1. Student Guide to Success

2. Tasks
Create an oral history project
Interview a person who participated in or witnessed an
event or era in American history
 Create and use a list of interview questions
 Collaborate with other students to review all sets of questions
 Use the information to create a product to demonstrate your
understanding of that person’s experience
 Collaborate with other students to improve each person’s
final product

3. Step 1: Pick an event or era from
before 1990
Great Depression Watergate
World War II Great Society
McCarthyism Three Mile Island
Korean War Reagan Revolution
Assassination of J.F.K Stagflation of the 1970s
Cuban Missile Crisis Iran Contra Scandal
Civil Rights Movement Fall of the Berlin Wall
Vietnam War

4. Step 2: Pick a person to interview
Make sure
It is someone you know.
 Relative
 Family friend
 Neighbor
The person is over 18.
They have participated in or witnessed an event or era
that you want to research.
You complete the parental permission form.

5. Step 4: Develop 15 questions for
your interview.
Your questions should
Demonstrate a clear understanding of the time period.
Show evidence that your researched the topic
Probe the interviewee to give responses that require
elaboration
 Stay away from questions that result in yes or no responses.
Collaborate with other students to improve your
questions and their questions
 Although your interview and topic are different, constructive
feedback at this step helps everyone.

6. Design questions around some of
these categories
Entertainment/Media
Employment/Occupations
Community Life
Family Life
Accomplishments
Event/era’s impact on community
Event/era’s impact on the interviewee’s life
Event/era’s impact on the nation

7. To Consider When Developing Questions…
1. Ask easy questions first, such as brief biographical
queries. Ask very personal or emotionally demanding
questions after a rapport has developed. End as you
began, not with bombshells, but gently with lighter
questions.
2. Do plan the topic and form of your first substantial
question after the "settling down" phase. Ask a question
that will prompt a long answer and "get the subject
going."
3. Unless you want one-word answers, phrase your
questions so that they can't be answered with a simple
"yes" or "no." Don’t ask, "Were you a farmer in
Buckingham during the 1930s?" Ask instead, "What was
it like farming in Buckingham during the 1930s?" Ask
"essay" questions that prompt long answers whenever
you can. Find out not only what the person did, but also
what she thought and felt about what she did.

8. To Consider When Asking Questions…
1. Ask easy questions first, such as brief biographical
queries. Ask very personal or emotionally demanding
questions after a rapport has developed. End as you
began, not with bombshells, but gently with lighter
questions.
2. Ask questions one at a time.
3. Allow silence to work for you. Wait.
4. Be a good listener, using body language such as looking
at the interviewee, nodding, and smiling to encourage
and give the message, "I am interested."
5. If necessary, use verbal encouragement such as "This is
wonderful information!" or "How interesting!" Be
careful, however, not to pepper the interview with verbal
encouragement such as "uh-huh," said at the same time
that the interviewee is speaking.

9. To Consider When Asking Questions…
1. Ask for specific examples if the interviewee makes a
general statement and you need to know more. Or you
might say, "I don't understand. Could you explain that in
more detail?"
2. Ask for definitions and explanations of words that the
interviewee uses and that have critical meaning for the
interview. For example, ask a Vietnam veteran what he
means by Vietnamization. What was it ? What was its
purpose?
3. Rephrase and re-ask an important question several
times, if you must, to get the full amount of information
the interviewee knows.
4. Ask follow-up questions and then ask some more.
5. Be flexible. Watch for and pick up on promising topics
introduced by the interviewee, even if the topics are not
on your interview guide sheet.

10. Step 5: The interview
Listen to the person’s responses.
Ask appropriate follow-up questions.
Keep a record of your person’s responses.
Detailed notes or
A sound recording

11. Step 6: Create a final product
Shows understanding of the interviewee’s experience
in historical context
Be reviewed by members of your group for
constructive feedback.
Options for your final product
 A detailed thank-you letter to the interviewee (3 single-sided,
double-spaced typed pages in proper letter format)
 A PowerPoint presentation- 15 slides presented to the class
 A Podcast
 Video/Movie
 A short narrative/biography (3 single-sided, double-spaced typed
pages)
 Ask me if you have other ideas

12. Products should:
Demonstrate an understanding of the historical event
or era
Incorporate specific information from the interview
Place the interviewee’s experiences in historical
context
Be interesting and engaging to the audience
Demonstrate effort and quality work

13. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2C_xUlcv2k