Interviewing Tips For Your Hero Story

A JOURNALIST'S INTERVIEWING TIPS AND TRICKS

by columnist Susan Ager, The Detroit Free Press

1. SITTING AROUND A TABLE RULE: Pretend you're at a table next to your
subject. Remember this is CONVERSATION.

2. Don't be afraid of EMOTION: Allow yourself to REACT, to feel sad or
angry.

3. Ask early on about CLIPS: Any common errors? Any misconceptions?

4. Your most potent questions are these:
What makes you say that?
How did you feel when that happened?

5. Anytime you hear an ADJECTIVE, ask for more. How did you know you felt nervous? Without examples or anecdotes, adjectives are not
persuasive.

6. MULTIPLE interviews are essential, even if only by phone. Trust deepens. Questions - and answers - become more sophisticated and nuanced. As a result, understanding grows. Details emerge.

7. Talk in spots OTHER than the office.

8. Try different TIMES of day, early morning or late at night.

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ONLINE INTERVIEW BASICS: TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Technology allows you and your students to conduct an interview virtually, which can open up access to a whole new world of heroes.

Want to have students interview a well known person who lives far away?  Contact them!  You'll be surprised and pleased at how many people are honored to be invited into classrooms to speak directly with students.

Of course, make sure your students are prepared, and that your technology works.

Here's information on the technological side of a virtual interview.

ONLINE INTERVIEWING LESSONS AND ACTIVITIES

Four activities that build skills leading up to their first interview.  It includes an exercise for identifying main and supporting ideas, the Art of Listening and Coming Up With Questions Based on What is Said by the Person You’re Interviewing, Learning from examples, and a guide for the first interview.

Read the Unit here.

Watch film maker Slater Jewel-Kemker, who also is a MY HERO reporter, interview Jackie Speier on working for positive change, and see how Baycat's film maker Fox Nakai intercut an interview of Chris Cream with the rest of their video about Cream's Cuts.