Etta began by asking participants to introduce themselves and asking them what they wanted to know about oral history or about oral history projects. She also wanted to know if our participants’ students currently interview family or community members as part of their classes?

Etta King: Hi Everyone! I am the Education Program Manager at the Jewish Women's Archive!
Missy Mandell: Hi, I'm Missy Mandell. I am an Assistant Youth Director in a Youth Group setting at a synagogue for 6th-12 graders.
Dr. Janet Bordelon: Hi. We are having some tech issues but Lonnie and I are watching from my office :) Becky Silverstein: Hi all -- I'm the education director at Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center.
Miriam Cantor-Stone: For those who missed my intro, I'm Miriam, the Education Program Assistant here at JWA.
Ronni Ticker: Extend the learning outside of the classroom and bring relevant subject matter into the classroom
Becky Silverstein: also a way to bring Jewish values of storytelling and narrative into our world.
Missy Mandell: It is a way to make topics more tangible for students/learners... a person's story is more interesting than reading from a text book.
Ronni Ticker: teaching skills and connecting families to each other by deepening their understanding of each other
Dr. Janet Bordelon: It is a way of telling history from the ground up and go beyond what they might learn in a textbook.
Ronni Ticker: I am using the Museum of Family History to with lesson plans now
Miriam Cantor-Stone: That's great! Thanks for telling us :)
Ronni Ticker: I would be happy to share how I am adapting them
Miriam Cantor-Stone: The JWA National Jewish Educators Network is a great place to share ideas.
Miriam Cantor-Stone: Please join the group on Facebook if you haven't already!

Etta then talked about defining roles in an oral history interview, and asked participants to name the main two roles involved in such an interview.

Ronni Ticker: Questioner, Sharer
Bea Brodie: interviewer, narrator

Next, Etta asked the participants to think of some questions they might ask a Jewish educator in an interview. For instance, how and why they came to be a Jewish educator?

Ronni Ticker: Who were your role models?
Bea Brodie: what attracted you to the field of Jewish education?
Dr. Janet Bordelon: What teacher had the greatest impact on you?
Ronni Ticker: When did you know this was something that interested you?
Dr. Janet Bordelon: Why are you invested in Jewish continuity?
Ronni Ticker: How did you prepare for this career?
Becky Silverstein: What values guide your work as a Jewish educator?
Missy Mandell: what is the most important thing you want other's to be able to learn from you?
Ronni Ticker: What do you like about your job and what do you not like about it?
Missy Mandell: (or what is the most important thing you want to be a role model of?)
Abra Greenspan: Can you describe your Jewish education?

When discussing oral history interviews, it’s important to know not only what to do, but what not to do. In this vein, Etta showed three clips of a roleplaying activity where participants acted how what not to do in an oral history interview.

Comments from Video 1:
Missy Mandell: interviewer isn't asking specific questions about the narrator or to the narrator
Ronni Ticker: Energy level is mismatched; too much talking as an introduction
Bea Brodie: too much information from the interviewer—has taken over

Comments from Video #2:
Dr. Janet Bordelon: Judgment much?
Missy Mandell: all closed questions?
Missy Mandell: and judge-y
Ronni Ticker: Interviewer seemed unprepared and questions were not compelling
Bea Brodie: questions are too specific, should be more open-ended. Narrator is also being judgmental. that's a sure conversation stopper
Abra Greenspan: I know this is a role play at a workshop, but you would never stand across from each other like this for an interview

Comments from Video #3:
Missy Mandell: a lot of questions really fast!
Ronni Ticker: too many questions one right after the other.
Dr. Janet Bordelon: Too confusing...

Etta asked for responses from the three clips, and some of the participants had some questions and ideas about using interviews in the classroom.

Abra Greenspan: I’m curious about the youngest students who you think can do this kind of interviewing
Ronni Ticker: Are there resources for how to teach children to form questions?
Dr. Janet Bordelon: I think an important lesson is this is negotiating memory v. history ...
Bea Brodie: we are a Historical Society and would like ideas for some creative ways to utilize the oral histories we collect and how to encourage collecting them/creative ways to collect them. We have done a number of projects
Ronni Ticker: I am using the My Bat Mitzvah Story and having the children pick from your questions but I am having trouble getting them to form their own questions
Ronni Ticker: I just found this site with some games
Dr. Janet Bordelon: We use oral histories for our online Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish communities. We interview a lot of elderly Southern Jews and they may remember stuff differently many years later. In fact, memory can be tricky. It is a good lesson to have kids contextualize these stories and use other sources to enhance them.
Ronni Ticker: I had them role-play by asking the teacher. Her nephew is in the class so it was pretty cool
Dr. Janet Bordelon: This is a good way to entice students to dig into the time period.
Ronni Ticker: I think reflecting with the students after about what they learned is a great idea. How do you feel about students interviewing their parents versus their grandparents?

Before concluding the program, Etta showed a clip of Jewish educator Barbara Rosenblitt’s annual oral history and art project she does with her students in Atlanta.

Ronni Ticker: I have tears in my eyes. This is special. Can I have the link?
Abra Greenspan: wonderful!
Bea Brodie: I'd like the link to both projects
Miriam Cantor-Stone: We'll share all the resources mentioned today in our follow up with you all!
Abra Greenspan: thank you Etta and all
Ronni Ticker: Todah!
Miriam Cantor-Stone: Thank you all for joining us!