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Aural Histories & Media Texts:
A Practical Journey into
The New Curriculum
WORKSHOP PRESENTATION NOTES
QPAT Convention
November, 2003
Peter Bilodeau
Educational Consultant
Sir Wilfrid Laurier RECIT
Nancy Bennett, teacher
Grenville Elementary School
Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board
“The average American child spends approximately 28 hours a week
watching television. In a year’s time, American school children spend
twice as much time watching television as they spend in the
classroom.”
— The American Medical Association, 1996
"Technologies are not simply inventions which people employ but are
the means by which people are re-invented."
"Television is teaching all the time. It does more educating than all
the schools and all the institutions of higher learning.“
— Marshall McLuhan
• The Aural Histories Project was conducted at Grenville
Elementary School from early May, 2003 until mid-June
2003.
• It was made possible by a PDIG grant
• The project sought to incorporate and integrate Language
Arts, Social Studies & Media Literacy objectives.
• The original project was conducted with a mixed group of
Cycle 2 & 3 students; however, it can easily be altered to
accommodate levels up to and including senior high school.
• The project can be completed with either still or video
photography.
• Note that the original project truncated and began late due
to the illness of a focal teacher.
“Even if I want to do this project with my class, why
should I bother with the media aspects? The
Language Arts and Social Studies objectives are the
meat of the project, aren’t they?”
Visual media now represents the major
method of social conditioning and information
acquisition in the Western world — if not the
entire world.
The truly literate citizen of the 21st Century
will need the skills to access, analyze,
evaluate & communicate information in a
variety of formats, including print and nonprinted media
Quebec Education Plan Correlation
• The opportunity to research a variety of topics
through a variety of media formats – Internet,
libraries, personal accounts
• The opportunity to develop listening skills
• The opportunity to develop public speaking
skills
• The opportunity to develop critical thinking
skills through the planning & execution of an
interview
• The opportunity to develop expertise in the
expository writing process
• The opportunity to develop multimedia skills
through video production or paper-based publishing
Oral (aural) histories projects can be divided
thematically as follows:
• the memories of a single interviewee,
separate from any historical, geographical,
familial bonds
• memories bound to a city or town, place of
former employment or a singular regional
event which happened in the aforementioned
town
• memories bound to an era, global event or
specific year
Your selection of theme revolves around two basic
factors, namely:
The amount of historical research desired — oral
(aural) histories which are centered on an era or global
event required more initial research than those of a
singular interviewee or regional geographic location
about which your interviewee will be describing.
Conversely, it is sometimes easier to find multimedia on
global events than local or regional events.
Availability of interviewees — given your theme
selection, how available are interviewees? Should you
choose to interview World War II participants or those
who would have clear recollections of the Great
Depression , your field is shrinking daily.
Language Arts
Research
Writing
Peer Editing
Information Literacy
Narrative Construction
Visual Arts
Production
Design
Layout
History
Primary Source Gathering
Create Historical Record
Life Skills
Collaborative Work
Critical Thinking
Communication
The project should begin with a discussion of aural (oral)
histories and their value to a person’s life & historical
record, in general. Some questions you may wish to
explore might be:
Why are oral histories valuable?
How can we find, recognize and use the rich histories in our
own lives?
What skills are needed to access and preserve oral history?
Why do we continue to value oral history even though we
have writing?
How are "Universal Myths" or “Cultural Universals”
reflected in oral history?
Why is authenticity important in oral history?
How can we recognize a primary source?
Who do you think would be a good subject or, depending on
theme, who do you know who has participated in a major
national event?
After having conducting the introductory
discussion, decided upon the theme and
subjects, divide your class into groups of
three or more.
Each group will have at least:
(1) Producer
(1) Video (or paper) Journalist
(1) Camera Person
Your researchers should attempt to find out as
much, in advance, about the subject, event and/or
era as they can and communicate the information
to the video journalist who will incorporate the
research into her/his opening narration and
interview.
Remember, the research sets the focus of the
interview. If you’re interviewing a retired miner,
have the students research the mine in which
he worked. If he’s a World War II vet, research
the war before you conduct the interview.
Using the material gleaned from the researcher, have the
video journalist write his opening narrative, introducing the
subject, event and or era.
Remember the spoken word is different that the written one.
The video journalist should practice their monologue with
other students, attempting to sound as natural as possible.
Have your class watch the Features sections of the Nightly
local TV news, paying close attention to manner in which the
TV journalist speak – the manner in which they emphasize
key words.
An oral history interview is not a general dialogue. The
purpose of the interview is to listen to what the
interviewee has to say and to stimulate the narrative with
understanding comments and intelligent questions.
Ask open-ended questions first, waiting to see where they
lead. Tailor your reactions and follow-up questions to the
responses of the interviewee. Pursue in detail.
Avoid too much "preordering" of the material you wish to
include in the interview. Be prepared to let the train of
memory association run its course, even if it means
ignoring your outline to follow new avenues of inquiry.
