Katie Bradley

Oral History Interview

StoryCorps URL: https://archive.storycorps.org/interviews/fys-interview-about-the-theme-of-protests-with-jessie-thompson-by-katie-bradley/

Project Reflection:

I learned how to set up an interview over video chat which is something I have never done before. The aspect that was most challenging was the delay that happened. Sometimes, I would start to ask a question, and she would still be talking. The aspect that was most enjoyable was getting to know about the Teacher Strike of 1990 from the eyes of a teacher.

I learned that many teachers in schools had a bad relationship after the strike because some chose to continue to work.

It felt really cool to conduct an oral history. I had never done one before. I used a lot of the tips during my interview which was helpful. I really enjoyed it.

This assignment of conducting an Oral History used a lot of Inquiry Based Thinking. I was able to formulate questions and evaluate what I knew from beforehand. Something I was not able to do was draw conclusions because that was not part of the assignment. I was just supposed to listen.

A recommendation that I have is to give the students a little more time to conduct the interview. I was able to conduct the interview in that week and a half, but I know that there could be issues with having the time for both the interviewer and interviewee to schedule a time for this. Other than that, I don’t have any other recommendations. I learned a lot from this assignment.

Something I would tell a future FYS student is that this was a very interesting assignment. You learn a lot from this unit. This assignment was to conduct an interview with someone who had been through a pandemic or protest. A tip would be to pay attention to the Oral History Guides. It really helps you think of what to say, when to say it, and it helps you figure out what questions to ask. Another piece of advice would be to already have planned who you are going to interview so that you don’t stress and do the interview last minute.