A big thanks to Jackie and Deborah for their in-progress report from the
classroom. J & D -- I think everyone would be grateful to know more about the
tips you shared with students about searching on the Life Histories - can you
share them when things calm down a bit? Thanks.

Can anyone else share tips they've created to help students access and search
the collections? As we're gearing up for the new 98 Fellows to join us online,
we'd love to share with them some of the things you've created over the year.

Cheers to all,

Bill
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Hello to everyone!
Jackie and I are alive and well in North Carolina, and we are finally into
our project with our students. Yesterday was the students' first day in
the computer lab working with the WPA Life Histories, and the enthusiasm
for the project was even more than we expected. Earlier this week I had
demonstrated techniques for searching the collection. We made sure that
students were familiar with some of the possible pitfalls they could
encounter as they searched, and they have given us some excellent feedback
for how the search mechanism can be improved.

Our two greatest concerns were that students would become frustrated in
their searched and that they would be scared off by the length of the Life
Histories. Yesterday we saw that our fears were unfounded, and the students
were genuinely excited to get a first hand account of what life was really
like during the Great Depression. We will report in full when projects are
completed.

We have presented to our entire faculty, and as a result have had a science
teacher working with Conservation Movement collection and a drama teacher
using the Variety Stage collection.

Deborah Pendleton