Collecting Family Oral Histories in an Elementary Classroom: Shaping Stories as They Shape Us

Abstract

Drawing on 20 years of classroom practice of collecting family oral history, Barbara Brockmann explains the evolution and theoretical framework of the project as an integrated historical thinking and language arts inquiry approach with grades five to eight students. The methodological steps used to collect and shape the stories are described. Student reflections reveal that the stories not only shaped their academic learning but also informed and enriched their sense of family, community, culture, and self. In this way, doing family oral history is shown to be a best practice for encouraging inquiry processes related to historical thinking, engaging in complex language use around listening and writing, as well as fostering inter-generational, community, and cultural bonds. It also holds out promise for one additional layer: that of an activist pedagogy.