Noble House Blog

The students of Noble House have been busily preparing for their Oral History interviews. First, they read author blurbs about E. B. White and were later paired together in order to practice the interview process as well as get to know another class member. Their interesting interviews are on display in the window of the classroom. Next, we brainstormed a list of interview questions and organized them into an outline of four categories: I. Old Country, II. Journey, III. Arrival and IV. New Country. At the same time, students were thinking about a possible immigrant of their acquaintance to interview. After that, the class viewed a short film about the entire process of the Oral History Project, created by our own Mr. Andre and Ms. Gordon. Ms. Noble and Mr. Andre modeled how to ask follow up questions in case answers are brief. We all had a good laugh when Mr. Andre refused to give more than one word answers. Finally, students were given various forms to have their interviewee fill out and a clear plastic folder in which to put it all. They are all ready to become historians themselves!

In conjunction with the Oral History project, Noble House has been learning how to do a “close reading” of Charlotte’s Web. Ms. Noble and Ms. Stokien modeled annotating chapter 1. We found themes such as life and death, change and friendship. Who knew that so much information is just below the surface of page one alone! Afterwards, students selected their own chapters to annotate and will be presenting their findings to the class during the next two weeks.