04/06 - Speaker Presentation: R. Decker, Revisions

We started today's class with a video of a talk given during period three last Friday from a speaker, Ryan Decker, about her work as a hair stylist (see video below). In class, we watched the first 20 minutes of this video and everyone took notes using the speaker presentation note sheet (see below).

After watching this video, I returned work that was submitted last week along with students' grade report sheets. We reviewed general performance trends for these assignments which were over how to conduct effective interviews. We also looked at how to revise these assignments.

Everyone then had the rest of the period to work on revisions and on writing interview questions for their interview candidates (see requirements below). The work we did last week with "The Art of Interviewing" and effective interviews should help guide people in their approach to creating interview questions and follow-up questions.

Interview Question Requirements:
Write 5 interview questions (or more)
Write a follow-up/probing question for each interview question

The most helpful questions will be those that take into account your interview subject's knowledge or experiences. 

The interview can also be a helpful opportunity to fill in gaps in your research (if a certain type of information has been hard to find, ask your interviewee about it).

While everyone worked on their interview questions and revisions, I met individually with people who were having a difficult time finding interview candidates.

Handouts:
Quarter 4 grade sheets
Work submitted last week

Submitted Today:
Interview Candidate Short List
(on this sheet, ethos refers to the experiences and knowledge that make this speaker a credible candidate for this topic)

Homework:

Write five (or more) interview questions with a follow-up question for each.


At this point everyone should have all of the sources (at least 7 + the interview) they need for this project and at least 20 notecards (more are fine). If you do not have 7 sources and 20 notecards, continue finding sources and creating notecards.

Revisions due this Friday 04/06:
Interview Observation Notes
Interview Observation Notes

 revision options for a 4/exceeds, listed below:

Click Image to Enlarge

04.03 - Interview Candidates, Research

At the beginning of class today, we talked about people finding interview candidates for their research project. Ideally, everyone will be able to find someone engaged in the activity which they are studying. However, if someone can't find an interview candidate that does that exact activity, they can find someone in that field more generally. For example, if someone were researching robotic engineering and could not find a robotic engineer they could talk to a mechanical engineer about the engineering field more generally. Interview candidates could also be a person who regularly interacts with the activity that someone is studying. For example, if someone were researching EMTs, but could not talk to an EMT they could interview a nurse about health care and the role that EMTs play in their interactions with them.

In class, I handed out interview candidate sheets that people can use to brainstorm three possible candidates (see below). If anyone is having a really hard time finding a candidate we can check in and do some brainstorming together. People should talk to family and friends this week to see what is available to them for possible interview candidates.

Everyone then had the rest of the period to work on their research for their future exploration project. During this time I met with people to talk through some possible interview candidates.

Handouts:
Interview Candidate Short List
(on this sheet, ethos refers to the experiences and knowledge that make this speaker a credible candidate for this topic)

Helpful Documents:

Future Exploration research questions

Future Exploration Project Assignment Checklist
Future Exploration Project Assignment Calendar

Future Exploration Sources - Model Sheet (how to copy the sheet)

Determining Source Reliability

Citing Websites (bibilography and parenthetical)

Submitted Today:
Revisions: Activities Speaker Presentation Notes
Revisions: Reading questions for "Notes from the Underground"

Homework:

Brainstorm and talk to friends and family to fill out the interview candidate short list.

Find sources for your future exploration research project and create notecards from these sources (looking to have 7 sources or more and 20 notecards or more for Monday)

04.02 - Effective Interviews

At the beginning of class today, we returned to our work with Abel and Glass' "The Art of Interviewing" with everyone responding to the post-reading question. This question looked at how people would revise the interview questions they wrote yesterday now that they had some pointers from this comic.

Next, we looked at the timeline for completing work for the remainder of our future exploration project (see checklist and calendar below).

For the remainder of class, we focused on behaviors during an interview that are effective and ones that are not effective. For this, I conducted two interviews with an interviewee about someone who was a role model for them. In the first interview, I exhibited poor interview skills while in the second interview, I exhibited more effective behaviors. Students observed these interviews and took note of the good and bad techniques that they observed. At the end of the interview, we checked in with the interview candidate to see what their experience was and how the different techniques affected them.

If you were not in class, you can view and take notes from the two interviews with Mr. Gannon.

Less Effective Interview:

More Effective Interview:

Handouts:
Future Exploration Project Assignment Checklist
Future Exploration Project Assignment Calendar
Interview Observation Notes

Submitted Today:
Interview Observation Notes

Homework:

Find sources for the "who" section of the future exploration research project and create notecards from these sources (looking to have 7 sources and 20 notecards or more for Monday)

Revisions:
Activities Speaker Presentation Notes (may need to review interview on 03.24) - due Friday 4/3
Reading questions for "Notes from the Underground" (may need to review "Notes from the Underground") - Due Friday 4/3

04.01 - Interview Approaches

We started today's class with episode two of Quote Cab (see below).

