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FK Lane HighSchool English Mrs. Maslow
Oral History Interview andessay on an Older Relative
who: An oralhistory interview should be done with the oldest relative you canfind; your grandparents are usually the best. Some studentshave interviewed older friends of their parents or neighbors.
what: You want tofind out stories about their childhood, growing up, comingto the USA or NYC, working, conflicts, something they are proudof, or relationships with other people or living conditions,sometimes very different than today’s.
how: Choosethe person and make arrangements to interview for a minimum of 40minutes between (write in dates.) Write down a good start-upquestion. Write down at least five back-up questions butremember to do mainly follow-up questions. Use a taperecorder to record the interview. Afterwards, listen to thetape, stopping it every few seconds to write down the exact wordssaid. This is called a transcript. It will take youas long as two hours and maybe more to write down all thewords. Also, write down your own thoughts and impressionsof the person you were interviewing. If you cannot tape theperson you must take notes, using both quotes and paraphrases,and that is very difficult to do well.
when: Hand in thetranscript or notes by -( write in date) in class.
why:
1. Interviewing, knowing thequestions to ask, is a useful life skill.
2. You will learn a great dealfrom your older relatives and both of you will enjoy yourselves.
3. If you would like to enteryour interview article in the PAL “Stories My Grandparents Told Me” contest in mid-October, there is a lotof prestige and pleasure in winning this contest andattending the awards assembly.
4. Write an essay basedon notes or a transcript is a necessary skill for advancedacademic work.
I. The Transcript -Studentsare to interview an older relative and produce atranscript. The transcript will be used to write an essayin several drafts. Transcriptor notes are graded based on :
1. length - 25 points, should reflect an interview ofapproximately 40 minutes
2. for notes-should include both paraphrasing andquotations - 25 points
3. the transcript includes appropriate follow-up questions andstarting questions -25 points
at least one interesting story or anecdote included - 25 points
(For anexample of an exemplary transcript click here.)
II. The Essay
1. length - 15 points , at least one page, four paragraphs
2. clarity - 15 points, essay is clearly constructed and ideas are clearly developed
3. organized - 10 points ,
4. one interesting story or personal anecdote included - 15points
5. both paraphrasing and quotations are included - 25 points
6. a theme or message is clearly developed- 10 points
7. originality - 10 points
Lesson 1- What makes agood essay?
1. Look at the
a) Write you firstimpressions on 5 of the articles.
b) Answer thefollowing questions on any 2 of them. Write the title and authorof the story you will examine.
1. What is the controlling idea or main idea of this story? Can you write the summary in two sentences?
2. What is the lesson or point of the story?
3. Tell the most interesting part of this article- one story.
4. Is there anything humorous or something that affects youemotionally? Explain.
5. Why do you think it won a contest?
6. What questions do you think the writer asked?
Lesson 2- What are thesteps to follow in order to do an interview and a transcript ofit?
Students will view a model of the teacherdoing an interview with a purpose and using follow-upquestions. Also, they will see how the tape recorder can beused to make a transcript. When the recorded interview istranscribed they will review it to see if more information isneeded. They may have to think of more questions to ask ata later time. The topic to be focused on for this lesson is howthe person being interviewed, a former winner of the contest-"Stories My Grandparents Told Me," did their owninterview and suggestions they have. For teachers juststarting out ty to find an older person from the staff tointerview.
The teacher models the interview by firstasking simple questions and demonstrating the importance ofwriting down the person's name and relaxing them with simplequestions at first. ( Can you spell your name for me? Whenwere you born?) On the board the teacher has written thesimple questions. Then the teacher writes a more complexstarter question that should promote a long response from theperson being interviewed. (Students could use a starterquestion such as -What is one of your favorite memories when youwere growing up? or What story about your childhood will younever forget when they interview an older relative?) Thenin a third place on the board are back-up questions in case theinterviewer can't think of a follow-up question. ( Students woulduse questions such as-What stories about you friends are specialto you? What stories about school are especiallyinteresting? What stories about your family will younever forget?)
