Angelo J. Pompano
Title: Through Their Eyes: Video Taping Oral History
Grade Level/Subject: 7-9; Language Arts and Diversity
Overview: For this activity the students will videotape an oral history.
Purpose: To create a history based on the Borderlands Model
Objectives(s): The students will conduct oral histories of their grandparents or another senior citizen to see that history is made by the common person. The students will gain first hand knowledge of what it was like to live when their grandparents were young.
Materials: writing implements, video camera, video tape.
Activities and Procedures:
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1. Review the concept of stereotypes with the students. Go back to the list of stereotypes seen on television and in the movies made by the students for the first lesson.
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2. Discuss with the students the reasons why the media uses stereotypes
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a. Quick identification of a group.
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b. It is easier to use a stereotype than to write character development.
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c. Prejudice
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3. Explain to the students that they are going to make a video and that their goal is to debunk the stereotypes that they had on their list. For example, if the stereotype is that men and women have certain gender roles they may ask their grandfather if he ever helped to take care of the children or to do the laundry. They may ask their grandmother if she ever fixed things around the house or if she went to college. Their goal is to dig into the experiences of their grandparents to debunk the stereotypes they have learned in the movies and on television. Or they may interview someone who is a different race or from a different ethnic background from them to learn about their culture. Find out what is similar about their culture, what is different.
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4. A variation is to make a video interviewing someone who is from a different culture or of a different race to find out what is similar and what is different between the student's culture and that of the person being interviewed. Again, the goal is to break the stereotypes.
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5. Make a list of questions that they want to ask the person being interviewed. If they are interviewing an older person, they may wish to ask questions about what it was like growing up. The following are some possible questions they may put on their lists. What was school like? What was the home life like? What modern technology that we have today didn't people have then? How did people make a living? What were stores like?
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6. Give the questions to the person being interviewed ahead of time so that they may have time to think about them. Ask the person being interviewed if they have any pictures or other things that they can bring to the interview.
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7. Make sure that the camera equipment is ready before conducting the interview. Check to see that the camera has a charged battery or have an extension cord and an AC power supply ready. Make sure that you have video tape.
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8. Decide on the background and have lighting available if necessary.
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9. When the interview begins, introduce the person being interviewed. Explain to the audience that you are conducting an oral history for the purpose of either learning about the past or learning about another culture.
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10. Ask the questions in a clear voice. Let the person being interviewed explain their answers in their own words.
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11. After the interview is over view the tape. Edit it to take out any mistakes or "dead air" but do not edit it to change the meaning of the interview.
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12. Make a copy of the tape to give to the person being interviewed. Share the tape with others.
This lesson conforms to the following performance standards for grades 5-8. The following standards were taken from the New Haven Public Schools Web Site.