11.3.3: Assignments and Activities

Chapter 3 Assignments and Activities

The prompts on this page are ideas for interactive assignments and/or activities used to extend learning from this chapter. These can be used to further understanding, retention, and ownership of learner content.

Assignment 1 Oral History Project 

This assignment option is written as a major project that takes approximately 4-5 weeks to complete. It includes additional suggested assigned readings on oral history methods and three scaffolded assignments, including the final project. 

Step 1 Preparation

Read up on oral history research methods and discuss in class. The following are suggestions:

• “The Historian as Curandera” by Aurora Levins Morales 
• The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide
• UCLA Library Center for Oral History Research 
• Baylor University Institute for Oral History Resources 

Step 2: Interview Proposal

Students will select someone to interview, schedule the interview, and submit the interview proposal assignment, which should include the following:

• The full name of your interviewee and their relationship to you;
• The scheduled date, time, and location of the interview (indicate if the interview will take place in person, via phone or video chat);
• Three or more sentences about why you want to interview this particular individual;
• Three or more sentences about what you think you know and what you would like to learn about your interviewee;
• A list of 10 or more open-ended interview questions to serve as your guide. Frame your questions around themes you want to focus on. Include questions about historical eras and important locations (hometown, current residence, etc.). 

Step 3: Time-Subject Index, Selected Themes, and Project Proposal

After conducting their interview, students will closely analyze the recorded audio/video. This will require you to playback and review the recording at least two to four times, listening for dates, geographic locations, subjects, and themes. On a sheet of paper, notate the time in the interview a particular theme, event, and/or place was mentioned on the left margin, and to the right, write down the theme, event, and/or place, along with a brief description. This process is called time-subject indexing. Index by obvious breaks in the topic or by time (every five minutes, for example). Once you have done this for the entire interview, you will review your time-subject index and decide on the important themes, events, and/or places from the interview to focus on for your final project. This option is less time-consuming than producing a full transcript, which is an option, depending on the course and instructor’s preference. Students will submit their time-subject index (or transcript) along with a paragraph describing their selected themes, and the final project format that they think will best showcase their work. Options are provided in Step 4. 

Step 4: Final Project 

Possible formats include, but are not limited to the following list and specific parameters should be determined by the instructor:

• Narrative essay;
• Mini-documentary;
• An original painting, drawing, or mixed media visual art project with an artist statement;  
• Original short story or children’s book (can be mixed genre, fiction and nonfiction);
• Another format proposed by the student. 

Assignment 2 Chicana Por Mi Raza Digital Memory Project 

There are many ways for instructors to partner with CPMR—from developing courses and assignment structures using our materials, to creating content for our public website, to undertaking a local oral history/archival collection project as part of the class. The Chicana por mi Raza Digital Collective has developed a host of teaching materials to assist educators including course syllabi, reading lists, assignment structures, and guidelines for scanning, cataloging, and working with the Medici System (our database). If you would like to use materials from our digital repository in your class, or even undertake a community history project, and are interested in working with us to make it happen, please contact the Project Director Dr. Maria Cotera at [e-mail]