You may wish to jot down a few notes as the interviewee is
talking, but be careful not to let this disrupt the flow of
what she/he is saying. You can go back at a later time
and ask for clarification of information that may have
been confusing.
Eye contact and a pattern of concentrated listening are
vital to the oral history interview.
The interview setting is not the time to air your personal
views on international politics or to tell your own life
story. Participate in the interview by means of silent
encouragement-- nods, smiles, et cetera--short phrases
of understanding and pertinent questions.
Be aware of the interviewee's race and class background and
of culturally determined characteristics. Avoid assumptions.
Do not feel compelled to interrupt silences. Give the
interviewee time to fully answer each question or finish
her/his train of thought. Silence is an integral, important
part of the oral history interview process.
Do not challenge accounts that you think may be inaccurate.
Give the interviewee a chance to think through difficult
subjects.
If the interviewee strays into non-pertinent subjects, steer
her/him gently, but firmly, back to the topic at hand by
asking a question. However, avoid statements about
"staying on subject."
Everything that is seen or heard on TV or film
is contrived to some extent – event the news.
In video work, there is no such thing as
natural.
Given this fact, dramatic warm-ups would do
all your crews well.
The Purpose of a Warm-up
To relax and relieve any tension.
To prepare the voice for speaking.
To prepare the body for moving.
To get creativity flowing.
To focus your mind on the task.
To communicate with others.
Further warm-up exercises are in the Notes section
Tips for successful filming:
• Use cue-cards (large cardboard sheets)
• Hold cue-cards above camera person
•Use a tripod
Classic Two-Shot
• Move the camera as little as possible
• If you have to move the camera,
practice first.
• Set the camera as close to the subject
as possible. Camcorder mikes are weak.
Filming assistance links are contained in Notes section
Focuses of development for media literacy at the
elementary level are:
awareness of the place and influence of the media
in his/her daily life and society
understanding of the way the media portray reality
use of media-related materials and communication
codes
Return to Slide #5 - Why
Following Joseph Campbell’s writings, all heroes of literature &
legend follow a certain path. It well could be said that all
human have a heroic path – a path that also leads to the
telling of stories and Aural (oral) histories.
If this interests you pedagogically, please refer to the
following website for an extraordinary study of modern heroes
to Campbell’s philosophy. This site can be brought into the
class.
http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/myth.html
Introduction to Media Literacy, David Constantine. Retrieved November 9, 2003,
from: http://www.ci.appstate.edu/programs/edmedia/medialit/article.html#TOC
Oral History Association. Retrieved November 9, 2003 from:
http://omega.dickinson.edu/organizations/oha/
Writers’ Workshop: Immigration. Scholastic Books, Retrieved November 9, 2003
from:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/writing/tguide/index.asp?topic=Immigratio
n
Scholastic Books website: http://www.scholastic.com/
D.C. Everest Area Schools Oral History Program, Retrieved November 9, 2003,
from: http://www.dce.k12.wi.us/srhigh/socialstudies/histday/
Folklife & Field Work: A Layman’s Introduction to Field Techniques, Retrieved
November 9, 2003, from: http://www.loc.gov/folklife/fieldwork/
Institute for Oral History, Retrieved November 9, 2003, from:
http://www3.baylor.edu/Oral_History/Workshop.htm
Baylor University website: http://www.baylor.edu/
How to Collect Oral Histories, David Sidwell. Retrieved November 9, 2003, from:
http://www.usu.edu/oralhist/oh_howto.html
Utah State University website: http://www.usu.edu/
Oral History Techniques: How to Organize & Conduct Oral History Interviews, Barbara
Truesdell, Ph.D. Retrieved November 9, 2003, from:
http://www.indiana.edu/~cshm/techniques.html
Indiana University website: http://www.indiana.edu
Oral History Questions, Joanne Todd Rabun. Retrieved November 9, 2003, from:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/oralhist.htm
A Little Advice, Retrieved November 9, 2003, from:
http://www.countyconnections.org/projects/vistadlc/cruces/advice.html
Historically Speaking: An Oral History WebQuest, Retrieved November 9,
2003, from: http://wms.watertown.k12.ma.us/library/oralhistory/
Bomber Command: Death by Moonlight – Stories, Retrieved November 9,
2003, from: http://www.valourandhorror.com/BC/Stories/Home.htm
The Valour and the Horror Website:
http://www.valourandhorror.com/index.html
Oral Interviews (WWII Memories), Retrieved November 9, 2003, from:
http://www.tankbooks.com/interviews/contents.htm
Oral Histories of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, Retrieved
November 9, 2003, from:
http://www.lib.usm.edu/%7Espcol/crda/oh/index.html
University of Southern Mississippi website: http://www.usm.edu/
Oral Histories of the Mi’kmaw People, Retrieved November 9, 2003, from:
http://mrc.uccb.ns.ca/oralhis.html#2
American Roots Music: Oral Histories, Retrieved November 9, 2003, from:
http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_oral_histories.html