Taping Yourself Interviewing is a Real Eye-Opener

As I sit here reading the transcript of my unstructured teacher interview, I am appalled at what a terrible interviewer I am! On Tuesday, I sat down with the short list of open-ended questions I had worked with my think tank group to come up with, and had a half-hour conversation with a reading teacher in my district. I thought this assignment was a no-brainer, because, after all, during my banking career, I “interviewed” lots and lots of important people in the finance department of major corporations.

Looking at the transcript, I realize that I only asked three of the four questions, and I asked one of them after it was already answered. I left out the most important one: “Why do you feel that way?” My transcript is riddled with questions that are too closed. For example, instead of asking, “Is it expected that the [classroom] teachers will take over part of that,” referring to Tier 2 RtI activities, I should have asked a more open-ended question, like “What part will the classroom teachers play,” instead of mine, which could have elicited a yes-or-no response.

Was I always this bad at it, or have I just lost my touch? Maybe part of my problem is that, with my banking clients, I would ask one or two questions, then let them guide me to where the conversation should go. I realized that this strategy won’t work if I have an agenda, a list of questions I need answered. I wish I had the opportunity to tape myself years ago, and figure out if I had really gotten what I wanted out of my experiences with my clients; had I led them too much to get the information I wouldn’t have thought to ask for? And did I stray too far from my own agenda, forget to come back around and leave without accomplishing my purpose? Did I ask questions that were already answered – I imagine that leaves an interviewee frustrated, feeling like you weren’t listening. I’ll be interested to hear about my classmates’ experiences with this assignment.