Oral History in the Classroom: A Quick Guide
History Ink Director Amelia Allsop explores how oral history can be a useful tool in the classroom.
The teachers amongst us may have heard the familiar refrain: ‘History is boring!’. While the curriculum may seem to be more dusty facts, dates, and names than enthralling stories, oral history has the power to change all that by bringing history to life for young people. The discipline gives students the opportunity to really practice the craft of history, to make valuable contributions to the field, and to gain first-hand experience with primary sources. It teaches young people important skills such as active listening, how to handle digital technologies, and interview techniques. More than this, oral history is increasingly recognised as a way to encourage mutual understanding and empathy, particularly for projects with an intergenerational or multicultural focus. In this journal piece, we review some of the steps required to create a successful oral history project in the classroom. We’ve also included some helpful online resources and project examples.
1. Choose a topic or theme. Oral history projects work best when they are thematic. Some examples include: the history of immigrants in a local community, interviews with former workers at a particular business, or volunteers with community initiatives. Themes work well because they give oral history projects a clear focus, which means that students can more easily delve into the research. Which leads us to …
2. Have an end goal in mind. Will the interviews be used as part of a book, a school play, or an exhibition? This end goal should inform the project’s theme, interviewee selection and the technology used. Examples include an online exhibition developed by the Fairfield School in the U.S., which uses oral history to explore desegregation.
3. Select your interviewees. Needless to say, every oral history programme needs interviewees. Look to your local school community to find interviewees, or engage students in this process by asking them to write an article for the local newspaper or school newsletter. It is crucial to place ethics at the heart of your oral history programme. Oral histories can be deeply personal and emotional. Take a look at the guidelines issued by the UK’s Oral History Society for best practice. They include information about rights, agreements, copyright, and child protection policies (https://www.ohs.org.uk/ethics-and-legalities-for-schools/).
4. Train your students. One of the most important steps in any oral history programme is to give students the tools and confidence to ask the right questions, handle recording equipment, and transcribe interviews. The UK’s BBC Bitesize has some great online resources which can help children understand and practice interview techniques. Historic England also has a broad range of classroom resources which can be used by teachers and project managers.
5. Choose your recording equipment wisely. One of the most important (and perhaps tricky) decisions to take before your project begins relates to the fast-changing world of technology. In many ways, this decision will be informed by your budget, your end goal and the number of participants involved. For example, for projects based around exhibitions, video may be more suitable. If the end result is a podcast, a high quality audio recording device works best. The UK’s Oral History Society has some valuable insights on recording equipment - this article weighs in on the use of smartphones in oral histories (https://www.ohs.org.uk/equipment-guide-for-schools/). The Texas Tech University also has a useful online guide which includes a section on student projects.
We hope this brief guide will help bring your oral history project to fruition. Happy recording!
Further resources:
Oral History Society (UK) – a guide for schools
Library of Congress (U.S.) – oral history and social history
Oral History Association (international) – oral history and education
