What is the compelling INQUIRY question that guides the design of your lesson/project?
What digital tools can developmental college writers use to support and invigorate their interview essays?
LESSON/PROJECT SUMMARY: Write a 1 - 2 sentence overview of your planned learning experience(s), including both anytime and real-time elements.
Students write an interview essay on a subject of their choice midway through our semester, designing questions, conducting research, crafting several drafts of the essay using the steps of the writing process, engaging in peer review, revising, and sharing final versions with the class. Digital tools will help this essay transition to more of a multimedia text, increasing vibrancy and inspiring students as creatives, authors, and researchers.
TEACHING GOALS: What anytime and/or real-time digital teaching practices will you aim to accomplish in this lesson/product?
Interviewing (profiling) helps my collegiate developmental writers improve both literacy and interpersonal skills.
Writing an interview essay based on a captivating subject gives learners practice at using elements of effective narration (such as employing chronological order and writing realistic dialogue), incorporating sensory description and imagery, and developing interviewing skills that aid in finding unique primary source material in future research papers and projects.
Learning how and when to start the interview, how to write good questions, how to conduct an interview, and how to edit and incorporate the interview material into a document or project are all valuable objectives for college writers.
Students often need and appreciate practicing building interpersonal skills, such as initiating and facilitating a conversation, showing appreciation for others and their perspectives, and developing empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: What will learners be expected to know, understand, and be able to do during and after they engage with the sequence of tasks in this lesson/project?
Before
Select a meaningful subject through prewriting
Create a StoryBoard
Request an interview
Plan interview questions and experience
Evaluate their own questions and those of others
Participate in an informal peer interview
Listen to speech and practice writing dialogue that sounds real
Build knowledge of effective description techniques
During
Observe subjects, non-verbal cues, environment
Ask questions and converse
Accurately document useful responses and other information
Analyze responses and adjust accordingly
After
Complete an empathy map about the subject
Draft the interview essay
Respond to classmates’ interview essays using FlipGrid
Revise interview essay based on FlipGrid feedback
Provide a self-reflection on the interview project using FlipGrid
Create a short video presentation featuring what you learned in the interview essay using AdobeSpark and TwistedWave to integrate video and audio clips
Conduct research to add to interview essay (optional)
Document interview and other research sources using MLA format
TEXTS/TOOLS/TECHNOLOGIES AND RATIONALE: Identify the digital texts, tools and/or technologies that will be used in this lesson. Explain why you have selected these digital resources for this work.
Digital Tools and Technology
All links below are collected on Digital Artifact 1: Resources for Interviewing Wakelet
FlipGrid for real-time peer responding, reflecting and connecting
Jamboard for real-time and anytime planning and prewriting
Digital Artifact 2: "Details That Reveal" Jamboard
Empathy mapping to build characterization and empathy for our subjects in real time
StoryBoardThat for sharing and planning narrative features
AdobeSpark for morphing essay into multimedia format
Wixie for morphing essay into multimedia format
Sample Interviews/Narratives for Anytime Inspiration:
The TED Interview
*If using interviewing with younger learners, Kamala Harris's picturebook Superheroes Are Everywhere presents a fun spin on selecting an inspiring subject from everyday life.
Dyad Screencast with Nicole Galipeau
I love how specific your inquiry question is!
Charles MacArthur does some great research in developmental writing programs (focused on community colleges)- you might want to check out his work with Zoi Phillipakos - (thank you! will do L)
Here's the link to the project website: http://www.supportingstrategicwriters.org/about-ssw/
Your teaching goals seem very worthwhile and you make a strong case for how the interview/profile essay is helpful for them. It seems like a project that is both fun and engaging.
I love how you are gathering models of similar interview/narrative projects as models. That will be very helpful for them.
Question and Summary: clear, effective language used. I appreciate it being easy for me to understand - concise yet specific. (NG)
Learning Outcomes: love the organization of Before, During, after and how you listed very specific outcomes (NG)
Tools: The tools have been selected with care and with their specific purposes in mind to propel deeper learning and to faciliate sharing the students' work. Thank you for teaching me about Empathy Mapping! Also thank you for the Sample Interviews/Narratives for Anytime Inspiration list of resources - you inspire me. I want to incorporate your idea on interviewing and creating a digital artifact into my media literacy classes for next year. (NG)
Overall Feedback: Your idea is complex yet accessible for me to understand as a K-12 teacher-librarian being outside of your content area and in a different professional role. Also the idea is FUN! I can imagine adult learners thriving and succeeding though your Design Studio project. And you have motivated me to think of how I could adapt the idea into my own professional practice as I create a new Media Literacy course.