Workshop
Community Voices Initiative: Fall 2025
In this intimate and interactive course, participants will take a deep dive into oral history and ethical storytelling, guided by experienced VOW staff and community guest speakers. Participants will learn about project planning and methodology and be guided through conducting and editing oral history interviews with a narrator from their community or organization. Participants will …
Workshop #3: Building Narrative Editing Skills
This session provides an introduction to VOW’s oral history editing style that combines journalistic integrity and a literary approach to honor narrators’ voices and highlight complex issues through personal story. We’ll share concrete tips and skills and provide an opportunity to practice on a sample transcript from an oral history project.
Workshop #2: Exploring the Interview Process
This session provides an introduction to interview practices, focusing on the role of respect, reciprocity, curiosity, trauma-informed approaches, insider/outsider power dynamics, consent, and more. We’ll explore case studies and create space to discuss challenges that may arise during the interview process.
Community Voices Initiative
In this intimate and interactive multi-week course, you’ll will take a deep dive into ethical storytelling and gathering first-person narratives. Participants will learn about project planning and be guided through conducting and editing oral history interviews with a community member, constituent, or colleague. You’ll finish this course with a completed narrative ready to share, as …
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Convention
HS Matters: The Benefits of Oral History Storytelling to Foster Belonging, Community, and Student Agency in and Outside of the Classroom VOW’s Jessica Fagen will present alongside Chris Wendelin and Lisa Thyer, teachers at Stagg High School. After leading a Voice of Witness oral history project-based class for 7 years, they surveyed and interviewed class …
Washington Association for the Education of Speakers of Other Languages (WAESOL) Conference
VOW’s Education Specialist Jessica Fagen is presenting the keynote speech, “Say it Forward: Amplifying Unheard Voices with Oral History,” at the 2024 WAESOL Conference. The presentation will highlight the benefits of oral history as a pedagogical tool for teaching and learning English. Educators will receive guidance on how to use oral history for culturally responsive …
Perspective Receiving versus Taking: The Science of Empathy
Join Greater Good in Education and Voice of Witness for a workshop where you can learn strategies to receive, honor, hold, and respect others’ perspectives. This event is part of the How to Improve Relationships in Schools: Bridging Differences through Curiosity, Empathy, Humility, and Forgiveness community meeting series for educators.
Democracy and Civic Engagement Workshop for Educators
Voice of Witness is hosting a workshop on democracy, civic engagement, and storytelling in the classroom, with a special feature from NPR/PBS member station KQED about their Youth Media Challenge: Call for Change. Geared toward middle and high school educators, this one-hour session will explore democracy and civic participation through the lens of personal storytelling, …
