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Unit
II
Classwork
Applications of Fieldwork Basics
Lesson 5 Making Use
of Fieldwork
My dad, grandfather, and
great-grandfather all played four-string show-boat banjo on the
steamboats, among many other instruments, and my great-grandfather
was also the captain of the Lizzie Castle, [a tugboat] which pushed
show boats on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. I spent seventeen
years as the interlocutor, which is something like a combination
emcee and social director, on the Delta Queen. I guess I have this
in my blood–it's like a disease. I read music, but as Louis
Armstrong said, "not enough to interfere with the enjoyment of my
playing." The finale of my act used to be playing "Tiger Rag" on the
five instruments at once. I'd play the accordion with my left hand,
the xylophone with three mallets in my right hand, the harmonica in
my mouth with a neck rack, the bass drum with my right foot, and a
sock cymbal with my left foot.
—Vic Tooker, Musician,
Orleans Parish
Grade
Levels
4-8
Curriculum
Areas
English Language Arts,
Social Studies
Purpose of
Lesson
Students transcribe, analyze, and archive fieldwork and create a
team project drawn from fieldwork.
Lesson Objectives/Louisiana Content Standards, Benchmarks, and
Foundation Skills
- Students effectively sort, manipulate, and organize the
information that was retrieved.
ELA-5-M6 Locating, gathering, and
selecting information using graphic organizers, outline, note
taking, summarizing, interviewing, and surveying to produce
documented texts and graphics. (1, 3, 4)
- Students interact with the information by categorizing,
analyzing, evaluating, and comparing for bias, inadequacies,
omissions, errors, and value judgments.
H-1A-M3 Analyzing the impact that
specific individuals, ideas, events, and decisions had on the
course of history. (1, 2, 3,
4)
H-1A-M4 Analyzing historical data using
primary and secondary sources. (1, 2, 3,
4)
H-1C-E4 Recognizing how folklore and other
cultural elements have contributed to our local, state, and
national heritage. (1, 3,
4)
ELA-4-E7 Participating in a variety of
roles in group discussions (e.g., active listener, contributor,
discussion leader). (1, 4,
5)
ELA-1-M3 Reading, comprehending, and
responding to written, spoken, and visual texts in extended
passages. (1, 3, 4)
ELA-2-M6 Writing as a
response to texts and life experiences (e.g., letters, journals,
lists).(1, 2, 4)
- Students make decisions on how to use and communicate their
findings.
ELA-7-M2 Problem solving by using
reasoning skills, life experiences, accumulated knowledge, and
relevant available information. (1, 2,
4)
ELA-4-M4 Speaking and listening for a
variety of audiences (e.g., classroom, real-life, workplace) and
purposes (e.g., awareness, concentration, enjoyment,
information, problem solving). (1, 2, 4, 5)
- Students prepare presentations or some other product using
materials from fieldwork collected in Lesson 4.
ELA-1-M4 Interpreting texts with
supportive explanations to generate connections to real- life
situations and other texts (e.g., business, technical,
scientific). (1, 2, 4, 5)
ELA-2-M2 Using
language, concepts, and ideas that show an awareness of the
intended audience and/or purpose (e.g., classroom, real-life,
workplace) in developing complex compositions. (1, 2,
4)
H-1A-E1 Demonstrating an understanding of
the concepts of time and chronology. (1, 3,
4)
H-1C-E1 Describing the people, events, and
ideas that were significant to the growth and development of our
state and nation. (1, 3, 4)
Time
Required
3-5 class periods
Materials
Team Interview
Folder -- For the Teacher, Field Kit -- For Teachers,
Student Interview
Folder -- For the Teacher with forms, fieldnotes,
photographs, tapes, and logs that students produced in Lesson 4.
Access the Archive Folders page and prepare these folders for each
student and team using the Archive Folders Checklist. Try to arrange computer
access with LCD projection. Print and duplicate the Worksheets and
Assessment Tools listed below.