Quote Cab - Episode 3

Following this, we began looking at how to conduct good interviews by using strong approaches. Everyone began by interviewing a partner and then reflecting on what that experience showed them was important in an interview and what was challenging. Next, I handed out a reading, The Art of the Interview, produced by Jessica Abel and Ira Glass which offers tips on conducting effective interviews. Everyone used their reading sheet (which was also what we used for the introductory practice interviews) to keep track of suggestions for an effective interview and for differences between this interview format (for radio stories) and the interviews we will be doing (for research). Everyone should finish this reading and finish responding to reading questions 3 and 4 for homework.

Submitted Today:
- - -

Handouts:
"The Art of the Interview" (reading)
Processing Questions: The Art of the Interview

Homework:

Finish reading "The Art of the Interview" and respond to questions 3 and 4 with the processing questions: The Art of the Interview.

Find sources for the "who" section of the future exploration research project and create notecards from these sources.

Revisions:
Activities Speaker Presentation Notes (may need to review interview on 03.24) - due Friday 4/3
Reading questions for "Notes from the Underground" (may need to review "Notes from the Underground") - Due Friday 4/3

03.31 - Quote Cab, Research

We started today's class with episode two of Quote Cab (see below).

Quote Cab - Episode 2

Following this, we talked about finding research sources for the "who" section of the future exploration project. This section focuses on notable individuals and will include the interview individuals will be doing with someone connected to their future exploration activity. The notable individual that people were finding information on today should be a significant figure in the history of the activity, someone who played or plays a significant role in the activity, and/or someone who is well known for their involvement in this activity.

Everyone had the rest of the period to work on this research and to create notecards from the information that they found.

Submitted Today:
- - -

Helpful Documents:

Future Exploration research questions

Future Exploration Sources - Model Sheet (how to copy the sheet)

Determining Source Reliability

Citing Websites (bibilography and parenthetical)

Homework:

Find sources for the "who" section of the future exploration research project and create notecards from these sources.
Revisions:
Activities Speaker Presentation Notes (may need to review interview on 03.24) - due Friday 4/3
Reading questions for "Notes from the Underground" (may need to review "Notes from the Underground") - Due Friday 4/3

03.30 - Quote Cab, Q3 Revisions

At the beginning of class today, I introduced everyone to a game focused on identifying effective quotes called "Quote Cab." We reviewed the directions for this game and then played a round. We will work more with this game tomorrow.

"Quote Cab" - Introduction

"Quote Cab" - Episode 01

Next, several students helped me to return work for quarters three and four while I handed out grade report sheets. We then addressed revisions and opportunities to improve assignments to a 4 (see below).

Assignment: Sinkhole reading processing questions
Revision Feedback: 
In questions five and six, be sure to address skills and knowledge people need in working around sinkholes as well as challenges they face (some responses looked at one or two of these points, but not all three).
For a 4: Integrate quotes from the article to focus your writing and support your ideas.

Assignment: Speaker presentation notes (Competitive Long Distance Runner)
Revision Feedback: 
Make sure you have notes on each of the planned questions.
For a 4: Write a paragraph summary of the interview that synthesizes important information from the talk, paraphrasing key ideas and integrating important quotes from the speaker.

Everyone then had the rest of the period to work on revisions or to continue doing research for their future exploration project. During this time, I met individually with people to answer questions about quarter three grades or assignments.

Submitted Today:
- - -

Handouts:
Returned work
Quarter 3 grade report sheet

Homework:

Revisions:
Activities Speaker Presentation Notes (may need to review interview on 03.24) - due Friday 4/3
Reading questions for "Notes from the Underground" (may need to review "Notes from the Underground") - Due Friday 4/3

03.27 - Activities Presentation, Future Exploration Research

At the beginning of class today, we had the unit 3 roots test. We then watched an interview that I conducted during period three yesterday with a woman who is a competitive distance runner (see interview below). We will have several of these presentation to get some perspective on activities that people enjoy, what they like about the activity, how they came to the activity, and what they get out of it. Everyone took notes on the presentation and handed in those notes at the end of class (these will be counted on the fourth quarter).

At the end of the period, we did a test run of a game that focuses on summary skills (see below).

Handouts:
Activities Speaker Presentation Notes

Submitted Today:Activities Speaker Presentation Notes
Revisions: Notecard Practice

Homework:

Find and record five (5) sources and create ten (10) notecards for your Future Exploration project for Monday 3/30 (we will have time in class tomorrow and on Friday to work towards this goal as well).