Lesson 3: Planning for Humans of Your School
20 minutes
Introduce the lesson (2 minutes)
Tell students something like this: “Today you will plan to get to know a member of the school community and create their portrait.”
MCC Tip: Some teachers have found that it can be helpful to keep a spreadsheet of interviewers and interviewees – this avoids burdening certain interviewees and ensures that each student has a different person to interview.
Preparing for the interview (15 minutes)
Students should consider who they want to interview and write the questions they’d like to ask, perhaps beginning with surface-level questions and advancing to more thought-provoking questions. (See Appendix 2 for question ideas.) Provide the instructions or guidelines below so students can follow the process.
Instructions for students should include the following (included in Appendix 2):
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 norms in Appendix 1) and take notes during the interview, but try your best to maintain focus on the interviewee. Scribbling key words or phrases can be helpful.
Make sure the final portrait and narrative – including any quotations – are approved by your interviewee before you “publish” them.
MCC Tip: Coming up with good questions can be challenging. The point of this lesson is to practice asking questions and listening to others’ answers, so feel free to provide questions to those students who are stuck on this step.
Encourage students to record their interview questions in their journals or on a computer where they will be able to type their responses. Remind students they’ll be taking notes of the responses they get during their interviews, as this will be crucial for completing their portraits in the next lesson.
For the remainder of the lesson, instruct students to organize into pairs and practice asking questions,listening and taking notes. Circle the room to observe partner interviewing and note taking and make note of any positive observations or areas of growth to share with the class.
Wrap Up (2 minutes)
Bring the class back together to wrap-up the lesson. Share any observations you noticed during the partner practice including positive feedback and areas for growth.
Let students know when you think the next lesson will take place.
MCC Tip: Decide if it makes more sense for students to complete their interviews outside of class or during the next lesson. If technology allows, or if necessary, students could conduct their interviews via Skype, phone, or email. Students must also obtain a picture of their interviewees, so if they are interviewing outside of class time be sure to remind them to either take or hand-draw a picture of their interviewee. If they are not meeting their interviewee in person, they may want to ask the person to send them a picture. If students complete their interviews outside of class, they should bring their notes from the interview to the next class.
Content developed by Making Caring Common, a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
