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Unit
II
Classwork
Applications of Fieldwork Basics
Lesson 4 Teams in
the Field
You do whatever step you can do.
You may not be in time with the music, but you are enjoying
yourself. That's the spirit of the traditional New Orleans
[music].
--Lionel Batiste, Tremé
Brass Band, Orleans Parish
Grade
Levels
4-8
Curriculum
Areas
English Language Arts,
Social Studies
Purpose of
Lesson
Students conduct team interviews outside the classroom, either
within the school or beyond, as part of a fieldwork project.
Lesson Objectives/Louisiana Content Standards, Benchmarks, and
Foundation Skills
- Students learn how to access information, solve problems, make
decisions, and work as part of a team in preparation for
fieldwork.
ELA-2-M2 Using language, concepts, and
ideas that show an awareness of the intended audience and/or
purpose (e.g., classroom, real-life, workplace) in developing
complex compositions. (1, 2,
4)
ELA-4-M5 Listening and responding to a
wide variety of media (e.g., music, TV, film, speech). (1, 3, 4,
5)
ELA-4-M4 Speaking and listening for a
variety of audiences (e.g., classroom, real-life, workplace) and
purposes (e.g., awareness, concentration, enjoyment,
information, problem solving). (1, 2, 4,
5)
ELA-2-M5 Recognizing and applying literary
devices (e.g., figurative language, symbolism, dialogue). (1,
4)
ELA-5-M6 Locating, gathering, and
selecting information using graphic organizers, outline, note
taking, summarizing, interviewing, and surveying to produce
documented texts and graphics. (1, 3, 4)
- Students develop search strategies for locating and accessing
appropriate, relevant sources in the school library media center,
community libraries and agencies, resource people, and others as
appropriate.
H-1A-M6 Conducting research in efforts
to answer historical questions. (1, 2, 3,
4)
H-1A-E3 Identifying and using primary and
secondary historical sources to learn about the past. (1, 3,
4)
ELA-5-M2 Locating and evaluating
information sources (e.g., print materials, databases, CD-ROM
references, Internet information, electronic reference works,
community and government data, television and radio resources,
audio and visual materials). (1, 3, 4,
5)
ELA-5-M6 Locating, gathering, and
selecting information using graphic organizers, outline, note
taking, summarizing, interviewing, and surveying to produce
documented texts and graphics. (1, 3,
4)
H-1A-M4 Analyzing historical data using
primary and secondary sources. (1, 2, 3, 4)
- Students use reasoning skills as they formulate questions,
plan, predict, hypothesize, and speculate about the interviews.
ELA-7-M2 Problem solving by using
reasoning skills, life experiences, accumulated knowledge, and
relevant available information. (1, 2,
4)
ELA-7-M3 Analyzing the effects of an
author's purpose and point of view. (1, 2,
4)
ELA-1-M3 Reading, comprehending, and
responding to written, spoken, and visual texts in extended
passages. (1, 3, 4)
ELA-1-M4 Interpreting
texts with supportive explanations to generate connections to
real- life situations and other texts (e.g., business,
technical, scientific). (1, 2, 4,
5)
H-1C-E4 Recognizing how folklore and other
cultural elements have contributed to our local, state, and
national heritage. (1, 3, 4)
- Students conduct interviews as part of fieldwork.
H-1A-M6 Conducting research in efforts
to answer historical questions. (1, 2, 3,
4)
ELA-4-E6 Listening and responding to a
wide variety of media (e.g., music, TV, film, speech). (1, 3, 4,
5)
ELA-4-E7 Participating in a variety of
roles in group discussions (e.g., active listener, contributor,
discussion leader). (1, 4, 5)
- Students examine and reflect on the data they collected by
categorizing, analyzing, evaluating, and comparing for bias,
inadequacies, omissions, errors, and value judgments.
H-1A-M3 Analyzing the impact that
specific individuals, ideas, events, and decisions had on the
course of history; (1, 2, 3,
4)
H-1C-E4 Recognizing how folklore and other
cultural elements have contributed to our local, state, and
national heritage, (1, 3,
4)
ELA-6-H4 Analyzing various genres as
records of life experiences. (1, 2, 4,
5)
ELA-2-M6 Writing as a response to texts
and life experiences (e.g., letters, journals, lists).(1, 2, 4)
Time
Required
5-8 class periods
Materials
Prepare Field Kit -- For
Teachers for each team with all necessary equipment and
materials. Prepare new Interview Folder -- For
the Teachers, one for each team. Place students' Interview Folder -- For
the Teacher in an easily accessible spot. Print and
duplicate the Worksheets and Assessment Tools listed below.
