A writing course (adapted from Eliot Wigginton's "Foxfire" method) for college freshmen and sophomores is taught in a way that is not only important to the students concerned but to their community--a valley in the "rust belt" of Pennsylvania--as a whole. The course differs from the usual writing-in-the-social-sciences course…

In order to elicit personal stories of early life illustrating important themes and values that had shaped their lives, southern older adults (N=400) participated in a series of "in-gatherings" in groups of 20-30. Participants in each setting were relatively homogeneous socio-culturally but the locations were varied in race, class, and…

A class project undertaken in an English-as-a-Second-Language class is described and presented. Students participating in the project were union employees in a Manhattan electronics factory, and most were native Spanish speakers. The project's objective was to produce an illustrated book and tapes to document work and union experience in the…

This research paper examines hidden cultural patterns establishing the expression of historical thought in Native Alaskan narratives which describe first contact with Russians. Historical consciousness in oral contact stories is always mythic in form, as well as in content. Native American oral cultures understood new events by…

This quarterly issue focuses on the role of New York state agency libraries in meeting the information needs of state officials and residents. The first four papers include "State Library Agencies: An Overview," based on a 1982 survey with 19 respondents (Lucille C. Whalen); "Extending the State Library's Information Services to…

Intended for secondary school teachers, the bibliographic essay lists publications on oral history available in the United States and Canada. The first section deals with access to the literature through Library of Congress subject headings, indexes (e.g., "Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature"), general bibliographies, an abstract…

Oral history is but one of several methods of examining history, yet it holds powerful implications as a tool of instruction within the bilingual classroom. The most compelling rationale for integrating oral history techniques into bilingual social studies is that generally oral history has remained virtually isolated from most bilingual…

The text of this document was taken from a videotape of anecdotal stories told by Blackfeet elders to students at the Heart Butte School during the spring of 1983. An explanation of the transliterated Blackfeet language is presented. The stories are given in both English and Blackfeet. "No More Buffalo" describes Indian life in Montana…

The four stories gathered from Paiute Tribal Elders through the Ethnic Heritage Studies Program have been changed from the original telling insofar as it was necessary to make them suitable to the elementary level. The short stories, meant to be spoken orally, relate how the Walker Lake Paiutes got pinenuts away from the Owyhee area ("Origin…

A manual, designed to define the materials of local history and to tell how to deal with them, provides step-by-step instructions for setting up such collections. The collecting and selecting process is described, as are the organizational problems and possibilities in handling books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, photographs, pictures, tape…

The authors of this second volume provide a composite contribution to a broader understanding of some of the major topics affecting libraries and their operation today. These contributions are in keeping with the aim of the series of providing scholarly reviews of specific topics related to the rapidly changing and advancing field of…

When students in a New Jersey public middle school decided to learn about their community's history of desegregation through a unique language arts and social studies project, no one imagined how powerful the experience would be for everyone involved. In addition to researching newspaper articles and historical documents, the students conducted…

This collection examines many influences of biographical inquiry in education and discusses methodological issues from the perspectives of veteran and novice biographers. The section on qualitative research and educational biography contains the following chapters: "Musings on Life Writing: Biography and Case Studies in Teacher Education" (Robert…

In U.S. middle school social studies and history classrooms the prevalent modes of instruction continue to be the traditional large group, teacher dominated and controlled recitation and lecture based primarily on the textbook. Many researchers, however, criticize the reliance on textbook-based teaching in classrooms, since they consider social…

This document consists of four issues of a newsletter for educators at the middle level. The issues each contain a main article, along with shorter articles and regular columns. The Fall 1999 issue focuses on the middle school movement and presents part 1 of an interview with John Lounsbury on the progress of the movement. A sidebar article…