Reflect on Your Practice

In this section, you will reflect on ways that you have incorporated oral histories into activities with your students. Discuss the following questions with your colleagues or reflect on them in your journal. Use specific examples wherever possible.

1. How do you find appropriate people to use as sources for oral histories? Do you have any specific criteria when choosing people to tell their stories?
2. What is the way you typically have a person share their story? For example, does the person speak with a whole class? Do students interview the person individually or in small groups? Do you videotape the person and share the tape with the class later?
3. How do you prepare students to both acquire and utilize the information provided by a person willing to share their history? What limitations should students be aware of in terms of the history being provided by one person (or any single primary source)?