Teachers All Around Us: Intergenerational Conversations & Student Oral Histories
By Max Peterson, 2021
Cosby Hunt, a high school social studies teacher in Washington, DC, reflects on his initial experiences in the classroom and experimenting with an oral history project for the first time. In 2014, Cosby created the Real World History Program, an afterschool history class that introduces students to oral history and the field of public history. Through a partnership with the DC Public Library, the oral histories recorded by Real World History students are archived and made publicly accessible on DigDC.
Interviews:
Music:
- Synapse by Shane Ivers – https://www.silvermansound.com
Transcript:
[Soundscape of crickets and country nighttime ambiance fades in]
Cosby Hunt: It gets kinda dark in a city at night. But, you have no idea what darkness is until you have been in a rural place.
And this was my first experience with rural darkness.
I told Teach for America basically, you can send me anywhere as long as I can teach high school social studies. So they sent me anywhere; they sent me to Hancock County, Georgia.
[Soundscape of nighttime ambiance fades away]
Interviewer: So, tell me about being in front of, in front of a class for the first time.
Cosby Hunt: Oh, I probably talked too much. Didn’t have any sort of sense of classroom organization.
[Sound of a school bell plays faintly in the background. Then a soundscape of a classroom and Cosby teaching fade in and play faintly in the background]
Cosby Hunt: I mean, just—. God knows what was happening. I was bad. I was bad, [rubs hand over face] but I, I recognized that I was bad and I remember telling myself like,
Okay, you’re bad at this, but you could get good if you put the time in.
Interviewer: What were some of the things you really enjoyed about it when you first got—
Cosby Hunt: Oh man…
Interviewer: —into teaching?
[Background audio rises slightly – Student: Thank you. Mr. Hunt: Alright, I’ll see you on Thursday. – Background audio fades back down]
Cosby Hunt: I guess first and foremost I liked the idea of being a teacher. So I liked it in theory, so I wanted it to go well; I wanted to be better.
[Background audio rises slightly – Student: So my, my grade—. Cosby Hunt: [Chuckles] – Background audio fades back down]
Cosby Hunt: But what kept me going? I mean, God knows, just like young stupidity. I mean—. I mean, I’m glad I didn’t quit. Right? [Pause]
[Sound of a school bell plays faintly in the background. Soundscape of classroom fades out]
But, what kept me going? I mean, [sighs] the—.
Somewhere during the second year I remember thinking like, okay, I’m having some moments of possibility here.
[Soundscape of a classroom and Cosby teaching fades in and play faintly in the background]
I can see—not a light at the end of the tunnel—but every now and then I like have a day where I feel like I’m a half-decent teacher.
The first like half-decent thing that I did in the classroom, was an oral history project.
Project PRIDE. Parents’ Roots Inspire a Dedication to Education. I basically had the students interview their parents or their grandparents about their educational experiences, I think.
I just remember this feeling that it was something that actually worked, [chuckles] a little bit
wasn’t Mr. Hunt wah-wah-wah about—
[Background audio rises slightly – Mr. Hunt: Deuteronomy, 800 years before Christ]
Cosby Hunt: —encomienda, or—
[Background – Mr. Hunt: John Locke. 350 years ago. – Background audio fades back down]
Cosby Hunt: —the Declaration of Independence, but it was real talk between family members—. Like I didn’t even have do much, right?
[Playing quietly in background below Cosby’s narration] RWH narrator: That’s my advice to my granddaughter.
Cosby Hunt: I just set it up! Their families are involved; like this is what education should be like.
[Playing quietly in background below Cosby’s narration] Student Interviewer: Thank you, Grandma.
Cosby Hunt: People learning about history—
[Playing quietly in background below Cosby’s narration] Student Interviewer: Alright, so, let’s get started. I am interviewing my grandmother. Hi Grandma.
Cosby Hunt: —by talking to people in their own families, and—.
[Playing quietly in background below Cosby’s narration] Student Interviewer: Nana, can you start your name, your age, and where you’re originally from?
Cosby Hunt: Maybe, maybe, there would be no Real World History had it not been for Project PRIDE back in Hancock County in 1993, 1994.
[Music begins to fade in below Cosby’s narration]
Again, that’s one of those seeds that maybe was planted, and then, years later, now I’m immersed in oral history. [Laughs]
[Music rises and continues to play as clips of student interviews play]
Student Interviewer 1: I’m in the Real World History class interviewing Alvin Harris.
RWH Narrator 1: You ready?
Student Interviewer 2: It’s already recording.
RWH Narrator 1: It’s already recording? [Laughter]
RWH Narrator 2: I grew up in Sandersville, GA, a little small town. At that time it was one stop light—.
RWH Narrator 3: My aunt would say, “Just grow up, and be somebody.” “Being somebody,” essentially
meant, then, “You gotta get out.”
Student Interviewer 3: It was nice meeting you Ms. Strowder.
RWH Narrator 4: Nice meeting you too! And you’re just pretty as a peach!
Cosby Hunt: I mean, obviously—
[Playing quietly in background below Cosby’s narration] Student Interviewer 4: Alright, Grandma, is there anything else you wanted to say?
Cosby Hunt: —we have gotten back to an oral history place—
[Playing quietly in background below Cosby’s narration] Student Interviewer 5: Thank you so much for your time, Grandma,
Cosby Hunt: —in my, [chuckles] in my career. [Chuckles]
[Music fades out]