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Unit II
Classwork Applications of Fieldwork Basics
Lesson 3 Interviewing a Community Guest
I'm not going to be around that much longer, and I want someone to carry on the trade so that it doesn't die out with me. I have two boys but they [are not] interested in being mechanics. I want someone to learn how to blacksmith so that it will be passed on.
--Jack Taylor, Webster Parish
Grade Levels
4-8
Curriculum Areas
English Language Arts, Social Studies.
Purpose of Lesson
Students conduct an interview in the classroom from an outsider position as they continue to hone their fieldwork skills.
Lesson Objectives/Louisiana Content Standards, Benchmarks, and Foundation Skills
- Students work in teams to gain practice in conducting interviews.
H-1A-M6 Conducting research in efforts to answer historical questions. (1, 2, 3, 4)
ELA-4-M5 Listening and responding to a wide variety of media (e.g., music, TV, film, speech). (1, 3, 4, 5)
ELA-4-M4 Speaking and listening for a variety of audiences (e.g., classroom, real-life, workplace) and purposes (e.g., awareness, concentration, enjoyment, information, problem solving). (1, 2, 4, 5)
ELA-2-M5 Recognizing and applying literary devices (e.g., figurative language, symbolism, dialogue). (1, 4)
ELA-5-M6 Locating, gathering, and selecting information using graphic organizers, outline, note taking, summarizing, interviewing, and surveying to produce documented texts and graphics. (1, 3, 4)
- Students self-evaluate their interviewing skills, using a checklist.
ELA-5-M2 Locating and evaluating information sources e.g., print materials, databases, CD-ROM references, Internet information, electronic reference works, community and government data, television and radio resources, audio and visual materials). (1, 3, 4, 5)
- Students process fieldwork results by labeling, logging, and transcribing.
ELA-5-M4 Using available technology to produce, revise, and publish a variety of works. (1, 3, 4)
- Students respond to fieldwork experience by writing about it.
ELA-1-M3 Reading, comprehending, and responding to written, spoken, and visual texts in extended passages. (1, 3, 4)
ELA-2-M5 Recognizing and applying literary devices (e.g., figurative language, symbolism, dialogue). (1, 4)
ELA-2-M6 Writing as a response to texts and life experiences (e.g., letters, journals, lists).(1, 2, 4)
ELA-6-H4 Analyzing various genres as records of life experiences. (1, 2, 4, 5)
H-1A-M3 Analyzing the impact that specific individuals, ideas, events, and decisions had on the course of history; (1, 2, 3, 4)
H-1D-M6 Examining folklore and describing how cultural elements have shaped our state and local heritage. (1, 3, 4)
Time Required
3-5 class periods
Materials
For fieldwork, you will need new Interview Folder -- For the Teacher for each team, as well as for each student, and Field Kit -- For Teachers for each team. Print and duplicate the Worksheets and Assessment Tools listed below.
Technology Connections
Internet Resources
Identifying Folk Traditions and Locating Folk Artists
Suggestions for Folklife Fieldwork and Presentations: Folklife Genres
Folklife in Louisiana
Louisiana Folk Artist Biographies
Louisiana Folklife Program
Louisiana Regional Folklorists
Louisiana State Artist Roster
Louisiana Touring Directory
Fait a la Main: A Source of Louisiana Crafts
Local Arts Councils
AIE Handbook: A Guide to Planning and Implementing Quality Arts-In-Education Programs
Passing It On, C.A.R.T.S. (select Resources, Articles, Passing It On)
Louisiana Voices Funding Opportunities
Sample Fieldnotes: Teen Memories of Grade School Traditions
Inviting a Guest Checklist (for teachers)
Adaptation Strategies
Student Worksheets
Field Kit -- For Teachers (for teachers)
Field Kit List of Contents (for students)
Interview Folder -- For the Teacher (for teachers)
Interview Folder --List of Contents (for students)
Interview Checklist
Conducting an Interview Evaluation
Folklife Interview Form
Oral Release Form
Written Release Form
Tape Log
Photo or Slide Log and/or contact sheets
Transcribing an Interview Worksheet
Notetaking Worksheet
Individual Roles in the Field Worksheets
Writing About an Interview Worksheet
Insider / Outsider Worksheet
Letter to Parents and Caretakers
Assessment Tools
Interview Checklist
Conducting an Interview Evaluation
Individual Roles in the Field Worksheets
Fieldwork Rubric
Peer Evaluation for Interviews
Evaluation Tools/Opportunities
Process
- Notes and/or tapes of interviews
- Photographs taken during interviews
- Folklife Interview Forms
- Transcribing an Interview Worksheet
- Writing About an Interview Worksheet
- Peer Evaluation for Interviews. - used as self evaluation and guidance
- Fieldwork Rubric
Summative
- Interview Checklist
