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Chris Crauwels

Dr. Ryan MacTaggart

EDUC350

10-23-2019

Case Study: Interviews

For the purpose of anonymity, I am using pseudonyms for the two students I

interviewed, the first being John, and Amy being the second. I chose to interview the two

students from my class because I thought that they could best describe the middle school

experience, as they seemingly liked to participate and be engaged in class. They also were

recommended by Mr. Petersen, but I can tell why as they each gave a unique point of view and

gave interesting information for the interview. I would have liked to include more diversity

potentially, however for the time I had in order to do this assignment and the daily Webber

schedule I had become more acquainted to these students on red days instead of those on black

days. I wanted to choose a boy and a girl for sure to see what was similar and different for them.

Those were the major factors as to why I chose them, but I see how interviewing a student who

seems a little more jaded towards school would have been maybe more beneficial than those who

generally seem more positive about it. Regardless, contrary to my expectations, Amy did provide

some of the unpopular opinions on school in general to which I can get into later.

To start off, I began my interviewing with John who set the bar very high on interview

style and engagement. The most interesting question and answer interaction I had with him was

when I had asked if he had any career interests, to which he stated that he wants to potentially be

a lawyer or get into some biology and into forensic sciences. Those, in my opinion are some very

determined and set goals for a seventh grader, as I remember that I was entirely unsure about my
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future career back then. What John taught me about middle school was that it is overall

necessary, but the starting times and homework load can feel discouraging sometimes. He did

remark that being more involved with the school definitely helped him though, making

connections and friendships. What he taught me about being a teacher was that energy and

personal connections are important as evidence from his favorite teacher, and from his advice,

that kids are flexible, and to teach in an interesting way that is not directly from the book. I feel

like a lot of what he had to say correlates to what I have learned at CSU about teaching. On

interviewing, John brought some light into the very positive side, and the benefits of

interviewing well. This interview showed how important an interview can be for collecting

information and establishing connection.

For my second interview, I felt a little disheartened by the level of engagement and

positivity that Amy had given. I feel like it was somewhat unfair to judge her interview on the

same basis as John’s because the two are very different people in general. So, it was harder for

me, the interviewer to adapt to that and make the interview more fluent. Overall though, it still

was very insightful. One of the most interesting interactions I had with her was when I asked her

career interests and if they related to any classes. Amy said that she would like to be an

interpreter, and really enjoys Spanish class, and her teacher in that same class. She taught me that

middle school is important, but also that there are flaws, like the connect classes, and sometimes

the crowding. She also wants to be involved with the school, but the area to which she has

interest are more spring sports, given that she is not participating in anything now. What she

taught me about teaching was very similar to what John had to say, with the exception that she

stressed the idea that teachers should be very nice and helpful. As I had mentioned earlier this

interview was a little bit rockier and less fluent, so she taught me much more about how
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positivity in an interview makes the difference. Sometimes they work for the person who is being

interviewed and sometimes they do not. I found it hard to hear her sometimes, and she tended to

give much shorter and quicker answers to the questions. Though very informational still, I feel

that almost the two interviews were on opposite ends of the spectrum on establishing a good

relationship. A caveat to this is that it appears that Amy is now much more comfortable asking

questions to me as the student observer/teacher, so either way, relationships are built in

interviews.