Beyond Question: Learning the Art of the Interview

Overview | How do interviewers craft and pose questions? How can questions open doors to information, shed light on important subjects and invite subjects to open up? In this lesson, students learn about interview skills and techniques, then practice interviewing and creating their own Q. & A.’s modeled on Deborah Solomon’s “Questions For” column in The Times Magazine.

Materials | Student notebooks

Warm-up | Ask students if they know who Arne Duncan is, and briefly explain his role as secretary of education. Then give students the following passage, excerpted from the New York Times article “For Education Chief, Stimulus Means Power, Money and Risk,” written just after Mr. Duncan was confirmed as education secretary:

The $100 billion in emergency aid for public schools and colleges in the economic stimulus bill could transform Arne Duncan into an exceptional figure in the history of federal education policy: a secretary of education loaded with money and the power to spend large chunks of it as he sees fit. […]

“There’s going to be this extraordinary influx of resources,” he said in an interview. “So people say, ‘You’re going to be the most powerful secretary ever,’ but I have no interest in that. Power has never motivated me. What I love is opportunity, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something special, to drive change, to make our schools better.”

Mr. Duncan said he intended to reward school districts, charter schools and nonprofit organizations that had demonstrated success at raising student achievement — “islands of excellence,” he called them. Programs that tie teacher pay to classroom performance will most likely receive money, as will other approaches intended to raise teacher quality, including training efforts that pair novice instructors with veteran mentors, and after-school and weekend tutoring programs.

The positions of deputy secretary, under secretary and chief of staff and dozens of other senior posts at the Education Department remain unfilled, so Mr. Duncan is relying on help from career officers and consultants. He has appointed teams to develop procedures for distributing the stimulus billions quickly, and many aides, he said, have been working evenings and weekends to begin organizing the effort.

“I want all of us to work hard enough and smart enough to take full advantage of this, because it’ll never happen again,” Mr. Duncan said last month in his first speech to hundreds of civil servants at department headquarters, as the outlines of the huge stimulus package were taking shape in Congress.

Urging department employees not to be deferential, he described the reception he got on his first visit to his headquarters.

“It was like, ‘Hello, Mr. Secretary-designate-nominee,’ and it didn’t feel right,” Mr. Duncan said. “My name is Arne. It’s not Mr. Secretary. Please just call me Arne.” That line drew a standing ovation.

Divide students into pairs or small groups and have them engage in a “reverse interview” exercise, using the following prompts to guide them:

1. Identify the direct and indirect quotes, including partial quotes, from Mr. Duncan that appear in the passage.
2. Generate a list of questions you imagine the reporter asked to get these quotes. How do you think the reporter, Sam Dillon, got Mr. Duncan talking? How did Mr. Dillon get Mr. Duncan to provide the information and quotations?

After a few minutes, have groups share the questions they generated. Were their ideas similar or different? Then have students return to their groups to brainstorm a list of questions they would ask Secretary Duncan if they had the opportunity.

Related | In “The School of Hard Drives,” Deborah Solomon talks to Secretary Duncan about the need for computers in the classroom and his views on the state of American education. Ms. Solomon opens her interview this way (her questions are in bold below):

This interview is for a special issue on education and technology, so let me start by asking you about computers in classrooms. As the secretary of education, do you think every kid in America needs a computer?

I think every student needs access to technology, and I think technology can be a hugely important vehicle to help level the playing field. Whether it’s in an inner-city school or a rural community, I want those students to have a chance to take A.P. biology and A.P. physics and marine biology.

What does that have to do with having a computer?

We have thousands of students today taking online classes. We actually have virtual schools today.

How horrible. How can you compare the experience of acquiring knowledge from a beloved high-school teacher to acquiring information from a machine?

There are schools that don’t have a beloved high-school teacher to teach A.P. physics. That’s what I’m talking about.

Read the entire interview with your class, using the following questions.