Technology
Connections
Internet Resources
American Folklife Center
Adaptation
Strategies
Louisiana
Voices Outline
Transcribing,
in Fieldwork Basics
Student
Products, in Fieldwork Basics
Thumbnail
Sketches of Student Products, in Fieldwork Basics
The Hmong Cultural Tour
Voices of Youth
Documentary Project for Refugee Youth
Baton Rouge Bus Boycott
Learning From Your Community: Folklore and Video
in the Classroom, A Classroom Curriculum for 4-8
Grades
Student Worksheets
Interview Folder
-- For the Teacher (for teachers)
Interview
Folder -- List of Contents (for students)
Audio Log
Transcribing an
Interview Worksheet
Conducting an
Interview Evaluation
Archive
Folders (for teachers)
Archive
Folders List of Contents (for students)
Processing
Fieldwork Tasks Worksheet
Preparing a
PowerPoint Presentation Worksheet
Storyboard
for a PowerPoint Presentation
Writing Poems
Worksheet
Assessment Tools
Oral
Presentation Rubric
Processing
Fieldwork Tasks Worksheet
Conducting an
Interview Checklist
Interview
Folder -- List of Contents
Archive
Folder List of Contents
Rubric For
Firsthand Biography
Fieldwork
Rubric
Evaluation
Tools/Opportunities
Process
- Archive
Folder List of Contents
- Transcribing an
Interview Worksheet
- Processing
Fieldwork Tasks Worksheet
- Preparing a
PowerPoint Presentation Worksheet
- Storyboard
Worksheet
- Writing Poems
Worksheet
Summative
- PowerPoint presentations
- Oral
Presentation Rubric
- Conducting
an Interview Evaluation - graded by teacher
- Archive
Folder List of Contents
- Fieldwork
Rubric
Products
- Archive
Folders
- Student transcriptions
- Interview recordings
- Audio Logs
- Photos and/or Slides
- Photo Logs
- Cultural Interpreter's Essay
- Team PowerPoint presentations
- Team Poems
- Class PowerPoint presentation
- Found
Poems
- Biographies of Interviewees
- Team Drama
- Conducting an
Interview Checklist
- Interview Folder
-- For the Teacher
- Archive
Folder List of Contents
Background Information for the
Teacher
For every fieldwork project, there are basic steps to follow if
you are conducting fieldwork at a specific site:
- Select a site and a topic.
- Identify and line up Interviewees.
- Establish student teams and gather equipment and materials for
each team.
- Conduct background research.
- Develop a list of questions that you will ask.
- Consider your "insider" and "outsider" positions.
- Visit the site with Field
Kit -- For Teachers and Interview Folder -- For
the Teacher.
- Conduct the interview and file materials.
- Record, process and archive collected materials.
- Analyze findings and interpret their significance.
- Prepare a product to exhibit findings.
- Thank Interviewees and all who helped.
- Assess fieldwork and products.
Steps 1 through 8 were presented in Unit II Lesson 4, and Steps
9 through 13 are covered in this lesson. Conducting fieldwork will
become more relevant to your students once they process, analyze,
and create final products from their efforts. This final stage
involves several tasks: transcribing, interpreting, archiving, and
collaborating on a project that presents the analyses to a defined
audience.
Review the Transcribing,
Archiving, Student Products, and Thumbnail
Sketches of Student Products sections of Fieldwork
Basics.
The analysis applied to fieldwork results is one of the most
important factors in undertaking such a project: What does it all
mean? Why is it important? What aspects will other people find
interesting? How can the information be presented to best
communicate the importance of the interview? Final products can be
multiple and varied, from team poems to dramatic performances to
written essays to PowerPoint presentations to multimedia
extravaganzas.
This lesson guides students through a PowerPoint presentation and
a team poem, but many other products are possible. The 42 Louisiana
Voices lessons include a variety of products and provide
rubrics to evaluate them. See the Extensions and Explorations below
for other student products addressed in lessons and rubrics
available. Also use the Louisiana
Voices Outline to find other content and assessment
strategies. Hint: On the outline page, use Ctrl-F to search for
content standards and these rubrics.
To Prepare
Provide each team with an Archive Folder to
store their work. Ensure worksheets completed in Unit II Lesson 4
have been filed and are available. Decide on the best product for
your students. If they will be making PowerPoint presentations,
reserve computer lab and training, if necessary. Decide how photos
will be handled and
provide a digital camera. You may also want a photo scanner. For the presentation,
provide computer access with LCD projection.
4th and 8th Grade
Activities
Step 9. Record, process, and archive collected
materials
- Brainstorm with students a list of reasons why preservation of
collected materials is important. Ask students to explore the
online archives of the American Folklife Center. Then return to
the list of reasons to preserve fieldwork and add any new insights
students come up with.
- Review with students the importance of proper preservation
techniques:
- Photographs, audio files, fieldnotes, and videos must be
archived where the materials will be protected from
disintegrating and where people may study them.
- To label printed photographs, write lightly with a #2 pencil on a
label and place it on the back of the photo. Never use regular
ink as it can damage the photo.
- Securing release forms is very important. Without a
release form, materials cannot be made accessible to the
public, nor can they be used to produce exhibits, publications,
or programs.
- Archiving requires careful logging, so labeling materials is
very important.
- Prepare each team for processing their fieldwork:
Step 10. Analyze findings and interpret their
significance.
- The analysis applied to fieldwork results is one of the most
important factors in undertaking such a project. Lead a
whole-class discussion by asking the following
questions:
What does it all mean?
Why is it
important?
What aspects will other people find
interesting?
How can the information be presented to best
communicate the importance of the interview?
Each team should determine the most important point in the
interview. What do these stories tell us about the person, place,
or event? What did you learn in the interview that you didn't
learn from background research? Then, if the interviews were on
related topics, as a class, the teams should compare their
interviews and determine how they are related.
Write these points on the board and add any that the class
feels are important, then ask each team to work together to come
up with a list of important points that should be conveyed in a
presentation.