Technology
Connections
Internet Resources
Learning From Your Community
Suggestions for Folklife Fieldwork and
Presentations: Folklife Genres
Letter to Parents and Caregivers
Why Take Fieldtrips?, from CampSilos,
Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area
Louisiana Voices Outline
Adaptation
Strategies
Documenting Maritime Folklife: An Introductory
Guide
Documenting Quiltmaking
Student Worksheets
Field Kit -- For
Teachers (for teachers)
Field Kit
List of Contents (for students)
Interview Folder
-- For the Teacher (for teachers)
Interview Folder -- List of Contents (for students)
Interview Checklist
Conducting an Interview Evaluation
Folklife Interview Form
Oral Release Form
Written Release Form
Audio Log
Photo Log
Transcribing an Interview Worksheet
Notetaking Worksheet
Individual Roles in the Field Worksheets
Writing About an Interview Worksheet
Insider / Outsider Worksheet
Fieldwork Checklist
Resources to Develop Questions
Naming Traditions
Worksheet
That's a Good
Question Worksheet
Suggested
Interview Questions
Questions About a
Place
Spirit of
Place Worksheet
Questions
for Traditional Musicians
Careers in
Music - Interview Worksheet
Questions
for Dancers
Recipe
Interview Worksheet
Questions
for Traditional Craft Artists
Occupational
Fieldwork Worksheet
Occupational
Fieldwork Survey
Occupational
Glossary
Event
Research Worksheet
Milestone
Research Worksheet
Folk Remedy
Collection Worksheet
Stories
They Tell - Graveyard Data Collection
Worksheet
Assessment Tools
Conducting
an Interview Evaluation
Student
Post-Interview Review Questions
Fieldwork
Checklist
Fieldwork
Rubric
Evaluation
Tools/Opportunities
Process
- Checklist for each role in Individual Roles in the
Field Worksheet
- Conducting
an Interview Evaluation - by students
- Interview Questions
- Fieldwork
Checklist
Summative
- Conducting
an Interview Evaluation - graded by teacher
Products
- Background research
- Team fieldwork questions
- Interview questions
- Fieldnotes
- Audio recordings, photos, videos, and illustrations produced during
interviews
- Writing
About an Interview Worksheet
- Interview Folder
-- For the Teacher
- Student
Post-Interview Questions
Background Information for the
Teacher
After completing Lessons 1, 2, and 3 of this unit, your students
are ready to take their fieldworking skills outside the classroom.
The primary goal of this lesson is to allow students to work in
small teams to interview someone whose life experience can
supplement a lesson you're teaching as part of fieldwork. But
remember that the "field" can be as close as just outside your
classroom! If you prefer not to have students leave campus, it is
likely that the cafeteria staff, other faculty members, or the
principal maintains traditions worthy of research since everyone has
folklife traditions! One class discovered that the janitor was a
walking stick carver. Another learned that the principal was a
quilter and the coach sang in an a cappella
gospel quartet, while another found that a cafeteria worker was
renowned for her cakes and pies and the secretary was one of the town's few
Acadian spinners and weavers.
In the guide to classroom video projects Learning From Your Community, folklorist
Gail Matthews-DeNatale recommends letting students contribute
significantly to fieldwork and product development. She says,
Perhaps the most important feature of a project like
this is that the students play an integral and active role in all
phases of the documentary and decision-making process. . . .
Instructors may be tempted to modify the script to accommodate
their own 'teacher aesthetic.' There is also a danger that the . .
. product will become more important to the instructor or school
than the learning process.
Her experience suggests that "it is better to conclude the
project with a less-than-polished product that is entirely
student-made than to create a 'perfect' video." Her comments are
limited to video production, but they apply to any folklife project
undertaken in the classroom.
When identifying a fieldwork project, the subject of your current
curriculum unit should help to guide the students to a person to
interview. If, for example, you are covering a social studies unit
on coastal erosion, students could interview a trapper, fisherman,
shrimper, or hunter. Get ideas from Thumbnail
Sketches of Previous Student Projects or use the list of Suggestions
for Folklife Fieldwork and Presentations: Folklife Genres.
Most importantly, you want to design a project that allows students
to make a significant contribution to both process and product.
For every fieldwork project, there are basic steps to
follow:
- Select a site and a topic.
- Identify and line up Interviewees.
- Establish student teams and gather equipment and materials for
each team.
- Conduct background research.
- Develop a list of questions to ask.
- Consider "insider" and "outsider" positions.
