Lesson Plan

Lesson 6 - THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERGENERATIONAL DIALOGUE

Talk That Music Talk - Lesson 6 - Photo of teacher Ray Lambert and Student Xavier Michel
Grade Level:
High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade
Subject:
Literacy and Language Arts,Social Studies
Lesson Duration:
90 Minutes
Common Core Standards:
9-10.SL.1, 9-10.SL.1.a, 9-10.SL.1.b, 9-10.SL.1.c, 9-10.SL.1.d, 11-12.SL.1, 11-12.SL.1.a, 11-12.SL.1.b, 11-12.SL.1.c, 11-12.SL.1.d
Additional Standards:
NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES
Individuals, Groups, & Institutions
Thinking Skills:
Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Creating: Bring together parts (elements, compounds) of knowledge to form a whole and build relationships for NEW situations.

Essential Question

How can listening to others about their lives expand your own understanding of life?

Objective

Students will learn how to prepare for and conduct a semi-structured, in-depth life history interview.

Background


When you take the time to sit down and learn from someone who is of a different age with different experiences, the teaching and the learning experiences go both ways. For this lesson, students will read Ray Lambert’s chapter where he discusses growing up before and after segregation with a young musician named Xavier Michel.

After reading the chapter, students will have the opportunity to conduct an interview of their own and reflect on what they learned from an intergenerational dialogue.

This project will take students several days, though in class time can be limited by the teacher.

Preparation

MATERIALS NEEDED

  • Ray Lambert’s chapter in Talk That Music Talk
  • Hand-out on How to Do an Oral History Interview
  • Interview schedule students create themselves
  • Written Release Form
  • Audio recorder (Can be found on most smart phones)

Materials

This is a handout for students that specifically explains how to do an oral history interview. It should be carefully reviewed with students.

Download How to do an Oral History Interview

Form to be filled out by student and signed by the person being interviewed.

Download Written Release Form

Lesson Hook/Preview

Tell students that they are going to be direct gatherers of historical information.

Procedure

  1. Have students read Ray Lambert’s chapter in Talk That Music Talk and ask them to write down questions that an interviewer would have had to have asked for Ray to tell the stories he shared.

  2. Doing your own oral history

    • After students have written down questions, they are ready to begin thinking about someone who they would like to interview. Students should choose someone who grew up during segregation. The person could have been involved in Civil Rights activism, played music, or just

      experienced day-to-day life under the unequal system. They can be of any “racial” background. The point of the interview will be to ask about their experiences growing up during segregation and what their experiences with music were like. Did it help them cross any racial boundaries in their lives? Use of the oral history hand out to walk students through how to set up their interview. Explain that a good interview for this project will last somewhere between a half an hour to an hour.

  3. Classroom Follow-Up to Interview
    • Depending on how much time you have, students can write a reflection about what the interview was like, or you can do a story-circle where they talk about what worked and what didn’t. Students enjoy sharing what they learned. 
  4. WRITE-UP: The amount of time the class will devote to writing up the interview depends on the goals of the teacher and the coursework. Projects range from:
    • Short reflection pieces where they can write about what it was like to do the interview, what they learned about, and what it made them think about in their own lives.
    • Students can write a life history of the person using a transcript of the interview to pull quotes and details from the interview.
    • Students can type out the full transcript of the interview and then edit it into a story or conversation.
    • Students should share their write-up with the person they interviewed to make sure they got everything right before turning it in, and to respect the relationship.
  5. Building Community
    • A wonderful way to build community in the classroom is to host an event where students invite the people they interviewed to come and receive a copy of their interview project. Students can talk about what they learned, give the interviewees an opportunity to speak about their experiences, and share a copy of their final write-up with them. The event also gives everyone a chance to meet and get to know each other on a deeper level, which is an important part of bridging divides between school and home communities.

Vocabulary

ORAL HISTORY: Method of gathering historical data by conducting oral interviews with direct witnesses and participants in historical eras and events.

Assessment Materials

WRITING UP

The interview itself can act as an assessment. Scoring will depend on the choices made by the teacher in step #4 under PROCEDURES.

The amount of time the class will devote to writing up the interview depends on the goals of the teacher and the coursework. Projects range from:

  1. Short reflection pieces where they can write about what it was like to do the interview, what they learned about, and what it made them think about in their own lives.
  2. Students can write a life history of the person using a transcript of the interview to pull quotes and details from the interview.
  3. Students can type out the full transcript of the interview and then edit it into a story or conversation.
  4. Students should share their write-up with the person they interviewed to make sure they got everything right before turning it in, and to respect the relationship.

Supports for Struggling Learners

Struggling learners may have a great deal of trouble with this project due to the amount of responsibility placed upon the learner.  

WAYS TO HELP INCLUDE:

  • Allowing struggling learners to partner with another student.

  • Ray Lambert’s chapter can be read aloud by the entire class, or in groups.

  • Teacher could read Lambert’s section into an audio file which is then shared with those students who have reading difficulties.

  • Those who have difficulty in writing can be allowed to submit everything as an audio file, including questions and subsequent write up.

Contact Information

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Tags: interviews projects race relations music oral history

Last updated: July 22, 2019