last night while falling asleep, i couldnt get this project out of my head.

i was thinking about the final project and what i should do for it.

i originally thought of making my own notebook with copies from our notebooks and pictures, along with the interview for this project and maybe some other things.

im not sure this is a good idea though and im not sure how exactly i would go about making the copies and everything look neat and fit into a nice looking notebook. 

im trying to maybe think of some other ideas but im having trouble..

Pleading Insanity

we went to the Yale Archives and it was really cool. On the way back, Stephanie Matto and I were talking about something we found very interesting. Then it hit us, Lets team up and do this! We were discussing the old insane asylum in Newton, Fairfeild Hills. It is a legend and there are so many different stories about it that we want to get down in writing after having done extensive research. We decided that if we get the permission to do this then we can use the information we learned yesterday and actually go to the archives on our own time and do further research. So after discussing it with Mr. Murphy, he said it sounded like a great idea and we should do it with your permission to team up and change our topics. Please post back as soon as possible!

interview?

i've been thinking about the interview portion of the project..and i have been having a little trouble with it...

Because of the type of project i am doing..im not really sure what i should ask in the interview or who i should ask...i know everything about my friends and their opinions on it and everything..

i was thinking about possibly interviewing a middle school teacher as she has expressed opinions to us on why she let us pass the notebook in class..but im not sure if that makes sense for the project...

Retirement homes

Mr. Laub had a great suggestion in class today. If you're looking for someone to interview, consider going to a retirement home! A retirement home is full of people who have lived through the events you study in history class and many people there would be thrilled to tell you about this history.

For example you could ask someone questions about:

--Did you ever participate in Civil Rights (or anti-war) demonstrations?
--Did you participate in or do you know people who were in the Vietnam War (or Korean War)?
--What did you think of Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960s? (or another person)

Found Some Great Things

I really found some great pictures. My mother had stashed away. Every picture had a unique story to it. She introduced to me new people that I have never met. It to me was just a great experience to learn more about the people in your family and friends that once were and still are. I knew that my Uncle Billy was a very good ball player but i also learned that the University of Michigan's was looking at my Uncle. My Uncle was a basketball player at Cross High School. my mom kept the news paper article. It says "When he wasn't passing off, Jones was popping in jumpers and driving to the hoop and drawing fouls. As a result he went to the line 10 times and missed only once."This was from 1978. I was blown away y a lot of my finding. I came a cross my mom year book from when she attended Hill House High School. It was interesting to see how different people dressed and how that year book was put together. am really enjoying this project. I think as time goes by it will get easier and easier.........Amanda Panda

Cool links that will help you in your oral history interview

These are some links to help you in planning and conducting your interview.

StoryCorps (http://www.storycorps.net)
A great project that helps anyone record their own oral history interviews. There are lots of short oral history interviews that you can listen to here. Click on Listen to Stories in the upper right corner. They're short! If you listen to National Public Radio (NPR), you've likely heard some of these stories before. You can even search the stories by keyword (subject, name, place).

StoryCorps Question Generator tool (http://www.storycorps.net/record-your-story/question-generator)
By filling in a short form, this site will give you questions that you can ask the person you are interviewing. It's a great tool.

DoHistory.org's Step-by-Step Guide to Oral History (http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html)
This is the source of the handout that you got in class.

Oral History Society's website (http://www.ohs.org.uk/)
There is lots of various information on oral histories here.

Mr. Murphy's first blog post!

[I am reposting this for Mr. Murphy]

Welcome to my first blog ever. I am so relieved that this blog has spellcheck. (Those who know me, know why!) I wanted to be the first entry in the Family & Community Archive Project because:

1. I'm excited about the collaboration between COOP High School and Yale University.
2. I REALLY love history & genealogy ( the study of family history).
3. I REALLY love archives & research. In fact, I'm happiest when I'm in a library or doing research. The time just flies by! (I know -- NO LIFE!)
4. I want my students to learn that their own personal history is important.

My only real regret in life, is that so many of the people I loved in this world have passed away without leaving much of a written record behind. These were some of the most influential people in my life, and I want other people to know of them. They were magnificent and they were important! I want to write down as much of their history as possible, because although they may not have been famous, they were important -- at least to me. I feel that one of my missions in life, is to record their stories so that future generations will know them. Why do you think I take all of those pictures? You students (and I'm assuming it's mostly my student who are reading this) are part of my history and I want to record your images and your stories, because you all are important to me. You are part of my history!

Good luck on discovering your past -- let me know how I can help.