The students should be made aware that theteacher is using questions to focus on a specific topic and thequestions are usually follow-up questions. Even though theteacher has specific questions written on the board, she may notnecessarily refer to these. Since I am interviewing astudent on what they asked their parent or grandparent and whatworked for them my questions will be different than if I wasinterviewing an older relative. After 15 minutes, studentsget to ask questions they want answers to on the topic ofdoing an interview with an older relative. They can alsoask about writing the essay based on the transcript.
The tape is then rewound and using the play andpause button when necessary, the entire class proceeds tolisten to the tape and produce a verbatim transcript.
Lesson 3- Can youidentify follow-up questions in this exemplary transcript?
Read the transcript from one of the Lane winners who wrote thearticle titled, "
Lesson 4- Can studentsdo an interview of one another and take notes?
Students will learn how to find information byinterviewing another student in the class. But instead ofusing a tape recorder they will take notes. Students shoulduse their own words when taking notes. But if the personbeing interviewed says something really interesting they mightwant write the exact quote. Notes will be collected on thefollowing topic: Interesting stories about the person's lifeinvolving neighbors, neighborhood, family members, friends,trips, school, moving.
Lesson 5-How do you usequotations marks and other punctuation marks correctly?
Read a feature article written by a professional writer(journalist.)
I have students find the correct punctuation in 10 sentences Ihave retyped from the article without punctuation.
I had students read about Larry Doby from an February 23, 1997article in the NY Times. Stories about his childhood andcareer are interesting and give them ideas.
Preliminary homework or classwork
1. Write the answers to thesequestions:
Who you will interview for theoral history assignment and why did you select them. Whatquestion or statement will you use to get started and what are afew back-up questions?
Write any problems youmight have in doing an interview and recording it and writing thetranscript or taking notes. What is yourfeelings about new immigrants to this country. What do youknow about the experience of moving to a new place, whether a newcountry, state, city or block? What conflicts do you havewith older relatives?
2, Read suggestions on
Write what you learned.
3. Read interviews with Americans on
4.. Read on the Internet stories told to students fromaGeorgia8th grade class posted recently.
Read at least 5 of these articles. What did you like andwhat did you not like? What questions do you think theyasked to get the stories their relatives told to them.
Three Lessons on -Can you write an essay based on your transcript or notes?
1.) What are some waysto organize your essay?
2.) What are somepossible controlling ideas or main ideas?
3.) What is alead? Can you write 5 possible leads for your essay andchoose one?
Students type essays in the 2nd draft stage and then post themonto http://www.nicenet.org,under the conference topic, Stories My Grandparents ToldMe. Other discusion forums could be used. Studentsthen reply to each other by writing only three things- what theyliked, questions, or summarize what they read. ( You can go in asa guest- use the log in-LA2 and the password-artstwo.
Students do more drafts as is necessary and then edit in aword-processing program and repost the final draft in documentsin http://www.nicenet.org
Students are taught to do Front Page or Netscape Composer andcreate a web page for the class web site with theiressay and photos of the person which they can scan. Look for finished web page on fklane.org
Advanced Activity:
Teacher Resource:
Transcriptof an interview by a student of his mother, "A Tough LifeGrowing Up"
J: What nationality are you?
Answer: I am from the island ofTrinidad, which is an island in the Caribbean.
J: Can you describe this island?
Answer: It is not a very largeisland, but it has alot of people living there. The climate
is very hot, and there are also alotof rain. People plant sugarcane, and do alot of
gardening.
J: How long did you live there?
Answer: I lived there for abouttwenty three years.
J: What do you consider to bethe most important and interesting thing that
happened to you while you wereliving there?
Answer: Well when I was 12 yearsold, I fell in love with a guy. My father did not want
me to marry him because he was blackin color, but of the same ethnicity. My father
thought that he was too black for mebecause we were a little white. I had to run away
with him, and so I left school atthe age of 13.
J: Where did you go with him?
Answer: To his fathers house.
J: What did his father have to sayabout that?
