Quizzing the Teacher

This lesson is part of a larger writing experience in which students interview, and then write character sketches of, each other. The lesson focuses on creating interview questions that generate interesting information and stories about the person being interviewed, teaching that the richness of detail (Ideas and Content) is only as strong as the material you have to work with.

The teacher is the first interview subject. Before the questioning begins, the teacher says that he or she will be keeping track of something on the chalkboard and invites students to try to figure out what is being tracked.

Students begin asking questions, and the teacher answers honestly (reserving the right to pass, of course). If the question asked can be answered with one word, the teacher should limit the answer to ONLY one word and make a tally mark in one column on the board. If the question asked cannot be answered with one word, the teacher should tell a detailed story and mark the other column.

After several questions, ask if anyone can guess what the tally marks represent. If not, keep going. Once someone guesses, invite some more examples of one-word answer questions and of rich questions.

Students are now ready to compose a list of ten good, rich questions to use when they do their interviews.