Youth Family History Discovery Workshops
I am working with our local genealogical society to put on two Youth Family History Discovery Workshops this Christmas break. This will be a virtual workshop held in Zoom. Day one consists of learning about newspaper research and Day 2 is about census research. We have fun activities planned and will help the youth discover interesting facts about their ancestors' lives.
If you want to see our class outline, it is at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bLrt4WQZ8wnq8ojJOHvSGoAjMdOzpvF4ZxX3NoqN3bo/edit?usp=sharing
Our flyer can be see at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R7JM9xt79n9gNxtW-K8gWZRZVbR9tKJa/view?usp=sharing
Let me know if you have any similar projects or fun ideas that we can include in the program We are limiting the activity to 12-15 youth each week and hopefully will have youth sign up over the next couple weeks.
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Thanks for sharing!
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@Miles A Meyer , how did the youth virtual family history discovery workshops go? What worked well? What would you change for others interested in doing something similar?
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It went well. We didn't have a lot of youth join us. Our largest group was 5.
The way it worked was that we sent the students an assignment to do before class that gave them a head start on the topic (That didn't go well because none of them did it). The first hour we discussed using newspapers and I demonstrated several free sources for newspapers including Chronicling America, Fulton History, and Elephind. Then we gave them a 2 hour break to discover something about their ancestors. When we came back, the students shared their discoveries and one of the instructors searched for additional information on pay sites, like GenealogyBank, to add to their stories. After that hour, they went back and did an assignment which included getting an account on FamilySearch, interviewing a relative, and talking to them about what they had discovered. During the first hour on day 2 we introduced them to the census records on FamilySearch and showed them some of the information that is found in a census record. We focused on the 1910-1940 censuses since those included some of their grandparents and all of their great grandparents. They then went back and had 2 hours to work on their own to discover more information. Then they came back for another hour to tell everyone what they discovered. Again, one of the instructors did research in the background as the youth were telling their stories and then showed the youth some things that they hadn't discovered yet. Several of the youth were able to find 3 generations in one house which gave them a lot to look into after the class.
What we learned - (1) Pre-class assignments don't get done. (2) Make the lessons personal and use their ancestors' records as the teaching tool. (3) Small classes provide more time for sharing discoveries. (4) We need to find a better way to advertise to get more youth interested.
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I'm glad that it went well and sorry that not more youth participated. But, I'm sure the youth that participated were impacted in positive ways by your efforts, especially those that found multiple generations. Wow, three generations; that's awesome! Thanks for sharing your experience, including things that worked (and didn't). Will you be holding another virtual youth event in the future? I would love to hear others' experiences participating in or hosting virtual youth family history events, too!
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We are trying to figure out a way to increase the number of attendees in the future. Once we have that figured out then we will have another. One way we are considering is to collect names over a couple months and then send an invite to those who showed interest. We hope that will increase the number attending.
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Do any community members have ideas for increasing youth attendance at a virtual Family History Discovery workshop? What has worked for you or others you know?
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The best way to encourage youth to show up is to offer a lot of food! It's always funny, but it works! Also, when I offer prizes of different sorts for different activities completed, that also gets them to show up AND to participate.
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Thant's a good idea but you can't offer food at virtual events.
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It depends on whether or not you are working with a local group.
For a local youth activity where I live, the leaders mentioned the refreshments that would come to their home AFTER they were online and participating. It was super fun. Another time, the leaders dropped off the ingredients at each youth home. After the fun instruction for the activity, everyone stayed on zoom while they all made the refreshments together in their respective homes. I LOVED how that turned out.
A final idea is to bring the refreshments over before the activity. Have the parents hide them. Promise the youth refreshments after the activity. Once it is done, have the parents either bring them out and give them to the youth, or send the youth on a little "family history scavenger hunt" where they have to figure out a family history clue that will lead them to the treats!
I was an online seminary teacher for a couple years and my group was VERY spread out, but I would find ways here and there to supply refreshments.
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