World Journalism Preparatory School is collaborating with Apollo Theater to teach students oral history. Sarah Dziedzic is an oral historian and teaching artist who will be leading these classes in the ninth grade.
Oral history is an interview recorded with consent about the past and how it affects them individually. Dziedzic emphasizes that subjectivity is essential in oral history.
Since WJPS students attend a journalism school, Dziedzic shows the similarities and differences between oral history and journalism. For example, she mentions that both fields interview people, yet oral history is known for subjectivity while journalism is known for objectivity.
She went over the many terms used in this subject for the first class. Students learned about discipline, transcripts, archives, curating, interpreting, and inter-subjectivity.
She asked students to share some of their own experiences out loud. They also learned that they would have to do interviews for this class.
Then, Dziedzic moved on to the project about showcasing their community. The project was very flexible, considering the number of options students could choose from.
“I want students to find their voice in the context of this school project,” said Dziedzic, “Everyone already has a voice, but it’s hard to bring it out in a school environment.”
