History: Up Close and Personal
Submitted by:Loueen Morgan
School or Affiliation: Bixby High School, Bixby, OK
Endorsed by: These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have
attended the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher
from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural,
western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC
uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the
participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met
at the Workshops.
Date: May 1994
Description: Often history as a required high school
subject is viewed by the students as b-o-r-r-r-i-n-g and unrelated to the reality of an
industrialized, computerized world. That is, "history has nothing to do with
me."
Grade Level: Appropriate for grades 9-12.
Goal: Students may not know the history of their own
community nor that of their own family. Therefore, this assignment was devised to bring
history "up close and personal." (This assignment has been used successfully in
Oklahoma History, U.S. History and World History classes.)
Objectives: Students will be able to:
- Identify national origin and/or population movement across the U.S. of specific
ancestors and/or community residents.
- Explain the historical development of the major local industries.
- Identify local social patterns and/or economic development as provided by an original
source.
Materials: Resources available in local community.
Procedure:
Because of variance in individual backgrounds, students are given options in activities
to be completed during the assignment dates.
- Caucus with family members (parents, grandparents, great, uncles, aunts, etc.) for a
quick overview of family history. Ask permission to record (videotape or cassette) an
interview. Prepare interview questions. (When did the family arrive in the area?
Occupation? Has a family tree been drawn up? By whom? When? Family stories: funny ones?
successful ones? difficult ones? etc. Introduce and present tape to class. Small family
heirloom may be used here also.
- Make an appointment for taped interview with an executive of a major local industry.
Prepare interview questions and send a copy to the interviewee. This will allow time for
the executive to pull copies of company history, artifacts, current status, and other
relevant information to make the interview run smoothly and be more informative. Student
will introduce and present tape to class.
- Make an appointment for taped interview with a member of local and/or state historical
society. Prepare interview questions delineating student's special interest--e.g.
buildings of note, history of the community, social changes in the area and society in
general. Student will introduce and present tape to class.
Tying it All Together:
Of course, each city and state has a distinctive history. Oklahoma was a part of the
Louisiana Purchase, 1803; established as Indian Territory in 1820; and held the first land
run 1889. Therefore, the majority of our students are able to trace their family's
migration into Oklahoma. Most importantly, students become interested in local history and
their own genealogy!
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