Estimados Estudiantes y Compañeros
If you have made it this far into our Jay's Community Profiles site, I provide you with a few more resources to help bring your research to life.
1. Take advantage of the "Asking the Right Questions" tables.
- I provide one table in it's generic form
- The second table, I once used for a research interview about Standardized Education.
2. Below the tables, I put together a Practice Interview Portion from my notes and files.
- I try to provide you with a step-by-step process to produce an interesting narrative.
- In the end, I try to show you how my Interview Portion will look in my final essay.
Here we go:
A. Jay's "Asking the Right Questions" Table
Instructions: Use the sentence stems below to help you formulate questions about your research topic.
Research topic: ________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________
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Question Stems: |
Your questions about your topic: |
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Who? |
Who are the people responsible for…? Who are the people resistant to changing…? Who are the people who have the power to change…? |
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What? |
What is the evidence for ….? What are the advantages/disadvantages of….? What are the major ideas of …? What solutions are available for…? |
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When? |
When will….happen? When will we see a change in….? When was….observed? |
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Where? |
Where will the most/least impact be seen in…? Where is the evidence for …best seen? |
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Why? |
Why is….significant? Why might someone resist the idea that…? Why do scientists draw the conclusion that….? |
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How? |
How does...contrast with….? How will …. Impact …..? How could….be improved? |
B. Jay's Model for Community Profile Interview with Former Teacher
( Jay's Tip: I researched the controversies in the classrooms. They were easy to find. I took the information and formulated questions for my teacher. What does he/she have to say about the ideas I've been reading about?)
Research topic: The Controversy over Standardized Testing in School Districts.
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Question Stems: |
Your questions about your topic: |
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Who? |
Who are the people responsible for…? Who are the people resistant to changing…? Who are the people who have the power to change…? |
Who are the people who came up with “No Child Left Behind? “ Where and Why did all this begin? |
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What? |
What is the evidence for ….? What are the advantages/disadvantages of….? What are the major ideas of …? What solutions are available for…? |
What is the danger of “teaching to the test?” |
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When? |
When will….happen? When will we see a change in….? When was….observed? |
When does excessive test preparation hurt the student? |
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Where? |
Where will the most/least impact be seen in…? Where is the evidence for …best seen? |
Where can a parent go to opt out of standardized education? What are the alternatives? |
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Why? |
Why is….significant? Why might someone resist the idea that…? Why do scientists draw the conclusion that….? |
Why does standardized testing cause severe stress in younger students? |
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How? |
How does...contrast with….? How will …. Impact …..? How could….be improved? |
How can standardized tests become an unreliable measure of student performance? |
C. Jay's Step-by-Step Process for narrating the interview:
Here is the way your interview may look in your paper:
* You may use your interview in one block –Your writing here can be considered a scene, a dialogue, a commentary. It can be your second anecdote. It will look great after you’ve established your introductory scene, background and question of inquiry.
* You may choose to cut your interview into pieces –you just might decide to select parts of the interview to insert into other areas of your paper: anecdote, scene, background, etc.
* Stay Active– this means to maintain your involvement with the story. Instead of copying and pasting a block quote, I suggest you blend your thoughts with the the thoughts of your profile subject.
Here is what my interview might look like:
(I practice with my Teen Pregnancy topic)
(Here I establish my scene:)
I met with Suzy at her job site. She works as a classroom assistant at a local elementary school. Her mother who is a kindergarden teacher got her in the door. It looks like Suzy just might follow in her footsteps. Late in the afternoon, we talked at in her fifth-grade classroom. Actually, I sat at the table, while Suzy organized student work on a bulletin board.
(Here I insert my artifact:)
I saw she was wearing her running shoes. They were red Nikes with green stripes.
(Here I insert dialogue – I also provide an answer to the question, “ What has most surprised you?”)
“They are an important part of the job,” she says. They keep her running. Suzy explained she was surprised by how much she could get accomplished in one day: “You never know how much you can do until you don’t have a choice.”
(Here I include my commentary:)
When Suzy had her baby, she found herself living a double life. She had to work for a living, and she had to work as a mother. It’s like there was never a free moment. Once she finished one task, she was starting another. She never stopped. She couldn’t.
(Here I begin answering questions: “What has been the most difficult aspect of your work or your experience?)
Suzy remembered being so tired after she put her kid to sleep at night. She would sit on her couch for a moment and realize this would be the first time she had sat all day. In her exhaustion her eyes would close. When they opened, she was always confused. “It’s like I didn’t know how long I had slept. It might have been three minutes or three hours. I didn’t know whether to go to sleep or go to work.”
