Appendix 2: Interviewing Instructions and Suggested Questions
Interviewing Instructions:
Interview someone you don’t know well. Think about voices within the community that often go unheard. It may be interesting to choose someone you interact with often but don’t really know much about, or someone you don’t interact with but could learn more about.
Be respectful of your interviewee’s time and privacy. Ask when and where interviewees would like to be interviewed and how they would like their portrait done.
Ask creative and open-ended questions! Make sure your questions are in a logical sequence, and make connections between answers to tell a coherent, cohesive story about the person.
Listen carefully (see Appendix 1) and take notes during the interview, but try your best to maintain focus on the interviewee. Writing down key words or phrases can be helpful.
Make sure the final portrait and narrative caption – including any quotes – are approved by your interviewee before being “published.”
Possible Interview Questions:
Surface level
What kinds of things do you like and dislike?
What is/was a subject in school you enjoy?
What are some of your hobbies?
What is your favorite movie/music/book, and why?
What is your favorite food, and why?
Deeper level
What’s an important memory or story from your life, and what makes it important to you?
What are you afraid of, and why?
What/who do you care about?
What is your best memory?
What do you want to improve on?
What do you do outside of school?
What are you passionate about?
What has been your most difficult challenge?
If you could offer advice to someone younger than you, older than you, or your age, what would it be?
What might people not know about you?
Content developed by Making Caring Common, a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