- Ask each team to decide on a final product they will prepare
for presenting their findings. See the list in the Background for
Teachers section above for suggestions. For a technology option,
this lesson will guide students in creating a collaborative
PowerPoint presentation.
- Using the Preparing a PowerPoint
Presentation Worksheet have students work in their teams
on Part 1, using the guide to analyze and interpret the findings
and materials they have gathered. Ask them to write Thesis
Statements and three Main Points that support it, which will be
shared in the presentation.
- Teach students the correct format for writing the
Bibliographical Sources, using the format found in each lesson's
"Resource" section or the style your school
recommends.
Step 11. Prepare a product to exhibit findings
- Review the General Guidelines for Presentations in Part 2 of the
Preparing a
PowerPoint Presentation Worksheet, then have students
design their presentations using these guidelines. It may be
helpful to use the Storyboard
Worksheet for capturing the key ideas to be presented.
Encourage students to include relevant details, recount the words
of the participants, and be as accurate as possible.
- Have each team present their final product to the class
following the guidelines in Part 3 of the Preparing a PowerPoint
Presentation Worksheet. If possible, invite the
Interviewees to the presentations.
- Use Oral
Presentation Rubric to evaluate the presentations.
- Many non-technology options exist. One option is to have
students write a team poem based on their team's interview. You
may want to conduct this activity in steps as a class or in
individual teams as they finish their processing of fieldwork.
Have students follow these steps.
- Use the Writing
Poems Worksheet to write ten nouns that relate to their
interview in the first column. Then, next to each noun, write in
the second column two or three verbs that the noun "does." In
the third column, write a simile or a metaphor that
matches the noun and verbs in that row. A metaphor is an implied
comparison between two different things in which a word that
ordinarily means one thing is used of another thing in order to
suggest a likeness between the two, such as "heart of stone" or
"a copper sky." A simile is an expressed comparison of two
different things or ideas, such as a face like marble, or hard
as nails. Metaphors and similes both make comparisons,
but in a metaphor the comparison is implied and in a
simile it is indicated by like or as.
- Next, write one line about the interview using each set of
nouns, verbs, and metaphors or similes. Organize the lines into
logical stanzas, taking out or inserting words to create poetic
rhythm.
- Last, develop a creative title for the poem.
- Write the poems on poster board and read the finished poems
to the class. Display the poems in the hall or
class.
Step 12. Thank Interviewees
- Besides an oral "Thank You" at the end of the interview,
students need to write a thank-you note and mail it to the
Interviewee.
Step 13. Assess Fieldwork And Products
- Have students complete the Conducting an
Interview Evaluation to document what they have learned in
this lesson. If desired, grade the students' work and record at
bottom of the form.
- Students can use the Interview
Checklist and Archive Folder
List of Contents to document which forms were collected
and archived.
- Arrange for Interviewees to visit your class to see student
presentations.
- As a final evaluation of the entire unit, use the Fieldwork Rubric
to evaluate students' progress and expertise.
- If you want to have students produce a video documentary, use
Learning From Your Community: Folklore and Video
in the Classroom, A Classroom Curriculum for 4-8
Grades.
- Have students create a Jeopardy game like the Musical
Legend Jeopardy. Instructions are included in Unit VI Lesson 6
Louisiana's Musical Legends.
- Have students design an exhibit around what they learned from
the community guest. You can evaluate the exhibit with the Rubric for
Creating an Exhibit from Unit VII Lesson 1
Reading Artifacts.
- Have students draw on their research and the Bingo
Worksheet to create a Bingo game. Instructions are
included in Unit VII
Lesson 4 Family Foodways for a Foodways Bingo and in Unit IX Part 1 Lesson
3 Folklife Around the Year and Around the State for a
Seasonal Change Bingo.
- The Make A
Cake Quilt Worksheet from Unit IX Part 1 Lesson
1 Birthday Calendars can be adapted for many projects
needing a visual organizer.
- As in Unit II Lesson 1
Getting Positioned for Fieldwork of this unit, a simple
product is the I Learned template.
- If students are examining a place, See Unit IV Lesson 3 Sense
of Place for activities on documenting and mapping their
neighborhood.
- Consider these activities and worksheets for many types of
data:
These technology applications can be used for any type of
data:
4th and 8th Grade
Explorations and Extensions
- Work together to prepare one total class presentation about your
fieldwork and use the Rubric for
Collaborative Group Fieldwork Research Rubric, the Presentation
Rubric, or the Production
Rubric.
- Write a Found Poem or Song about your fieldwork experiences
using the Found Poem -
Found Song worksheet. Send these poems to the
Interviewees.
- Write a Diamante using the Diamante
Worksheet.
- Write a paragraph or essay producing a biography of your
Interviewee. Use the Rubric For Firsthand
Biography to evaluate them.
- Write a paragraph describing another fieldwork topic or
location you'd like to visit. Compare/contrast that site with the
one you documented.
- Use the teams' transcriptions to prepare a drama in which all
the different Interviewees communicate with each other in their
own words. Use the Production
Rubric.
Unit II Resources
Unit II
Outline
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