History Research Method

20. A) DefinitionWhat is Oral History? Four takes… 1. “The recording of personal testimony delivered in oral form” (Yow, 2005, p. 3). 2. “Memories and personal commentaries of historical significance through recorded interviews” (Ritchie, 2003, p. 19). 3. “A sound recording of historical information, obtained through an interview that preserves a person's life history or eyewitness account of a past event" (“Discovering,” 2008, p. 1). 4. “A primary-source material created in an interview setting with a witness to or a participant in an event or way of life for the purpose of preserving the information and making it available to others” (Sommer & Quinlin, 2009, p. 1). Some terms often used interchangeably with oral history: self-report, personal narrative, life story, life testament, life biography, life review, recorded memories, recorded memoir, etc.

21. Demarcation / Four Falsehoods: • What oral history is not: • Journalism • Folklore • A structured interview • A sound byte • Monologic • Why is each of the above not oral history?

22. ScopeWhere is Oral History Situated? • Historical Scope • Before the written word… • Academic Scope • Formal recognition of “oral history” • Modern Scope • Sample areas of practice • Interview topics/themes

23. “Real” Oral History History Where is oral history and why should I care? .

24. Academic Oral History History • 1948 – The first O.H. office was started by historian Allan Nevins @ Columbia University • The focus was on preserving diplomatic history from those diplomats who did not leave behind memoirs. • O.H. takes off during the 1960s & 1970s • e.g. Alex Haley, Studs Terkel, Oscar Lewis • OHA established

25. The Scope of Oral History Practice:Topics from the 2009 OHA Conference Oral History as Art and Advocacyframes panels that explore the full range of artistic dimensions of oral  history, recognizing that advocacy is embedded in many of these interpretive performances. Oral History as Teaching and Service Learningprovides a framework for panels that examine a range of issues involved in student training, and has been deployed to build communities and knowledge through university and school interaction. Oral History as Film and Imageprovides a border for those panels that connect images to oral history, either through photography or film. Oral History and Folklife in Communityis an umbrella for panels that consider the boundaries of  community or the ways that oral history and folklife contributes to the community-building process. Oral History as Activism and Social Justiceis a thread that borders and encompasses work with a strong commitment to social, political, and/or economic change, recognizing the often implicit underpinnings of many oral history projects. Oral History in Museums, Archives, and Digital Environmentsprovides a rubric through which to consider two disparate, though often interconnected, trends: the development of digital tools and exhibit  formats and the expansion of oral history use in museums, as well as increased attention to the archiving of oral histories. Oral History as Research Methodologyprovides a thematic structure for panels that use oral history in  service of a disciplinary research endeavor or take on oral history as a mode of understanding.

26. Topics/Themes in the Oral History Landscape • Specific historical events • Childhood • Teenage years • Family history & norms • Individual & community interests • Vocation & retirement • Military experiences • Marriage/ family history • Spiritual / religious life • Worldviews: attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, opinion • Folklore, superstitions, customs, myths • Cultural celebrations: holidays • Death and dying • Etc.

27. Why [study/practice/do] Oral History? • The crisis • Importance • General • Learning

28. Value of Oral Histories in Education • “Oral history not only enriches our understanding of the past, but also holds the potential to dramatically enrich the classroom experience. Oral history projects can help students from early primary grades through the college level learn an amazing range of content knowledge and skills.” - Kathryn Walbert

29. Snapshot of the Crisis in Knowledge

30. Why is Oral History Important, Generally? • Historical documents and books can't tell us everything about our past. • Written history often concentrates on famous people and big events, and tend to miss the ordinary people living ordinary lives. • Written history often neglects people on the fringes of society, e.g., the poor, disabled, ethnic communities. • Oral history fills the gaps and gives voice to history that includes everyone. Gives “voice to the voiceless.”

31. In other words… An event occurs Evidence is left behind and created Environments threaten survivalof records Archives preserve what exists & provide access Opportunities toEduce Donora Smog, 9/11 attacks, JFK election, etc. Artifacts, diaries, photographs, etc. Fires, floods, hungry dogs trash, etc. Archives, libraries, repositories, museums, person collections Possibility for Learning

32. Transformative Learning Transformative learning involves a new understanding of self in relation to others. It requires us to approach life, our relationships and experiences with a value on “the other,” being the unknown, another person, or a different point of view.

