In spring of 2010, three high school teachers and their students paired with a college teacher and her advanced writing class to collaborate on oral history research and writing. While many people think of oral history as "just stories," the authors introduce it to students as a rigorous method for documenting historical events, cultural…

The students in this English class wrote the history of their town. (JH)

In the Bicentennial spirit, an English class delved into the histories of several deceased local people and wrote their epitaphs. (JH)

High school writers discover the "rich source of history and lore" that is their small town. A description of the processes students used to write and publish three collections of local history along with meeting state language arts standards is presented.

Describes "Project History in the Making" in which students in the class of 1990 read letters written by members of the classes of 1940 and 1965 and write letters to the class of 2015. Notes some of the questions asked by the class of 1990 to invited guests from the classes of 1940 and 1965. (RS)

Describes a writing course for undermotivated students which focuses on careful precise observations through the study of other time periods in the history of the town where the school is located. (DD)

Describes a year-long community research project used for the last seven years with the author's senior English class, part of the web-based student research collaboration project called "The Kansas Collaborative Research Network" (KanCRN). Describes teaching students how to research their community; four on-line research tutorials; structure of…

Describes a unit for high school English students that makes the Colonial period in American literature come alive by studying eighteenth-century gravestone images and epitaphs. Describes how this study becomes a journey into their community, into local history, and ultimately into themselves. (SR)

Describes lessons and units that allow the author's high school English students to make important connections with members of their community, publish their efforts, and thus bridge the gap between young adults and their communities. Describes a "literary cookbook" (published and distributed in their community) in which each student wrote one…