What you will be able to do
name a safe source that can tell about a person’s life; retell a simple story in order; explain that one person’s memory is one point of view
My Story and Family Stories
How can stories, memories, and objects help us learn about people’s lives?
Activate what you know
Choose a familiar classroom object. What might it help someone remember about the school day? No personal object or family story is required
- storyan account that tells about people and events
- memorysomething a person remembers from the past
- oral historya recorded conversation that preserves a person’s memories
- objecta thing people made, owned, or used
- interviewa conversation in which one person asks questions to learn
- point of viewthe way one person sees or remembers an experience
1
Stories Carry Memories
People tell stories about everyday life, important events, work, celebrations, challenges, and changes. A family story may be shared by a parent, grandparent, sibling, guardian, cousin, or another caring person. Families take many forms, and some stories are told by chosen family or community members. An oral history is a planned and recorded conversation about the past. The interviewer asks respectful questions and listens without interrupting. The speaker may choose what to share, skip a question, or stop. Permission matters before recording or sharing a person’s words
2
Put a Story in Order and Check What It Shows
A story becomes easier to follow when we arrange its events. Listen for time words or clues: first the person waited at the stop, next the bus arrived, and last the person reached school. If the order is unclear, the interviewer can ask, ‘What happened next?’ Memory is meaningful, but people may remember the same event differently or forget a detail. That does not make memories useless. It means a careful learner says, ‘This is how one person remembers it,’ and looks at another source when an exact date or wider history is needed
A Story Is a Source
A person’s memory gives valuable information about that person’s experience. Other people, photographs, or objects may add different details
Practice with Fiction First
Use a made-up three-event story so the learner can practice asking and sequencing without pressure to disclose personal or family information
There Is No One ‘Normal’ Family Story
Families differ in members, homes, languages, traditions, and which stories are known. A learner’s history is not incomplete because a particular relative, photograph, or record is unavailable
Interview a Classroom Puppet
An adult speaks as a puppet or fictional character and tells a three-step memory. Ask one respectful question, retell the events in order, and name one object that could add a clue
Stories, memories, objects, and photographs can teach about people’s lives. Respectful listeners seek permission, notice sequence, and remember that each speaker offers one point of view
Practice and answer guide
Work through all 8 questions. Open an answer only after you have written or explained your response.
- 1. Which source is a person’s remembered account told in a recorded conversation? A. an oral history B. a map key C. a weather chart
Check answer
An oral history
- 2. Which interview question is respectful? A. Would you like to tell me about a game you played? B. Tell me every private thing now. C. Why can’t you remember perfectly?
Check answer
Would you like to tell me about a game you played?
- 3. Put the story in order: Mina plants a seed; Mina waters the soil; a sprout appears
Check answer
First Mina plants a seed. Next Mina waters the soil. Last a sprout appears
- 4. Name one object that could help tell a school story
Check answer
Accept a relevant example, such as a class photograph, name tag, art project, book, schedule, or backpack
- 5. A speaker does not want to answer a question. What should the interviewer do? A. respect the choice and move on B. keep demanding an answer C. share a made-up answer
Check answer
Respect the choice and move on
- 6. Two people remember a picnic differently. Does that mean both stories must be thrown away? Explain briefly
Check answer
No. Each memory can show one person’s point of view. Another source may help compare details
- 7. Draw three boxes for the beginning, middle, and end of a fictional memory
Check answer
Accept any safe fictional sequence with a clear beginning, middle, and end
- 8. Before recording or sharing another person’s story, what should you ask for? A. permission B. a prize C. a matching story
Check answer
Permission