Getting to Know You
Patrick Akerley
Lakeshore High School
St. Clair Shores, Michigan
Objective
Students will get acquainted with each other, test their interview skills and write a personality feature.
Rationale
To overcome the awkwardness of a new staff merging with last year’s veterans, students will learn that everyone in class is the possible subject of a feature story. By interviewing and writing about one of their classmates, students will get a taste of the journalistic trip they are about to embark on, and as a bonus, they will get to know their classmates.
Activities and Procedures
Activity 1
- Adviser will randomly pick a student to interview in front of the class. Students will observe the interview and take notes about the questions asked during the interview. Adviser will write a personality feature on this student to be read the next day.
- Students draw names to determine their interview subject.
- Students are given a “false fact” that they will tell about themselves during the interview
- Students will conduct their interviews
- Allow 5-10 minutes for each interview
- Students will try to determine the “false fact” by verifying the facts of the interview. (They can do this by checking with friends or the adviser)
- Hand out examples of personality features
- Discuss “what is a feature?”
- Students will begin writing their feature
Activity 2
- Adviser will read his/her student feature story
- Students present their features
- Determine if students found “false facts”
- Discuss the good points about the features read
Continuing Assignment
Students will interview a staff member (teacher, administrator, counselor, etc.) and write a brief personality feature.