Everyone has a story

I haven’t thought about StoryCorps for years. StoryCorps is an effort to record, organize, and share the stories in all of us. Perhaps it might be thought of as a massive oral history or interview project. I remember becoming interested in StoryCorps after reading about this strange project that involved positioning simple recording studies in various places inviting people, usually two, to enter and record their stories. We were involved in a major technology project at the time and the concept of collecting oral histories fit well. Imagine students interviewing their grandparents or relatives about their life experiences. I remember one effort involved interviewing someone who had taught in a one room school.

StoryCorps continues to exist and the physical mini-studios have given way to apps for phones and tablets. The apps obviously make it easy to take the recording studio on the road. The StoryCorps project did not begin as a classroom focused project, but the project had obvious applications and the project has made a major effort to organize stories and develop resources related to the collection of oral histories and interviews that are available to educators.

The skills emphasized by StoryCorps fit well with history, listening and writing, questioning (interviewing), and if focused on interacting with experts and practitioners nearly any content area.