Interview an Elder Project
Purpose/Rationale
There are a few of guiding principles behind my design for this project.
Firstly, I assigned this project my first year I attempted to teach ELA New Media 10/11. One of the ideas I wanted to explore in the course was around journalism and how to ethically find and use resources and share information that the learned from interviews.
Secondly, I wanted to collaborate with our schools First Nations Culture and Language teacher. Her class is a blended class of students in Grades 10-12, so I needed to design a project that I could use with my English 12/Social Justice 12 class as well as my New Media 10/11 class.
Finally, it was an ongoing goal for our school to make indigenous culture/language more commonplace among all our classes, and having students interview local elders and knowledge-keepers about local history and traditions was an authentic way I could do this in my English classes.
Firstly, I assigned this project my first year I attempted to teach ELA New Media 10/11. One of the ideas I wanted to explore in the course was around journalism and how to ethically find and use resources and share information that the learned from interviews.
Secondly, I wanted to collaborate with our schools First Nations Culture and Language teacher. Her class is a blended class of students in Grades 10-12, so I needed to design a project that I could use with my English 12/Social Justice 12 class as well as my New Media 10/11 class.
Finally, it was an ongoing goal for our school to make indigenous culture/language more commonplace among all our classes, and having students interview local elders and knowledge-keepers about local history and traditions was an authentic way I could do this in my English classes.
Process
My co-teacher and I discussed elders she knew in the community who would likely be open and available to be interviewed. These were elders she knew were knowledgeable of local history and traditions and who had worked with the school in the past. We contacted these elders in advance to make sure they would be available to work with the students on the days they would be scheduled to do their interviews.
Some of these elders were home-bound and would not be able to make it to the school in-person, so in some cases students would be visiting them in their homes, so we had the students divide themselves into pairs. Having the students work in pairs also made the task of interviewing simpler, as one student could ask the questions while the other would take notes.
We let the students choose which elder they wanted to work with. This was a very small community, so all the students knew who these people were as well as which elders would likely be able to have stories that would interest them. The student pairs were then responsible for calling their assigned elder to arrange an interview time on one of the assigned days.
On the "Interview Days," the students either went to their elder's house or met with them in one of the spaces we made available in the school. Students were provided with a script in advance so they would know what questions to ask. They were then expected to use their findings to write a written reflection about what they learned and what they would like to learn more about what the elder had to share with them.
Some of these elders were home-bound and would not be able to make it to the school in-person, so in some cases students would be visiting them in their homes, so we had the students divide themselves into pairs. Having the students work in pairs also made the task of interviewing simpler, as one student could ask the questions while the other would take notes.
We let the students choose which elder they wanted to work with. This was a very small community, so all the students knew who these people were as well as which elders would likely be able to have stories that would interest them. The student pairs were then responsible for calling their assigned elder to arrange an interview time on one of the assigned days.
On the "Interview Days," the students either went to their elder's house or met with them in one of the spaces we made available in the school. Students were provided with a script in advance so they would know what questions to ask. They were then expected to use their findings to write a written reflection about what they learned and what they would like to learn more about what the elder had to share with them.
Reflection
The students and the elders enjoyed the interview process (even though some of the students were initially nervous about it at first). We were impressed by the thoughtful reflections that the students wrote about what they learned and their thoughts on the value of their experiences. This was a relatively simple assignment (although there were a lot moving parts to make it happen). It may not be as simple to make this work in other communities, but this is an assessment I would definitely use again.
Resources
smalgyax_and_english_interview_projects.docx | |
File Size: | 32 kb |
File Type: | docx |
smalgyax_and_english_interview_questions.docx | |
File Size: | 34 kb |
File Type: | docx |
interview_summary_outline.docx | |
File Size: | 12 kb |
File Type: | docx |