Peyton Weekly

Oral History Interview Reflection: 

Process: What did you learn about the technical parts of conducting an oral history interview? What aspect did you find most challenging? What aspect was most enjoyable? The set up for the interview process was defiantly lengthier that I personally thought that it would be to conduct a good interview. The most challenging part that I had with the process was coming up with quality questions that would not be too broad and bland to answer for the interviewee. The most enjoyable part of the interview was giving the interview itself, it was more of a conversation that I was interested in learning about so that was my most enjoyable aspect.

 

Content:  What did you learn about the topic that you didn’t already know?  I learned the initial reasoning on why the teachers began striking that I did not know and it was practically because they were hiring insurance which indeed gets very expensive.

 

The experience overall:  In previous modules, you learned about oral history.  You had the chance to gain an understanding of what oral history is and what it is designed to do. You read about interview tips and best practices. And, you had the opportunity to examine closely one audio and/or video oral history and evaluate it.  How did actually conducting an oral history interview feel?  Share your reactions: It truly felt good to go through all of the steps that it takes to create a oral history. The process was somewhat fun to do and it will be helpful for me in the future if I have to conduct any type of interview or if I am the interviewee.

 

Suggestions for improvement: What recommendations do you have? If your instructor uses this assignment in future FYS sections, what changes would you recommend? The only thing I would respectfully recommend would be to have a rough draft and final draft so students could receive feedback and make improvements from one interview to another.

 

Finally, talk to a future FYS student about this project: What would you like to tell them about this assignment? What tips and/or advice would you offer a future FYS student as s/he begins examining oral histories and prepares to conduct one?

Take it seriously because it may have been one of the most interesting themes of learning that I have experienced while being in college so far. If you are intrigued by interviews and podcasts then this lesson should come fairly easy.

Oral History Interview StoryCorps link: https://archive.storycorps.org/?post_type=interviews&p=2331664