Oral History Lesson Plan for High School Instructors: How has Jewish life in Kentucky changed across generations?

My final exhibit is a lesson plan aimed to teach high school seniors about research, oral histories, Jewish life and practices, and how to work collaboratively. My lesson plan is comprised of 8 lessons. The whole unit lasts about a week and a half. The students start out by learning about Jewish life and practices and about Jewish Kentucky using readings from our class as well as the oral histories provided by the Nunn Center. From there, students learn about the strengths and weaknesses to oral histories, how to research, and finally being introduced to the final project/presentation. The final presentation (where I will assess what the students have learned about Jewish life, oral histories, and proper research) requires students to pick an aspect of Jewish life that we have been discussing in class, research this topic, listen to oral histories related to this topic, and present to the class about how this practice has changed across generations and specifically in Kentucky. Students will have to consider cultural context and historical background when determining how this practice has changed across generations. Topics students can choose from include Kosher eating, holiday celebrations, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, Jewish stereotypes, persecution, entrepreneurship, Israel, and women’s rights. Students will use the oral histories from the Jewish Kentucky collection as basis for their research. I will provide them with an oral history to begin with (past generation practices). Then students must do outside research about their topic and find another oral history to complement their research. Students will present their findings to the class in groups of 4.