When we turn the corner into the warm days of spring and early summer, teachers’ thoughts turn to that final countdown. We wonder if we’ll have time for all that we had hoped to accomplish by the end of the school year; we worry if the warm weather will entice kids to focus more on out-of-school activities in the sunshine than on in-school learning. And our thoughts sometimes turn to tough questions about what our students have learned.
I love to close the year with individual interviews, spread over a few weeks so I have time to lean in and listen to each individual learner. For the past few years, as resident researcher in Katie Czerwinski’s sixth-grade classroom, I have set aside time to record interviews with each child. Not only do I learn interesting trends in their answers that teach me about what their literacy growth has been like over the year, but the children learn what they know by reflecting, thinking, and saying it out loud. The beauty of interviews is that I can nudge with follow-up questions, learning even more.
I ask the following questions for my end-of-year literacy interview:
Interview Questions
Reading:
What’s a book you fell in love with this year?
Who’s a good reader that you know? What makes him/her a good reader?
What’s something you do well as a reader?
What’s something you need to work on as a reader?
Do you do any reading at home that’s just for fun/just for you?
How have you changed as a reader this year?
How does your reading affect your writing? Or your writing affect your reading?
If I asked you to name one thing that your teacher did that helped you as a reader, what would you say?
What advice do you have for teachers who are going to teach reading to middle school students?
Writing:
What’s a piece of writing that you did this year that you are really proud of?
Who’s a good writer that you know? What makes him/her a good writer?
What’s something you do well as a writer?
What’s something you need to work on as a writer?
Do you do any writing at home that’s just for you?
How have you changed as a writer this year?
How does your reading affect your writing? Or your writing affect your reading?
If I asked you to name one thing that Ms. Czerwinski did that helped you as a writer, what would you say?
What advice do you have for teachers who are going to teach writing to middle school students?
*****
Last year, I learned a lot from the readers in Katie Czerwinski’s sixth-grade class. I discovered not only which books they fell in love with, but what they loved about them. Brendon loved Hatchet and Airman because they were adventurous, and pulled him in as a reader. “It’s my sort of book,” he explained about his favorite. Oriah loved Son of the Mob. “It’s about drama and horror and just all sorts of things mixed in one—and causes suspense to rise in your head. So that’s why I like that book.” Knowing the genres they prefer—and the specific titles—helped me choose books to add to the library for the following year.
When I asked the children who they thought were good readers in the class, they all chose kids who they believed read all the time—even at home—and also “read really hard books.” Marianna meant something different from what I had imagined—the books were not hard because they had difficult vocabulary, but because of the emotions they called up. Marianna felt that her friend was a good reader because she challenged herself to read A Child Called It, “an emotionally wrenching book.”
Brendan also described the other world he inhabits as he reads. “As a reader, I picture in my mind a lot. I don’t just picture the words. When I’m reading, it’s like it’s fogged up in my mind. I’m in my own world.” His comments have helped me decide to look more closely next year at what happens in children’s minds as they read and write.
Teachers I know who do end-of-the-year interviews find ways to fit them into their reading and writing workshop time, spreading them over several days, or even weeks, a few a day. It also helps to choose either a writing or a reading interview for each child, rather than both interviews. Using the questions as a written survey also yields fascinating data (though it may limit the amount of information, and teachers aren’t able to ask follow-up questions). It might also be an interesting chance for kids to interview each other using one or two selected questions, and reporting back to the class the information they learned about each other.
Something I plan to do this year as a follow-up is ask kids to do a little writing post-interview. What was it like being interviewed? What did you learn that surprised you? What questions should I add to ask students for next year?
It may surprise you how much children appreciate being interviewed, especially when they sense your genuine interest in knowing more about their experiences and insights. Kids have much to teach us, and interviewing them at the end of the year can give you a chance to bring some thoughtful closure to the experiences of their literacy learning . . . and yours.