- Checklist for each role on the Individual Roles in the Field Worksheets
- Individual Roles in the Field Worksheets - graded by teacher
- Conducting an Interview Evaluation
- Peer Evaluation for Interviews
Products
- Tape Logs
- Photo or Slide Logs or contact sheets
- Transcriptions of interviews
- Posters about guest
- Promotional brochures about guest
- Essays about careers
- Completed fieldwork forms
Background Information for the Teacher
After introducing fieldwork, addressing issues of position and practicing interviews in Unit II Lesson 1, and Unit II Lesson 2, it is time to invite a guest so that students experience interviewing someone who is an outsider to the classroom setting. This lesson serves as a bridge between the practice interview and an interview in the field, outside the classroom, which is covered in Unit II Lesson 4. Review Identifying Traditions and Locating Folk Artists and Louisiana Voices Funding Opportunities. Use the Inviting a Guest Checklist to help you go through the entire process of Interviewing a Community Guest.
To Prepare
Check that the Field Kit -- For Teachers have all necessary equipment and materials. Talk to your library media specialist to see what equipment the school can provide. If it is impossible to arrange for a tape recorder and/or camera for each student team, then provide Journals, Notetaking Worksheets, or steno pads for handwritten notes. Identify a guest from the community or someone from your school, and use the Inviting a Guest Checklist before inviting him/her. Locate relevant research on the community guest and use the resources in Unit II Lesson 2 to identify questions to ask.
Decide how you will handle teams: assign them or allow students to choose. Become familiar with the team roles by reviewing the Individual Roles in the Field Worksheet. Place students' Interview Folder -- For the Teacher in an easily accessible spot.
4th and 8th Grade Activities
- Before the visit, you can serve as a model community guest. Students can interview you about your own profession: teaching. Place students in small teams of four and explain that each student will have an individual role. Brainstorm with students about the questions that they could ask you.
- Distribute an Interview Folder -- For the Teacher to each team. Assign each student a role, or ask them to volunteer, then review the roles on the Individual Roles in the Field Worksheets with the students: 1) Lead Interviewer/Note Taker, 2) Tape Operator/Logger, 3) Photographer, 4) Illustrator, and 5) Videographer, if your lesson will include this role.
- Follow these steps for the interview:
- Ask each team to complete an Insider / Outsider Worksheet about your profession (one worksheet per team). Again, it is important for students to understand that the questions they pose are driven by their Insider / Outsider position. Once they have completed the worksheet, the team should brainstorm together about possible questions. These questions should be given to the team's Lead Interviewer.
- Set up the front of the class for the interview by having the Lead Interviewers place their chairs around your desk. Have a table set up near you for the tape recorders, one from each team. The Tape Operators should sit nearby so they can monitor the recorders. The Photographers can move around to get pictures. And the Illustrators can be at their desks, mapping the space.
- Pick one team to interview you. Have the Lead Interviewer read the Oral Release Form into the tape recorder and begin the interview with the Folklife Interview Form, gathering biographical and contextual information. Have the rest of the team perform their roles: tape operating and logging, photographing, illustrating, and videotaping.
- Have the Lead Interviewers from other teams take turns asking the questions generated in their brainstorming sessions, then open the floor up to the whole class. At the end of the interview, make sure the Interviewer asks you to sign the Written Release Form, and thanks you.
- Have the Tape Operators/Loggers label the tapes, with the name, date, and location of the interview, and complete the Tape Log. Here is an example label:
| Community Guest's Name. Nov. 23, 2007. Greenfields Middle School, Greenfields, Louisiana |
- Have Photographers complete Photo Logs and/or contact sheets for digital photos.
- After the model interview with you, ask the students to return to their teams to complete the checklist for each individual role on the Individual Roles in the Field Worksheet. Encourage them to be honest about the successes of the interview, as well as the things that could have been done better
- If desired, award grades for completed Individual Roles in the Field Worksheets using the Grade box on the bottom right of the sheets.
