Oral History: Connecting Past to Present
Created by: Louisa Lord
Area of Service: supporting the elderly/nursing homes
Grade Level: Middle School (8th Grade)
Subject Area: American History
Standards Met:
National Educational Technology Standards:
Communications tools
Students use telecommunications to collaborate, publish, and interact with peers, experts, and other audiences.
Students use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences.
Research tools
Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.
Students use technology tools to process data and report results.
Students evaluate and select new information resources and technological innovations based on the appropriateness for specific tasks.
Multimedia Tools and Presentations
Plan scope and sequence of a project using project planner or storyboard
Use color, text, styles, sound, buttons and links that compliment the project.
Import a graphic, movie, and video to compliment the project.
Record and import sound from peripheral sources to compliment the project.
Evaluate multimedia projects effectively.
Operate a flatbed scanner, digital camera, video camera and accompanying software correctly.
Use a media display device (projector) to present project.
Guiding Questions:
How have times changed since the era in which the person you interviewed lived?
How are they similar?
How can we use the past to help us understand the present?
Why is important to study the past?
Goals:
Students will understand how the past shapes the present.
Students will learn about their own lives, as well as lives of people that lived in a different time period.
Students will appreciate the elderly/their stories in their community.
Unit Description:
All too often, people in nursing homes are often lonely and depressed. Their loss of independence can cause them to feel useless, which can lead to rapid deterioration. My service learning project is about combining history with making the elderly feel useful and appreciated.
Students need to brainstorm different aspects of their life that they feel are important. Students should focus on things such as: five things they could not live without, stories that they see on the news, what their parents talk about at the dinner table, what they are currently worried about, what they do after school, etc. Each student will be required to upload his or her responses to these questions (and any others that they come up with) on my class wiki.
As a class, we will travel to a local nursing home, and each student will be paired with a resident of the home (that gave their permission to be interviewed) prior to this assignment. The student will ask the person they are interviewing to think back to when they were around thirteen years old, asking them the same questions that they previously asked themselves, as well as general questions about the time period and place in which they grew up. Students will (with the person’s permission) film their interview.
Upon returning to the classroom, the students will research the time period in which the person that they interviewed lived. They will need to find out: who the President (or leader of their country) was during the time that the interviewee was the student’s age, any major crises that occurred during the time period, any technological innovations that were invented, or any major change that occurred. Students should write a two-page description about the time period/place in which their interviewee grew up, and transcribe it onto the class wiki.
The main activity for this lesson plan is for the students to create a vodcast/video podcast, in which they describe their lives, incorporating the answers to the questions (five things they could not live without, stories that they see on the news, what their parents talk about at the dinner table, what they are currently worried about, what they do after school, etc) that they wrote about on the class wiki. The students are encouraged to incorporate visuals into their vodcast. The student must upload the video that they took of their interview with their nursing home resident onto their vodcast (using iMovie). The student then must describe (on the vodcast) how his or her life is different than the person he or she interviewed, and how they are similar. The student must use critical thinking and “think like a historian” in order to compare and contrast the two time periods.
The pinnacle of this service learning project is the presentation of the vodcasts. The class will return to the nursing home and host a “viewing party” for the nursing home residents that participated in this project. We will view all the vodcasts, as we enjoy refreshments provided by our class. Not only will the viewing party be a bright spot in the elderly residents’ day, but they will also feel accomplished in that they played such a big part in the presentation. The goal of this project is to not only teach the students about history, but also to show the nursing home residents that their lives are important to young people of today.
Wiki:
The students will upload their data (information about their lives, as well as their interview with the nursing home resident/historical significances) onto the class Wiki so that the whole class can appreciate many different historical perspectives.
Internet:
Students will use various search engines (Google, Bing) to research the time period/place in which the person they interviewed lived. Students must verify that the sites they visit are legitimate.
Vodcasts:
Students will use vodcasts to showcase both the historical significance of their own lives as well the lives of the residents of the nursing home. Students and nursing home residents will view the vodcasts together at a viewing party at the nursing home.
Assessment:
Students will be graded throughout this assignment. They will be graded on:
- Their wiki post about their lives
- Their interview with the nursing home resident
- Their paper/wiki post about the time period in which their nursing home resident lived in when they were younger
- Proper utilization of vodcast comparing and contrasting their lives with those of the nursing home resident
- Proper etiquette when dealing with the nursing home resident
o The teacher will give the students specific guidelines as to proper etiquette prior to entering the nursing home
If the student successfully completes all of the above criteria, they will receive a grade of “Meet expectations.” If they do not meet all of the above criteria, they will receive a grade of “unsatisfactory” and will be expected to write a 10-page research paper on a time period of the teacher’s choice. If they go above and beyond, they will receive “exceeds expectations,” and I will use their project as an example for this service learning project in subsequent years.
Students must show an understanding of the importance of oral history throughout the completion of this unit.
Meets expectations:
-Students contributed to the class wiki at least twice: 1) their information and 2) the information that they learned from their interview/research.
-Students conducted an interview with a nursing home resident, acting in an appropriate manner and asking the specified questions
-Students created a vodcast integrating their own story with that of the nursing home resident
-the student made comparisons between their story and the nursing home resident
-the vodcast contains substantive, historical information
Unsatisfactory:
-Student did not complete one or more of the unit requirements
-Student acted in an inappropriate manner with their elderly counterpart
Exceeds Expections:
-Student completed all of the unit requirements
-Student’s vodcast showed exceptional creativity and grasp of technology
-Student demonstrated extraordinary insight into connecting the past to the present
-Student brought food or drink to the viewing party at the nursing home
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