The Great Thanksgiving Listen
What Is The Great Thanksgiving Listen?
The Great Thanksgiving Listen is a national movement that empowers young people—and people of all ages—to create an oral history of the contemporary United States by recording an interview with an elder, mentor, friend, or someone they admire.
Interviews become part of the StoryCorps Archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Since 2015, The Great Thanksgiving Listen has grown from an experimental challenge issued by our founder, Dave Isay, into a vital intergenerational movement. To date, thousands of high schools from all 50 states have participated and preserved more than 100,000 interviews, providing families with a priceless piece of personal history.
Raise Your Hand and Participate
Our Primary Tools For Recording Your Story
Before starting a new class, students and teachers make sure they have the right notebooks and pencils. The same is true for anyone who wants to be a part of The Great Listen. Pick which tools works best for you; we can support lots of different situations.
StoryCorps in Your Classroom
There are many ways to use StoryCorps in your classroom (virtual or concrete). For our complete educational offerings (including The Great Listen) visit our online learning platform.
If you have been with us before and are simply looking for our updated Educator Toolkit with multimedia resources, lesson plans, and a guide to support you in bringing this assignment to your students, visit our Great Listen Library of Materials.
Connect directly with other educators and StoryCorps staff in our StoryCorps in the Classroom Facebook group, and find answers to your technical support questions in our Help Center.
StoryCorps in your Home
The Great Thanksgiving Listen was developed for students to interview an elder and contribute their voices to the Library of Congress, but anyone with an interest in storytelling can participate. We actively encourage people of all ages to create your own unique oral history with an elder or loved one in your life, and help transform the holidays into a time of intergenerational sharing.
Any Questions?
2020 Sponsors and Partners
Sponsors
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