"All I Really Need to Know I Learned in...Interviewing Practice"...Well at least a lot of what I will need to know...

I completed my interviewing assignment today with one of the teachers at my school, which was what my blog group had decided to do for this task.  I felt like it made sense to do this as each of us spends our days working full-time at schools.  For me, it was not difficult to find a teacher willing to be interviewed.  In my job as coach, I have developed some good relationships with some of the teachers at my school and an actual interview done with them is not all that different from the work I do with them on a regular basis.  My issue however was with timing and scheduling.  While I can relatively set my own schedule on a daily basis as needed, classroom teachers cannot and the teacher I wanted to interview was only available for a short time this morning during our "extended day" period but I feel like the short time that was open worked for what I needed.

I feel like the semi-structured interview went well and you will all hear about the specifics of it in class.  What I would like to write about here is how it felt to do the interview.  It felt a bit awkward in that I really made an effort, more than usual for sure, to not talk, interject, etc.  I wanted to just be an active listener, be on the look-out as it were for key words/phrases to record to use for later follow-up and probes.  It was not easy in that I wanted to share in the conversation and with what this teacher was saying.  But I did not because I did not want to "muddy" the water if you will and unnecessarily influence my interviewee.  Another issue was location.  I conducted the interview in my office and of course, staff members came by and tried not to interrupt but did in a way, not to mention the slew of morning announcements that definitely interrupted.  From this I learned that I will need to do my research interviews in a spot where there will not be any interruptions and where I and my interviewee can hear one another easily and clearly.

In the end, forgetting about location, I think that I did okay with my relative silence and occasional nods.  I felt good about maintaining eye contact, showing interest, and making my interviewee feel comfortable in the process.  I think that these actions will go a long way in making sure that my mini-inquiry project interviews are successful and worthwhile.  This was definitely a good practice exercise to help to prepare me for the work to come.  Now, I just need that IRB approval...  : )