Interview Challenge: Speaking/Listening + Writing Activity (ELA or Journalism)

If your students are anything like mine, they perk up the second they hear the word “challenge,” which tends to invite shouts of “OH YEAH!” and “IT’S ON.” I frame this activity as a "challenge" because it challenges students to create the perfect questions to generate the details needed to write an effective mini-story about a fellow classmate.

"The Interview Challenge" requires students to reflect upon a memorable moment and briefly share that moment with a partner. The partner then must create a list of effective questions and conduct an interview to harvest all of the information needed for a story. The better the questions, the better the answers, and the better the stories...Students will quickly realize that taking the time to craft precise, meaningful questions will be well worth it in the end.

This activity pack includes everything you need for this 3-4 day activity that emphasizes crucial communication and writing skills. I recommend this activity for any middle/high-school ELA or Journalism class.

When you purchase the following, you will receive the following in the form of Google drive links:

-Teacher Info & Pacing Guide

-1 Quickwrite

-Interviewing 101 Slideshow

-Types of Questions Handout Doc

-Questions, Notes, and Transcript Doc

-Story Doc

-Interview Rubric

-Story Rubric