By Yu Zhang | Project Leader
The 2018 summer break was an unusual period for teachers and students participating in the Evergreen Footprint* program. To meet the timeline of the October workshop, during the past summer break, the teacher pushed the students to synthesize interview data and background data into a first draft of the historical narrative, which tells a story of the interviewee’s cultural life, e.g. Grandpa’s life story as a mason, or Father’s life story as a Suona horn player. EEF project team reviewed the historical narratives and the students’ intermediate work products such as background information collected and interview minutes, and provided some immediate feedback for the teachers to further guide the students to revise their drafts.
Two students’ essay/transcripts were used by Dr. Wailing Wong as case studies in her workshop session to illustrate to the teachers what are the in-depth understandings of life stories students should pursue, and how the teacher should facilitate that, which will naturally fold into the next revision of Footprint process to make the training and tutoring part more focused and relevant. With case studies it is easier for the teachers and students to grasp what have been validated and what need to be further improved.
Moreover, two Footprint students, Yazhou and Lina from Gansu Tongwei No. 1 High School, who are now first-year college students, will join us in the workshop, be tutored by the mentors face to face, and continue their oral history journey by further improving their drafts (Yazhou’s essay, Grandpa’s Life as A Carpenter, was also used by Dr. Wong as a case study.). We hope the workshop will further increase their interest in oral history, and making them part of the efforts to support oral history teaching in secondary schools, at least help recruiting their successors in the oral history club at their Alma Mater.
After the workshop, the teachers will go back and guide the students to do one round of revision of their end products. We will run a student portfolio contest of student portfolios in November. Then we will collect the teacher’s reflection report in December and run a teacher portfolio contest, including their intermediate tutoring records and their final report.
The 6 weeks’ dash in the Summer couldn’t be done without the teachers’ hard work to guide and support students, especially those among them who have just finished the college entrance exams and are moving to the next stage in life. The teachers are encouraging them to stay cool and finish the project which is meaningful to self, to family, and to the community. It will be both the highlight of high school days, and a passage of life.
*Note: The Footsteps program was renamed to Footprint program starting from September, 2018 which more appropriately conveys the meaning of our forefathers’ memory.
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