Chapter 23: History as Lived and Local

Teacher candidates interview family or community members about their experiences of an historical event/period as a way of thinking about history as lived and local.

The purpose of the Oral History Assignment is three-fold: (1) to help teacher candidates understand that individuals make sense of history in unique ways that are reflective of their experiences, (2) to deepen candidates’ understanding of the historical moments they select, and (3) to grow candidates’ appreciation of local and personal history as a means of making history relevant and meaningful to their students.

The Task: When I introduce the assignment, I explain that candidates should identify someone outside of class to interview about an event in U.S. history. The person interviewed should have a particular interest in/experience with the historical topic/event chosen. Thus, typically the event is either local and/or has occurred within the last 75 years. Occasionally, candidates interview someone about an event that happened earlier and thus reply on family history or oral history as it was passed down over time. I ask candidates to identify someone who is likely to have had different experiences or hold different understandings of the event chosen than they have.