Learn About Your Community

Part 1: Collect Oral Histories – 15 minutes

Procedure

Use the Pee Dee Explorer website to learn about the Pee Dee, showcasing one or several video interviews conducted with Pee Dee residents. A good example is the video called “Clio” where one woman talks about her experiences in working the cotton fields. Give your students a week to interview an older person about their relationship to one or several natural, cultural, or historic landmarks in their community. https://www.knowitall.org/video/clio-pee-dee-explorer

You might have students choose landmarks and guide interviews to coincide with one or several topics with Pee Dee Explorer “Chapters,” i.e., The Natural Landscape, The Indigenous Landscape, The Historic Landscape, or The Agricultural Landscape. 

Teachers might want to allow students to use technology in completing this assignment where time and resources are available, either by in incorporating Movie Maker, iMovie, or PowerPoint presentations (with about 7 or 10 slides apiece) or by allowing students to integrate digital photography or video of their interviews and of their places of interest. Interviews may be transcribed, videotaped, tape recorded, or condensed into a narrative. This assignment can either be high-tech or low-tech, it’s up to you.

Part 2: Share Your Interview Findings - 2-4 class periods

Procedure

If you have found enough time and resources in order to allow students to incorporate technology into their interview presentations, then spend two class periods in a lab setting allowing them to prepare Movie Maker, iMovie, or PowerPoint presentations (with about 7 or 12 slides apiece), and to incorporate any digital photography or video of their interviews and of their community resource. Spend 2 class periods going around the class allowing students about 3-5 minutes each to present and to talk to the rest of the class about what they have learned from their interviews. Allow for question and answer time and discussion at the end of each class.