- Take appropriate forms in Field Kit -- For
Teachers and Interview Folder -- For
the Teacher.
- Conduct the interview and file materials.
- Record, photograph, process, and archive collected materials.
- Analyze findings and interpret their significance.
- Prepare a product to exhibit findings.
- Thank Interviewees and all who helped.
- Assess fieldwork and products.
The steps in the lesson will follow this sequence. The teacher
does Steps 1 and 2 in this lesson, so they are in the To Prepare section. In later
interviews, students can gradually take over these steps. This
lesson covers Steps 3 through 8 and Lesson 5 covers Steps 9 through
13.
One important note: Instruct students at the very beginning of
their fieldwork to keep every piece of paper associated with the
project. In Unit II Lesson
5, they will process and archive these materials in an Archive Folder. For
now, each student should file these materials in their Interview Folder -- For
the Teacher.
Decide what curricular content and needs to integrate with a
folklife fieldwork project and identify several topics and genres
that student teams can research. If you are leaving campus, verify
with your principal the fieldtrip guidelines for your school and
send the Letter to Parents and
Caregivers. Research background information on the subject
to provide students with context. Arrange research time for
students. Place Interview Folder -- For
the Teacher and Field
Kit -- For Teachers in an easily accessible spot.
To Prepare
Step 1 Select a Site and a Topic
Student teams could identify their own topic and place and
arrange to do the interview and fieldwork during or after school.
Ideally, students select the subject, site, and Interviewees and
interview people in their own home or business. But this isn't
always possible, especially if students do their interviews at the
same time. You could select a site that relates to the subject you
have chosen and ask the Interviewees to meet you there. This is an
opportunity to partner with a local cultural group in a more
meaningful way. A museum, historic site, or cultural center may help
identify people who relate to their exhibits, collection, or theme.
A church, mosque, or temple could identify members of their
congregation who could speak about their traditions. A senior
citizens center offers readily available Interviewees on local
traditions. A local festival may be an opportunity, but be sure to
arrange this in advance with both the Interviewees and the
organizers since many artists, musicians, craftspeople, and food
vendors are working and may not have time to be interviewed! The
same is true for neighborhood businesses and restaurants. You will
need to work around their busy times of the day.
Another approach is to document a place as outlined in Unit IV Lesson 3 Sense of
Place. You could focus on a farm, dairy, seafood plant,
orchard, or other business; a park, garden, zoo, government
building, power plant, or wetlands research center — the
possibilities are endless. Remember if it is not possible for
students to leave the campus, use in-school alternatives such as
interviewing long-term staff or volunteers; observing hallways, the
cafeteria, playground, or library; or documenting school customs.
See Unit III Lesson 2
The School - School Culture Across Louisiana for more
guidance.
The website Why Take Fieldtrips by CampSilos, Silos and
Smokestacks National Heritage Area has helpful suggestions and
guidelines for taking students on an effective fieldtrip.
Step 2 Identify and Line Up Interviewees
If students will be identifying their own Interviewees, they
should start by looking close to home, asking family, friends, and
acquaintances. Other options are contacting an editor at a local
newspaper, looking in the Yellow Pages, or calling the reference
librarian at the school or local library. Take suggestions from the
class about people in the students' communities who participate in a
special cultural tradition (Mardi Gras, boucheries,
Homecomings, Dinner-on-the-Ground, etc.), who have a skill that they
have learned from their family or community (netmaking, cooking,
etc.), or who do arts/crafts (carving, boatbuilding, etc.). Use Suggestions for Folklife Fieldwork and
Presentations: Folklife Genres. They may also want to
consider interviewing someone on the school staff, for example. Add
your own suggestions to the list.
If you are working with a single site, coordinate with a key
person to get help in identifying Interviewees. If you are
documenting a business, start with employees, also consider
someone more spontaneous and less predictable—such as a customer,
volunteer, maintenance worker, or neighbor. Perhaps one of the
students has a family member associated with the site. Give each
team the name of the person they will be interviewing in advance
along with their occupation and any other pertinent information.
If a specific product will be created with the findings, consider
whether this will affect the interview. Do certain things need to be
asked? Is better recording equipment needed to do a radio broadcast?
Are photos or other visuals needed for the exhibit or
PowerPoint?
4th and 8th Grade
Activities
Step 3 Establish Student Teams and Gather Equipment and
Materials
- Begin by reviewing all the steps that students have undertaken
in previous lessons of Unit II. Tell students that they are now
going to take their interviewing skills "into the field," which
means that they will interview someone in the school or
community.
If you plan to use the Fieldwork Rubric
to grade students at the end of the unit, review it with them now.