Answer: He accepted me into his homeand considered me his daughter. He was a
very wonderful father-in-law, and awonderful inspiration to me.
J: In what way was he an inspirationto you?
Answer: Because he made me feelwelcome, he never took me for granted, I was
very loved by him.
J: Why do you consider this to bethe most important?
Answer: I consider this to be themost important because I was young and did'nt
want to listen to my parents so Ijust defied them.
J: Why did you want to defy yourparents?
Answer: Because long ago they didnot want you to go anywhere, only to stay at
home, never to walk down the streetand don't talk to other boys.
J: Did you feel deprived because youhad to leave school at that age?
Answer: No I did not.
J: Why did you not feel deprived?
Answer: I do feel a little deprivedbecause now when I think about it and now I think
that I should have listened to myparents and stayed in school and get an education.
J: How many brothers and sistersdid you have at that time?
Answer: I had 3 brothers and I wasthe only daughter.
J: Did you all live together in thesame house?
Answer: No, we all lived seperatelyin different houses.
J: Were they allowed to "hangout" often?
Answer: No because they were boys,and boys and girls were treated differently at
that time.
J: Do you think that because youwere the only daughter, that you were treated
differently?
Answer: No, not really because myparents were old fashion people. Daughters
were supposed to stay at home andperform household duties.
J: What kind of household duties?
Answer: Household duties likecooking, washing, taking care of the cows, doing the
dishes, almost everything.
J: Did your parents have alot ofanimals?
Answer: They had Cows, Cats, Dogsand some Chickens.
J: At what age did you startcooking?
Answer: I started cooking at the ageof 8. My step-mother used to box my ears if I did
not cook the food properly.
J: Did you know how to cook well atthat age?
Answer: No I could have only cookeda few things, like vegetables, potatoes and
some traditional foods.
J: Were your step-mother usuallymean to you?
Answer: Yes she was always mean tome.
J: In what way was she always meanto you?
Answer: She used to sit all day andhave me do all the work. She never wanted to
help do anything. One time oneof my brother spent some time with us and she
gave us food in one dish to eat, sheused to make us bathe together by a public
standpipe.
J: Why do you think she made you dothis?
Answer: She did not want to give usalot of food, she was just mean.
J: Did you feel uncomfortablybathing with your brother?
Answer: I was very small at thattime and so it did not really matter that much to me.
J: What happened to your realmother?
Answer: My real mother caught astroke when I was 9 days old and she could not
take care of me.
J: How did she catch a stroke?
Answer: She caught a stroke fromhigh blood pressure.
J: Did she leave the house at thattime?
Answer: My father found anotherwoman and brought her into the house, then he
kicked my mother out. Theother woman then became my step-mother.
J: Being older now do you feel angryat your father for what he did?
Answer: I was but then I got overit. I guess that's why I defied him and eloped
because I felt that theresponsibility which was given to me was too much of a
burden for a kid of my age. Due to all of these things thats why I defied him thinking
that when you have a husband, youwould not have so much of a burden, not
knowing that it would be the samesituation.
J: Did you marry the guy?
Answer: No we did not marry, westayed common-law.
J: Did the marriage work out?
Answer: No it only lasted for 4years.
J: Why didn't the marriage work?
Answer: The marriage didn't workbecause he was very lazy, he didn't want to work,
he smoked marijuana with hisfriends, he came home whenever he felt like it, and
he also beat me.
J: Did you have kids?
Answer: Yes we did. We had 2kids, both boys, but he did not want the responsibility
of children.
J: What was your reaction to thatsituation?
Answer: I took my kids and left thehouse, and went to live with some relatives for a
while, then I started making it onmy own.
Graphic Organizers for writing anessay based on an interview with someone older:
Sequence-
1st_______________________________________________________
2nd_______________________________________________________
3rd_______________________________________________________
4th_______________________________________________________
5th_______________________________________________________
Examples-
. Comparing and Contrasting-
E. Cause and Effect-
Cause_____________________________Effect______________________________
Cause_____________________________Effect______________________________
F. Problem/Solution-
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