(Here I add a few details of our setting or conversation – I mean, it’s supposed to read like an anecdote.)
As we talk, I can see calculating in her mind how to arrange the class writing projects. Each of them is displayed in a plastic folder with a clear plastic sleeve. She’s pinning them to the wall in rows and columns. “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle,” I say which makes her laugh. Now that her baby is almost two years old, Suzy explains that she’s figuring things out.
(Here I try to bring in a little feeling – I identified a point in the discussion in where Suzy opened up:)
“At first, I was angry at the world,” Suzy admitted. “I couldn’t believe this happened to me.” She said it was like her world turned upside down, inside out. Everyone looked at her like she was an entirely different person. “I was a good student and a good daughter,” Suzy proclaimed. “I got an A in my Sex Ed class, and I never had a problem talking to my mother about a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.” The problem as she sees it now was she was teenager before she was a student and a daughter. It was like she thought nothing could touch her.
(Here I try to close by answering one of my last questions - “What is the most important thing other people should know or understand?” )
“I know. I know. I made a mistake. I was young and irresponsible.” Suzy said, “but that doesn’t mean that my life is over. It’s just beginning.” For a good portion of our conversation, Suzy clearly admitted the difficulty the pregnancy caused her and her family. The father would never be part of the picture. Her father would never look at her the same. Sometimes, she felt she was all alone. It was her and her baby. “But, here is where people are wrong: It’s not the end of the world. I feel I’ve grown stronger through the experience. My baby has opened my eyes to a new and rewarding direction in my life.”
Suzy assured me that no one should feel sorry for her or her situation. It’s a challenge. Some days are harder than others. But, every day she returns home to see her daughter, she feels her life is full of purpose. Her heart is full of love.
Here is how my 500-word interview passage will look like in my research paper:
I met with Suzy at her job site. She works as a classroom assistant at a local elementary school. Her mother who is a kindergarden teacher got her in the door. It looks like Suzy just might follow in her footsteps. Late in the afternoon, we talked at in her fifth-grade classroom. Actually, I sat at the table, while Suzy organized student work on a bulletin board. I saw she was wearing her running shoes. They were red Nikes with green stripes. “They are an important part of the job,” she says. They keep her running. Suzy explained she was surprised by how much she could get accomplished in one day: “You never know how much you can do until you don’t have a choice.”
When Suzy had her baby, she found herself living a double life. She had to work for a living, and she had to work as a mother. It’s like there was never a free moment. Once she finished one task, she was starting another. She never stopped. She couldn’t. Suzy remembered being so tired after she put her kid to sleep at night. She would sit on her couch for a moment and realize this would be the first time she had sat all day. In her exhaustion her eyes would close. When they opened, she was always confused. “It’s like I didn’t know how long I had slept. It might have been three minutes or three hours. I didn’t know whether to go to sleep or go to work.”
As we talk, I can see calculating in her mind how to arrange the class writing projects. Each of them is displayed in a plastic folder with a clear plastic sleeve. She’s pinning them to the wall in rows and columns. “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle,” I say which makes her laugh. Now that her baby is almost two years old, Suzy explains that she’s figuring things out. “At first, I was angry at the world,” Suzy admitted. “I couldn’t believe this happened to me.” She said it was like her world turned upside down, inside out. Everyone looked at her like she was an entirely different person. “I was a good student and a good daughter,” Suzy proclaimed. “I got an A in my Sex Ed class, and I never had a problem talking to my mother about a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.” The problem as she sees it now was she was teenager before she was a student and a daughter. It was like she thought nothing could touch her.
“I know. I know. I made a mistake. I was young and irresponsible.” Suzy said, “but that doesn’t mean that my life is over. It’s just beginning.” For a good portion of our conversation, Suzy clearly admitted the difficulty the pregnancy caused her and her family. The father would never be part of the picture. Her father would never look at her the same. Sometimes, she felt she was all alone. It was her and her baby. “But, here is where people are wrong: It’s not the end of the world. I feel I’ve grown stronger through the experience. My baby has opened my eyes to a new and rewarding direction in my life.”
Suzy assured me that no one should feel sorry for her or her situation. It’s a challenge. Some days are harder than others. But, every day she returns home to see her daughter, she feels her life is full of purpose. Her heart is full of love.
This is going to be great. You will see.
Paz,
JL