Part 2: The Guest Interview
- Once you've conducted the model interview and identified and scheduled the guest, talk to your students about their roles and behavior with the community guest. It is a good idea to have students assume the same roles as they did in the model interview with you. You may want students to switch roles later in the unit, or in other units, so that they can learn all roles. Follow the same procedure as above for the Teacher Interview.
- Reflect on the interview with the class using the Interview Checklist and discussing new information and skills the students gained.
- Use the Transcribing an Interview Worksheet to introduce students to the transcription process. Give each student a copy of the worksheet. Ideally, each student should have a tape recorder and a copy of the taped interview to proceed at his/her own pace. If this is not possible, consider amplifying the tape for the entire class, playing a short segment, pausing, and continuing, and ask students to write down whatever they can. The aim of this exercise is to demonstrate to them the difficulty of recording faithfully a person's speech.
- After transcribing, logging, and further reflection, provide each student with a copy of the Writing About an Interview Worksheet. After all students have written their thoughts, discuss the three questions: What surprised you? What intrigued you? What stirred or disturbed you?
- Have students complete the Conducting an Interview Evaluation to document what they have learned in this lesson. If desired, grade the students' work and record at bottom of the form.
After the practice interviews and the classroom visit with a community guest, students should be ready to proceed to the next lesson, which puts them in the field.
- Assign teams a product that summarizes their community guest interview. Each may develop the same product, such as a poster or brochure, or each may chooose how to diplay their findings.
- If you feel that students have not yet developed enough skill in interviewing, help them develop more awareness by using the Peer Evaluation for Interviews form. Since it was developed for another unit, some items will not be relevant. Decide which should not be used in this lesson and inform students to ignore those. Assign partners who will have to evaluate each other's interviews using the forms. Remind students to use them as self-evaluation devices to guide the interview process.
4th & 8th Grade Explorations and Extensions
- Imagine that the invited guest has come to you for publicity help. Work in teams to prepare a promotional brochure that advertises the skills and traditions of the community guest.
- Consider planning an artist residency with your class notes. For more information, refer to The AIE Handbook: A Guide to Planning and Implementing Quality Arts-In-Education Programs. For a model folk artist residency, see Passing It On posted on the CARTS website (select Resources, Articles, Passing It On).
Unit II Lesson 3 Resources
Chalmers, Graeme. How to Teach Folk Arts to Young People: The Need for Context. In a speech at New York University, Chalmers challenges the practice of "aesthetic scanning" by providing art teachers with ways to teach students the social context in which art is created.*
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara. An Accessible Aesthetic. The folk artist is very much like a curator and the community is a living museum. In unpacking this metaphor, Kirshenblatt-Gimblett explores how the folk artist learns various traditions and then teaches adults and children to develop strong ties to their communities and cultural history.*
Kodish, Debra. Negotiating Pitfalls and Possibilities. Kodish outlines the steps taken toward understanding folk art and locating it within communities. She also explores how students come to understand the history, economics, style, culture and traditions of people through folk arts.*
Library of Congress. Folklife and Fieldwork: A Layman's Introduction to Field Techniques. American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, 1990, 2002. A basic, accessible guide to developing collection projects with sample forms. Earlier edition available in Spanish. Order from the Center, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540, 202/707-5510, (email folklife@loc.gov) single copies free, postage on bulk orders, or free on the Internet.
Rogovin Paula. Classroom Interviews: A World of Learning. Heinemann Press, 1998. Expert help on finding people, inquiry-based curriculum, and making choices about how to use interviewing, $20.*
Sidener, Diane E. Finding Folk Arts in Teachers' and Students' Lives. How teachers can identify folk groups and incorporate cultural explorations into the classroom learning experience.*
Sunstein, Bonnie and Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater. FieldWorking: Reading and Writing Research. 2nd ed., Bedford/St. Martins, 2002. This teacher resource provides excellent exercises to aid students' fieldwork, observation, and writing skills. Good extension of Elizabeth Simons' Student Worlds, Student Words.*
For additional resources, check the Louisiana Folklife Bibliography. If you would like a list of resources that only relate to this unit, select "Public Folklore & Documentation Tools."
* These resources are available from the CARTS Catalog, 800/333-5982, or online. For articles, select Resources, then Articles.
Unit II Outline
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