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Interviewing artists
ONE OF THE HALLMARKS OF THE CMC PROJECT has been the interaction that
occurs between the students and the visiting artists. In addition to sharing
music, the students and artists engage in a give-and-take dialogue through
interview. We have found that these interviews have prompted students
to think more deeply about history and self-expression of their own identities.
These experiences have provided motivation that has in turn supported
the development of the students’ ability to ask questions, seek elaboration/clarification,
listen carefully, take notes, choose appropriate words, present ideas,
and write for a variety of purposes.
These ideas from participating CMC teachers
will help you find ways to prepare your students to interview visiting
artists.
Before you interview your first artist:
- Work with students to brainstorm a pool of generic questions that
they might ask any artist. For some sample questions, see Types
of interview questions.
- Talk about types of questions, especially the difference between interview
questions and survey questions. (Strong interview questions are typically
open-ended and elicit narrative responses. Survey questions are more
closed and elicit short, one or two word responses.)
- Model and practice interviewing through simulations and other activities
prior to artist visits. Students can work on specific aspects of interviewing
such as making eye contact, taking notes, and asking follow-up questions
to probe for more information. See Open-ended
interviewing for some suggestions on teaching good interviewing
techniques.
- Establish boundaries for questions — discuss what should and
shouldn’t be asked.
- Discuss expectations for appropriate audience behavior.
Before each artist interview:
- Share some information about the artist ahead of time to whet the
students’ interests.
- Decide what it is that the class wants to learn from the interview.
This can be flexible. Artist interviews are typically a combination
of planned questions and spontaneous questions. Students should be encouraged
to listen carefully enough to what is being said that they can ask further
questions on the story being told. See "Following the thread of
a conversation" in Open-ended interviewing
for suggestions on how to do this.
- Organize who will ask questions, and consider having a basic order
that questions will be asked in. One idea is to assign groups of students
certain lines of questioning.
- Set the expectation that every student will ask at least one question,
if that is feasible given the size of the group.
- Have a plan for how students will record the information they learn.
Will all students write all answers? Will groups of students write on
certain topics? Will individual students be responsible for recording
answers to specific questions?
- Allow students to rehearse asking each other their questions and making
up answers in small groups.
- Develop a tentative plan for what you will do with the information
gathered in the interview.
During the interview:
- Keep track of who is asking questions and what kind of questions each
student is asking. Use this information to guide further instruction
on questioning.
- Assess students’ audience behavior skills.
- Pay attention to the ideas and aspects of the artists’ experience
that seem to capture the attention and interest of your students.
- Think about how the information you are learning in the interview
might be used as a springboard for your classroom objectives. Be alert
to opportunities to probe deeper with questions about an area that you
think you might follow-up on later. (For an example of how one teacher
did this, see The artist's visit as springboard.)
- Firm up your plan for what you will do with the information gathered
in the interview.
After the interview:
- Debrief the class on what you noticed with regard to the questions
they were asking and their audience behavior.
- Provide opportunity for student self-reflection on skills you have
emphasized (i.e., listening, making eye contact, speaking loudly and
clearly, asking follow-up questions, etc.). Encourage students to set
personal goals.
- Provide opportunity for the class to synthesize the information gathered
in the interview.
- Give the students time to reflect on the artist visit and what they
learned. Journal writing works nicely for an independent version of
this. It is also nice to let students talk about their reactions and
opinions with others.
- Follow-through with your plan to use the information gathered for
some purpose. Use the momentum of the artist visit to meet your classroom
objectives.
>> Types of interview
questions
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