The Harlan County Public Library Literacy Project (Kentucky) provided rural-oriented, basic literacy, and oral history programs to a community of 100,000-200,000. The goal of the project was to produce six booklets about local people and issues, to be used as literacy materials in programs with Appalachian students. Students wanted to produce…

Since the early 1950s, several programs have enticed thousands of rural Mexicans to migrate to California and the Northwest to be agricultural workers. The resultant demographic and cultural impacts have been immense. Hood River County (Oregon) schools are over 30 percent Hispanic. There is much ignorance and prejudice regarding the Hispanic…

Suggesting that students in the intermediate grades can explore the world around them and practice valuable skills in spelling, reading, writing, communication, and language, this book presents cross-curricular units designed to integrate language-arts activities into the study of where and how people live. The units in the book reach diverse…

Describes Hometown Discovery, a project where high school students created interactive, interdisciplinary multimedia learning presentations for fourth-grade students on local history. Topics include discovery learning; community-based collaboration; community as content and production resource; leveraged learning; modular production; students as…

Recounts the experiences of a California middle school class that produces an ongoing magazine of oral histories. The multilingual, multicultural, working-class students have interviewed hundreds of participants. In the process they have learned how to research, interview, transcribe, and publish. Includes sample transcripts from the magazine.…

Examines various ways that a documentary film about a southern textile strike can be used in a social studies classroom. Describes a series of student comments about the film followed by responses from the teacher/filmmaker. Briefly annotates five Internet sites related to oral history. (MJP)

Recounts the early efforts (circa 1970) of feminists to collect oral histories of women around the western United States. Supported primarily through universities, the historians collected material from ranch women, labor activists, Native Americans, Asian immigrants, Hispanic homemakers, and others. Discusses developments in oral history…

Outlines the instructional strategies that overcame the language difficulties of a Hispanic/Anglo third grade social studies class. The class focused on local history in Pasadena, California which required competence in both Spanish and English. Includes instructional materials, graphic organizers, and guidelines for further units. (MJP)

Makes recommendations for student research projects on local history and family history. Suggests teachers and librarians working together can overcome problems concerning accessibility to, and careful use of, genealogical materials. Suggests research projects and gives examples of cooperation between teachers and librarians who solved research…

Describes an integrated schoolwide project at a California high school in which students learned real-world technology skills and workplace etiquette by working together to create a multimedia CD-ROM project, in the form of a quilt, that described local history. Student teams, scheduling changes, teacher roles, community judging, and student…

The Tewa Language Project CD-ROM was developed at the University of Washington in collaboration with San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, to restore the use of spoken and written Tewa and to repatriate cultural property. The CD-ROM contains an interactive multimedia dictionary, songs, stories, photographs, land and water data, and linguistic resources…

This book is part of a series of materials and aids for instruction in black history produced by the State Department of Education in compliance with the Education Improvement Act of 1984. It is designed for use by eighth grade teachers of South Carolina history as a supplement to aid in the instruction of cultural, political, and economic…

Designed for 7th- and 8th-grade students, five lessons using a block of houses in an urban neighborhood help students learn about the history of a neighborhood, the owners of the houses, and the style and architectural features of the homes. Although this unit has been developed for a specific neighborhood, a similar block study could be conducted…

Because historical objects have a powerful presence, they can be equally powerful as educational tools. Historic sites and the professionals who staff them are uniquely qualified to deal with these objects and their context. By teaching students methods of interpreting artifacts and documents, youngsters can develop higher-level cognitive skills…

In 1977 leaders of Hardee County, Florida, listed relationships and attitudes of residents, rural atmosphere, environmental conditions, and economic potential among the county's strong points, and public service and facility improvements, developing economic potential, recreational and entertainment development, and planning and zoning as its most…