Questions | For reading comprehension and discussion:

1. Why does Secretary Duncan believe it’s important to have technology in schools? Do you agree or disagree with him?
2. How does Mr. Duncan compare the United States with other countries?
3. What is the new film “Waiting for Superman” about, and why does Mr. Duncan think it is a valuable documentary?
4. How do you think having grown up without a TV set influenced Mr. Duncan’s views on television, video games and education?
5. How do you think this interview was conducted? How do you think it compares with how it appears on the page in Q. & A. form? (The editing process is described here.)

Activity | Introduce students to basic principles of interviewing. Related resources include those in the list at right as well as Interviewing Principles by veteran journalism educator Melvin Mencher, and the NPR story “The Art of the Interview, ESPN-Style” and the video “Anatomy of a Question” both about “The Question Man,” John Sawatsky.

General tips include these:

• Research. Read and obtain background information about the subject, source or topic at hand before interviewing so that you can ask informed questions.
• Ask simple questions. Keep your questions short, to the point and focused. Otherwise you risk distracting or confusing your subject, or allowing him or her to answer only part of a complex question. Break down complicated questions into shorter, simpler questions.
• Limit closed-ended questions; use mostly open-ended questions. Closed-ended questions are yes-or-no questions or those that invite very basic, one-word answers. Open-ended questions often begin with “Why?” and “How?” or phrases such as “Tell me about … ” or “How does that make you feel?” They invite longer, more insightful responses.
• Ask follow-up questions. An inexperienced interviewer asks a question, notes the response then moves on to the next question. Don’t stick to the script — listen to the answers and probe further before moving on to your prepared questions. Often it is during a follow-up question that the right quote falls into your lap. “Following up” can also involve a non-question, like a sympathetic response or a gesture of surprise or admiration.
• Take notes. While having an audio recorder is helpful, always keep a notebook handy and use it to jot down quotes, statistics or facts that strike you. You might also want to write down physical details about your environment and your subject’s appearance, facial expressions and voice. But be sure to look up from your notebook and maintain eye contact.
• Be conversational without having a conversation. Keep the interview informal and casual, not overly scripted, and go with the flow, allowing your subject to switch directions –- as long as you remain in control of the interview and are prepared to steer it back to your topic as needed.

When students are ready, let them practice by interviewing you (or a visitor) in a “news conference” format, with students taking turns to ask you questions. Alternatively, have one student interview you in front of the class, while his or her classmates watch and take notes.

It will help to focus the discussion on an authentic topic, like, say, the use of technology in school. Give students time to prepare questions before the interview begins.

Afterward, debrief the process. Compare and contrast open-ended, closed-ended questions, and follow-up questions; identify moments in the interview that flowed smoothly and led to telling insights as well as moments that did not yield meaty responses. Where did more opportunity exist for the interviewer? Invite them to share their notes and compelling quotes they jotted down, and ask them to reflect on which questions generated detailed, in-depth responses with pithy, “quotable” quotes, if any. Were they able to capture information accurately, including verbatim quotes?

After the practice interview and debrief, they write a Q. & A. in the style of Deborah Solomon.

Going further | Students read and examine at least three more of Ms. Solomon’s “Questions For” columns. They then generate a list of questions and conduct their own interviews with a person of interest in the school or local community, then edit and write it up in Ms. Solomon’s style, perhaps for publication in the school newspaper or news Web site.

Students might also read about questions that were raised about Ms. Solomon’s technique and process and then discuss how to conduct interviews like hers that are ethical, accurate, clear and effective.

Standards | This lesson is correlated to McREL’s national standards (it can also be aligned to the new Common Core State Standards):

Arts and Communication
1. Understands the principles, processes, and products associated with arts and communication media.
2. Knows and applies appropriate criteria to arts and communication products.
3. Uses critical and creative thinking in various arts and communication settings.
4. Understands ways in which the human experience is transmitted and reflected in the arts and communication.

Language Arts
1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process.
2. Uses the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing.
3. Uses grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions.
5. Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process.
7. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.
8. Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes.
10. Understands the characteristics and components of the media.

Life Skills: Life Work
6. Makes effective use of basic life skills.

Life Skills: Working With Others
4. Displays effective interpersonal communication skills.