Leadership
- [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mjBQoT-FZw[/embedyt]
What Kansas Courts Do
Retired Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier explains in this short video how the courts are different from the other two branches of state government and how the Supreme Court works to preserve the rule of law.
The complete text of the interview of Justice Beier by Richard Ross can be found under the Kansas Courts and the Rule of Law collection.
- [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI9qSgsL-4M[/embedyt]
What Kansas Governors Do
This 14 minutes video uses segments from the oral history interviews of two Kansas Governors, Kathleen Sebelius and Bill Graves, to illustrate how each of these popular, two-term governors navigated the political waters. Topics include budgets, school finance, working with a cabinet, court mandates.
Civics Education
An editorial in the Topeka Capital Journal stated, “Civics is about so much more than passing a written test…or reciting facts or figures about our country and Constitution. It’s about the spirit of America, about a country that includes Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, men and women, Black people and white people, gay people and straight people, and a few editorial writers besides. Civics, in other words, is about perfecting and pursuing a more perfect union.” [see complete editorial below.] What better place to understand how public policy is created than a collection of easily accessible and pertinent Show Moreprimary sources for students of all levels. The Kansas Oral History Collection consists of transcripts of oral histories of state legislators, state officials and notable Kansans describing their involvement with public policy in the last quarter of the Twentieth Century and the first decades of the Twenty-first Century.
For students it is a treasure trove of information from primary sources. For teachers, there are short clips taken from interviews of actual policy-makers describing what it takes to make laws and policy. More are being added regularly.
The Kansas Oral History Project works with the Kansas Department of Education and an advisory group of teachers to develop new materials from its collection of oral histories for use in the classroom.
Civic engagement exists as part of the current KSDE accreditation systems, and involves both learning in the classroom and service projects in the community. KOHP is interested working with teachers to create oral history projects that engage the community.
For more information use the contact form on this website. Show Less
Speaking and Listening Skills
Well-developed abilities of both listening and speaking are critical for success. These skills
are required for postsecondary success. With them students can positively impact the
world at all levels. This work can be done through several different instruction styles and
supported through quality formative and summative assessment types.
One powerful technique that provides students the opportunity to grow these skills is a
mock congressional hearing summative assessment. During this process students use the
compelling questions offered by the Kansas Oral History Project to dig into the world
around them, finding research and resources to help answer their questions.
Identify a Kansas Hero: a history lesson for 7th graders
This lesson plan, created by Michael Kates who is a 7th grade teacher in Topeka, asks the essential question, “How do theories, beliefs and inventions transform society? Students will select an oral history interview from the KOHP collection, watch the video in order to draw conclusions about the historical significance of the person and the resulting consequences of that person’s actions. Activities include taking notes on an Identity Chart about the important aspects of their identity and using Canva to create a comic book based on the Kansas hero’s early life, achievements, and ideas. Complete details of Show Morethe four-lesson plan can be downloaded below. Show Less
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vLaO4pqen0
Compare and Contrast Kansas Governors – a lesson plan
In this lesson plan for high school government classes, students will select two oral history interviews from the KOHP Kansas Governors collection or from other oral histories. They will learn research skills and will analyze the videos or transcripts of these interviews in order to draw conclusions about the historical significance of the person and the resulting consequences of that person’s actions. Activities include taking Cornell notes about the important aspects of their identity and use a graphic organizer to contrast and compare the two governors. Complete details of the four-lesson plan can be downloaded below. Michael Kates, a Show Moreteacher in the Topeka Public Schools created the lesson plan. Show Less