Motivating the Twenty-first-Century Student with Oral History

Abstract

This article focuses on the teaching of oral history in the twenty-first century. The article discusses the importance of educators when it comes to teaching oral history to students. According to this article educators can bring into the classrooms and programs of the twenty-first century a historical process once used by Thucydides to chronicle the Peloponnesian Wars, and use that process to challenge students with learning opportunities. The student-oral historian has many roles to play like preservation, and publication of the past and present for future generations, a revelation that emerges as they consider the variety of oral history projects being conducted at all levels. Classroom oral history projects generally fall into one of two categories: those that focus on individual biographical/life review interviews, and those that deal with a particular period or place following the oral history training method which allows students to understand the challenges associated with oral history as a methodology.