The people in the literacy group should direct the oral history project. People learn best when they work on ideas that interest them. The planning and organizing is an essential part of the learning experience.

• To choose the theme of your project, the group can start by brainstorming all the possible areas that interest them.
• There is a list of possible themes in the next section of the manual. But usually it works best to have the group come up with their own ideas first.
• Narrow the first list you brainstormed. One way to narrow ideas is for everyone to put sticky dots or check marks beside their three top choices.
• Spend time discussing the top choices – even several days. Discussions are a valuable critical thinking tool and help focus people’s ideas for writing.
• You could create charts to help the group make an informed decision on the themes or topics for the project.

• If there is lack of agreement on your topic, you may find that people can work on related topics within one theme.
• Before you make a final decision about your theme, check out the available resources in the community. Are there Elders that are experts in the topic and who want to be involved in your project? Is there other information – books, videos, newspaper articles, radio or TV shows that has been recorded? If you find that you don’t have enough resources, you may want to rethink your theme.