Vermont Rural Partnership LEARNING IN PLACE UNIT Human Geography Project Steve Niederhauser, Thetford Academy ACTIVITY/LESSON PLAN Interviewing the Community Member Standards Being Addressed: 4.6 Understanding Place 4.1 Service Inquiry/ Focusing Questions: How do I prepare for an interview? How do I conduct the interview? What kind of questions do I ask? What do I do after the interview? Topic: Building student interviewing skills in preparation for interviewing community members. Materials: Interviewing Guide Procedures: 1. Preassess students by asking them to list important aspects of interviewing someone in the community. 2. Students first read Interviewing Guide together in class with general discussion, questions and comments. 3. Students pair into teams and are given separate topics and hypothetical interviewees. They then compile a list of interview questions that address a particular topic. 4.In the classroom, students interview volunteers from the community. OR Students conduct a mock interviews with the instructor who presents various problems for the interviewers such as going off subject, giving incomplete answers, or yes or no answers. 5. Students conduct mock interviews with their partner, revise and turn in their questions. Task-Specific Assessment: Real-life team question lists Real-life tapes and transcriptions Anecdotal observations Team mock questions Journal entries Generalized-Standard Assessment: Oral Presentation Assessment Guide (rubric) Written Report Rubric Exhibit Rubric