Oral history is a valuable tool for education, community building, and advocacy. Sharing first-person stories from people—in their own words—illuminates issues and events in a powerful way.
Voice of Witness creates oral history resources to support individuals, organizations, and classrooms with ethical storytelling, community-based oral history projects, and human rights education. We have seen firsthand how they resonate with participants of all kinds, inspiring connection and belonging, empathy, and community engagement. All lesson plans are Common Core-aligned and feature social-emotional learning practices.
Learn more about the benefits of oral history and the impacts of oral history education.
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Lesson Plan: Artifact Interview (Grades 6-12)
This single lesson plan guides students through an oral history interview about an artifact or object of personal or cultural significance.
Lesson Plans • Grades 6-8 • Grades 9-12
Lesson Plan: Artifact Interview (Grades 3-5)
This lesson plan guides elementary school students through an oral history interview about an artifact or object of personal significance.
Lesson Plans • Grades 3-5
Lesson Plan: Getting To Know You Interview
This single lesson plan supports students to have relationship-building conversations in preparation for successful oral history interviews.
Lesson Plans • Grades 3-5 • Grades 6-8
Lesson Plan: Family, Culture, and Traditions Interview
This single lesson plan prepares students for an oral history interview with a family or community member about culture and traditions.
Lesson Plans • Grades 6-8 • Grades 9-12
Oral History Resource Guide For English Language Learners
Voice of Witness’s education program develops curriculum that directly supports students in migrant, multilingual, and English Language Learner communities. This guide contains activities, handouts, and reading strategies to make oral history accessible to students at all language levels.
Guides and Toolkits • Lesson Plans • Grades 3-5 • Grades 6-8 • Grades 9-12
Beginning Again: Stories of Movement and Migration in Appalachia Curriculum
These lessons explore oral histories that examine the complexities of why people leave, why people stay, and and the systems that interact with individual choice. The curriculum is rooted in an Ethnic Studies framework that questions dominant narratives and promotes critical thinking around not only the Appalachian region, but migration and displacement in general.
Lesson Plans • Grades 6-8 • Grades 9-12 • Higher Ed
Say It Forward: A Guide to Social Justice Storytelling
Say It Forward is a DIY oral history guide that outlines best practices for social justice storytelling and community-based projects.
Guides and Toolkits • Grades 9-12 • Higher Ed
Ethical Storytelling Principles
VOW’s ethical storytelling principles are grounded in values of respect, dignity, empathy, transparency, collaboration, and equity. These principles are relevant to many forms of community-based storytelling and programs.
Guides and Toolkits • Grades 9-12 • Higher Ed
