Our Community from Long Ago
Civic Responsibility, Community Service
Grades 8-10
American History
Goals:
1) This lesson aims to make students more aware of the history that exists in the place they are growing up.
2) It seeks to help the elderly within the community by giving them a sense of pride about their past experiences.
3) It gets students more comfortable with using technology to create a piece they can be proud of and learn from. This piece will be a collaboration of primary sources that can be studied by later generations.
4) Give students an appreciation for senior citizens and the stories they have to tell.

In order to get students aware of their local history, they will conduct interviews with seniors from their community to get a firsthand account of the past. Every day, seniors pass away in isolation taking with them countless untold stories and experiences. Unfortunately, our society allows such treatment to our elders. This lesson plan aims to teach students that our seniors are good people and are part of the community, too. They have many stories to tell that can help students gain a better understanding of their identity at such a crucial time. To achieve this, students will interview three different people from a retirement or nursing home in their community. Because they are using multiple participants, the service to the community will be increased. At the same time, students can hear multiple stories told from different points of view. They may work in pairs. The topic must focus must focus on daily life of the subject from the time they were the approximate age of the interviewer. It should include a discussion about cultural values and societal norms of the time. This is to help them understand that the city they live in now was a much different place 65 to 75 years ago. They must record each interview using Garage Band or some other recording program. Using these recordings, combined with images of their choosing, students will create a digital storytelling project to illustrate what they have learned in their interviews.

Standards met by the project:
SS.8.A.1.4
SS.8.A.1.6
NETS addressed:
1.Creativity and Innovation (B)
2.Communication and Collaboration (A & B)
3.Research and Information Fluency (A & B)
4.Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making (B)
5.Digital Citizenship (A & B)
6.Technology Operations (A – D)

Students will use a recording program, preferably GarageBand, to record their interviews with senior citizens. Using portions of each audio file, combined with images relevant to the interview, students will create a digital storytelling presentation using iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. Narration from the students is also an important part of the project, as it will assist in transitioning from subject to subject.
Students will be graded based on the completion of their interviews, and will be assessed on the thoughtfulness and relevancy of their presentation. The final product should give viewers an insight into the history of the community. It must be between 5 and 10 minutes long, and contain sound clips from all three of their interview subjects. In order to have the project evaluated each student or group of students must email the instructor a link from www.youtube.com showing their presentation on the website. If they are not registered, they must do so. Overall, they will be graded on their ability to tell stories about people and places within their community from many years ago.

~MjG