33. Learning as Transformation • We can choose our learning to be instrumental – providing us with information and skills • We can choose our learning to be transformational – providing opportunities for deeper meaning and greater self and other awareness

34. Need for Transformation • Our focus on instrumental learning has created a loss of awareness as to what we most value – what holds the greatest meaning and provides inspiration. • “Doing” holds more importance than “being” • Relationships are strategic

35. A Transformative Shift Instrumental Learning Meaningful Learning • “Doing” Orientation • Focus on the Parts and how to fix them • Objective perception of the world • Information as a thing to be managed • Strategic Relationships • Control • “Being” Orientation • Focus on the whole and the relationship of the parts • Recognizing we are always in relationship • Information as dynamic and creative • Caring relationships • Discovery

36. TL Assumptions • Diversity of thought and experience is essential for learning • Leadership is shared • Authority is granted rather than held • Disagreement adds value to a conversation • Talking about what we have learned is at least as important as talking about what we have accomplished • Care fosters commitment • I and others can speak freely and truthfully • Collaboration and partnership will further opportunity and success

37. Building Relationships and Rapport • What do you value most about yourself, your work-life, your personal life? • What are your talents, hobbies, passions? • In what ways have events, culture, and other people influenced you? • What are your aspirations and what motivates you to achieve them? Instructions: • Take 7-8 minutes max. per group to share reflections on the above questions. Choose someone to keep time. • Prepare a 1 minute presentation that includes a way to express some of the commonalities among the group members.

38. Why Oral History in the Classroom? • As a primary source, oral histories allow students to interact with the past (e.g., the “history makers”) in a direct way • Empowers students with their own learning • Provides empathic sense of another’s life • Generates student experts • Provides information that isn’t available in other historic sources • Authentic opportunity for students to function as historians or social scientists • It’s fun!

39. Looking Back… Main Points • Split focus: life history / eyewitness accts • Preservation as end goal • Trans-disciplinary in nature • O.H. fills gaps in history and gives “voice to the voiceless” • The historic “bad rap” of oral history has been reframed as positives (e.g., insight into memory, attitudes, perspectives, etc.) • Oral history today often discloses the role of the researcher by expounding on possible biases, interpretations

40. Learning Oral History • “The only way to learn how to do it [conduct an oral history] is to do it” (Truesdell, 2007, p. 1). • Oral history interviews are “learning events for the interviewer” (Portelli, 2009).

41. Session 2: Project Planning • How [to prepare]? • Conducting background research • Theme • Selecting interviewees • Interviewing • Approaches • Questioning • Techniques • Guidelines • Interview Guide • Where? • Recording environment • With? • Technological considerations

42. Preparation is the Key • Conceptualize the project • What is it that you wish to accomplish? (This is the aim of the Investigative Question). • How do you intend to accomplish it? • Equipment • Questions/outline • Directions • Release forms • Prompts • Review your checklist • Know your narrator

43. Finding Participants • Purposive Sampling: • “Those interviewed are specific individuals selected because of their often unique relationship to the topic at hand” (Yow, 2005, p. 360).

44. Questioning Example #1: The Holocaust Q: Did you know anyone in the concentration camp? A: Umm, yes. This is a closed-ended question.

45. Questioning Example #2: The Holocaust • Q: How does it feel to know people who were in the concentration camps? • A: I lost 27 relatives in the Holocaust, a grandfather, many uncles, aunts, and cousins. They were sent to Auschwitz, sometime in June 1944. In 1935, when I was 10 years old, I visited these relatives with my parents and sister in Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine). All these years later I had a remembrance of these relatives. Needless to say our family felt the tragic effects of this news for these many years later. • This is an open-ended question.

46. Process of Questioning • Gain practice turning closed-ended questions into open-ended questions…  What do you remember about your grandparents?  What was your grandfather’s name?  What kind of reception did Italians immigrants receive when they moved into town?  Was there prejudice against Italians moving to your town?

47. Sample Questioning StructureVHP • “Six Segments” format • 1. For the Record • Date and place of the interview • Name and birth date of the person being interviewed • War and branch of service • What his or her rank was • 2. Jogging Memory • Were you drafted or did you enlist? • Why did you pick the service branch you joined? • Do you recall your first days in service? • Tell me about your boot camp/training experience(s). • How did you get through it? • 3. Experiences • Which war(s) did you serve in (WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf)? • Where exactly did you go? • Do you remember arriving and what it was like? • What was your job/assignment? • Did you see combat? • Were there many casualties in your unit? • Tell me about a couple of your most memorable experiences.

48. Sample Questioning StructureVHP • 4. Life • How did you stay in touch with your family? • Did you have plenty of supplies? • Did you feel pressure or stress? • Was there something special you did for "good luck"? • How did people entertain themselves? • Did you keep a personal diary? • 5. After Service • Do you recall the day your service ended? • What did you do in the days and weeks afterward? • Did you make any close friendships while in the service? • Did you join a veterans organization? • 6. Later Years and Closing • Did your military experience influence your thinking about war or about the military in general? • How did your service and experiences affect your life?

49. Technological Considerations • Important to use best equipment available. • If the quality is poor, the source may be unusable • Digital equipment • Audio or Video • Non-compressed recording Field recorders equipment: • Marantz PMD 661 • Tascam DR100

50. Session Two: Main Points • Oral history work involves practical skills. The art of oral history is gained by way of “learning by doing.” • Technology? • Environment?