Student Interviews
Over the course of my final week of student teaching, I conducted interviews with three students about their experiences in social studies class this year and about their feelings toward social studies in general. I wanted to interview students individually in order to supplement the data I collected through the two interest surveys. The first three questions I asked during this interview were nearly identical to the first three questions of the January student survey. I was curious to find out not only which historical narratives interested students most, but why they found them intriguing. As a teacher it is important to me that students find their school learning valuable to their life and their sense of self. At Bookman, students are highly motivated by grades, and therefore often engaged in class in order to obtain the external reward of a high grade. Through this interview, I also sought to find out the source of the engagement I observed from my students. The seven questions I asked during these student interviews are posted below:
The three students I chose to interview - Natasha, Lisa, and Jason - were alike in that they all showed an increase in both their engagement in class and in their grades over the course of the past two terms. I was curious to find out the sources behind their increased engagement so that I might replicate those processes is my future classrooms.
Natasha is a very sharp and intelligent young woman, who tends to shy away from vocal participation in class, but increased her participation in other ways over the course of the year. Without raising her hand, I often heard her murmering and making connections under her breath during class. She also frequently submitted comments and questions to the cardboard box in the back of the classroom (placed there for that purpose), and she grew into a leader in her “letter group” during small group discussions. Like many of her peers, Natasha voiced strong interest in learning about religion and culture in social studies class: “Personally, I enjoy culture the most, I think that’s just where my interest leads. I don’t think I’m going to retain a lot of information on government or politics or anything of that nature, just because I don’t care as much. I want to know what people do in their everyday life, or what they did in their everyday life, rather.” Here, Natasha explains that she is not interested in government or politics in her own life, and therefore is even less interested in those areas when studying other civilizations. While those aspects of history are undoubtedly important to learn, the social studies teacher should access those areas through students’ other areas of interest so students can understand their relevance and value.
Natasha also indicated that a key factor in her engagement in World History class was her personal identification with the material and the instructional approach. She remarked, “I loved the religions unit, I’m just really interested in religion in my own personal life. And I’m also a really active Christian so it was nice comparing all of the religions.” Because Christianity composes an important part of Natasha’s identity, she enjoyed seeing it addressed in the classroom and learning about other faiths that compose similarly significant parts of others’ identities. Natasha also mentioned her appreciation for the cultural focus of our Africa unit. She disclosed, “I think that we didn’t do enough information on Africa, but I think that the cultural points of view, as in like the videos and the worksheets that we did and the stories that we learned, were really nice just to kind of know.” In a similar vain, Natasha explained the cultural perspectives and narrative approach drew her in. When asked about the gaps she saw in our World History class this year, Natasha was quick to point out the curriculum’s Euro-centricity and the absence of current events. She stated, “just in general like currently what is going on in the world – you know, in Venezuela, things with Russia, just current events that we don’t get to focus on during World History.” This is a sentiment shared by many of Natasha’s peers who are also curious about contemporary global affairs.
Finally, when asked about the value or relevance of social studies to her life, Natasha indicated that her appreciation for the subject grew as she had teachers who “made history fun.” She revealed that over the years she “began to value it so much more and it became really important to [her].” Natasha then added that social studies also helps her succeed in her extracurricular activities, stating, “I’m a debater so it’s really important to bring up things that happened in the past to address current problems.” For Natasha, social studies learning is closely aligned with two of her passions outside of school – Christianity and debating. Over the course of the year, Natasha was able to make these connections between social studies class and her personal identity, driving her engagement and achievement in the class.
Listen to student interviews and read the complete transcripts here:
Natasha is a very sharp and intelligent young woman, who tends to shy away from vocal participation in class, but increased her participation in other ways over the course of the year. Without raising her hand, I often heard her murmering and making connections under her breath during class. She also frequently submitted comments and questions to the cardboard box in the back of the classroom (placed there for that purpose), and she grew into a leader in her “letter group” during small group discussions. Like many of her peers, Natasha voiced strong interest in learning about religion and culture in social studies class: “Personally, I enjoy culture the most, I think that’s just where my interest leads. I don’t think I’m going to retain a lot of information on government or politics or anything of that nature, just because I don’t care as much. I want to know what people do in their everyday life, or what they did in their everyday life, rather.” Here, Natasha explains that she is not interested in government or politics in her own life, and therefore is even less interested in those areas when studying other civilizations. While those aspects of history are undoubtedly important to learn, the social studies teacher should access those areas through students’ other areas of interest so students can understand their relevance and value.
Natasha also indicated that a key factor in her engagement in World History class was her personal identification with the material and the instructional approach. She remarked, “I loved the religions unit, I’m just really interested in religion in my own personal life. And I’m also a really active Christian so it was nice comparing all of the religions.” Because Christianity composes an important part of Natasha’s identity, she enjoyed seeing it addressed in the classroom and learning about other faiths that compose similarly significant parts of others’ identities. Natasha also mentioned her appreciation for the cultural focus of our Africa unit. She disclosed, “I think that we didn’t do enough information on Africa, but I think that the cultural points of view, as in like the videos and the worksheets that we did and the stories that we learned, were really nice just to kind of know.” In a similar vain, Natasha explained the cultural perspectives and narrative approach drew her in. When asked about the gaps she saw in our World History class this year, Natasha was quick to point out the curriculum’s Euro-centricity and the absence of current events. She stated, “just in general like currently what is going on in the world – you know, in Venezuela, things with Russia, just current events that we don’t get to focus on during World History.” This is a sentiment shared by many of Natasha’s peers who are also curious about contemporary global affairs.
Finally, when asked about the value or relevance of social studies to her life, Natasha indicated that her appreciation for the subject grew as she had teachers who “made history fun.” She revealed that over the years she “began to value it so much more and it became really important to [her].” Natasha then added that social studies also helps her succeed in her extracurricular activities, stating, “I’m a debater so it’s really important to bring up things that happened in the past to address current problems.” For Natasha, social studies learning is closely aligned with two of her passions outside of school – Christianity and debating. Over the course of the year, Natasha was able to make these connections between social studies class and her personal identity, driving her engagement and achievement in the class.
Listen to student interviews and read the complete transcripts here:
Natasha
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Lisa
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Jason
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