Tell them that they will be assessed at the end of the unit on
their ability to prepare carefully, practice needed skills,
conduct fieldwork productively and accurately, process and archive
materials properly, and present their findings. They can refer to
the rubric as they work on Lessons 4 and 5 to be prepared for the
evaluation.
- Form teams of four or five students and distribute Field Kit -- For
Teachers to each. You probably want to use the same
student teams formed in Unit
II Lesson 3, although some changes may be needed. Ensure
that each student has his/her Interview Folder -- For
the Teacher for storing their materials during the
fieldwork process.
- Assign roles in each team or have students choose. Ask them to
locate the proper sheet for their role from the Individual Roles in the
Field Worksheets and read them to make sure they
understand what they must do and have all supplies and materials
for their tasks.
- Modeling and practicing interviewing and using equipment are
crucial to successful fieldwork. Provide one or more of the
following activities for students to practice:
- Have students critique your model interview of another
student or teacher.
- Have students practice interviewing at home, then report on
their success or problems.
- Pair off students and have them take turns questioning and
answering. Encourage them to listen carefully to responses and
use feedback to improve their questionnaires, follow-up
interesting leads, share their own stories to give the
Interviewee some examples, etc.
- Schedule time for students to practice using the equipment
they will be using for interviews. Refer to the Individual Roles in
the Field Worksheets for specific tasks.
Step 4 Conduct Background Research
- Brainstorm about the possible cultural aspects associated with
the selected site such as traditions, customs, special language,
meaningful objects, legends, personal narratives, beliefs, body
communications, and write important ideas on the board. Guide
students in formulating questions. Review other Louisiana Voices
units for more ideas about exploring a particular tradition. The
Louisana Voices Outline
includes lesson summaries, Content Standards addressed,
worksheets, and rubrics.
- Have students research the topic and the site in the library
or by contacting the site for background materials. Students can
also check local historical societies or archives including family
scrapbooks or photo albums. Remember: fieldwork is more than just
the interview!
Step 5 Develop a List of Questions To Ask
- Have students work in their teams to generate possible
questions to ask their Interviewees using the Folklife Interview
Form. This form provides the basic questions to ask anyone
plus a few more about likely topics. Coming up with the questions
is often more difficult than expected. Use That's a Good Question
Worksheet to get started. The other worksheets and lists
below will help students refine their questions. Note that many
are used more extensively in other units as indicated.
That's a Good
Question Worksheet
Suggested
Interview Questions
Questions About a
Place (from Unit IV)
Spirit of
Place Worksheet (from Unit IV)
Questions for
Traditional Musicians (from Unit II)
Careers in
Music - Interview Worksheet (from Unit VI)
Questions
for Dancers (from Unit VI)
Recipe
Interview Worksheet (from Unit VII)
Questions for
Traditional Artists (from Unit VII)
Occupational
Fieldwork Worksheet (from Unit VIII)
Occupational
Fieldwork Survey (from Unit VIII)
Occupational
Glossary (from Unit VIII)
Event Research
Worksheet (from Unit IX)
Milestone
Research Worksheet (from Unit IX)
Folk Remedy
Collection Worksheet (from Unit IX)
Stories They
Tell - Graveyard Data Collection Worksheet (from Unit
IX)
If students are researching maritime traditions, see Documenting Maritime Folklife: An Introductory
Guide, but this is likely too advanced for a student's
intial interview experience. If they will be documenting quilting,
see Documenting Quiltmaking.
Have the Lead Interviewer in each team write the questions that
s/he will use during the interview in his/her Journal or on a
sheet of paper.
If a specific product will be created with the findings,
consider how this will affect the interview. Do certain things
need to be asked? Is better recording equipment needed to do a
radio broadcast? Are photos or other visuals needed for the
exhibit or PowerPoint?
- After generating a list of questions, students should identify
each question as either fact-based or open-ended. Also, have them
anticipate possible follow-up questions that they may ask during
the interview. Remind them that the best interviews depend on
follow-up questions formulated on the spot, not on reading a list
of questions from a piece of paper!
Step 6. Consider "Insider" and "Outsider" Positions
- Before meeting with their Interviewee, have students work
together in their teams to complete the Insider / Outsider
Worksheet. Discuss with them the ways in which, as a team,
they are insiders and outsiders and the kinds of questions they
need to ask based on their positions. Have the Lead Interviewer in
each team add any new questions to his/her list.
Step 7. Visit the site with Field Kit -- For Teachers and Interview Folder -- For the
Teacher
- Once students have become familiar with their roles, gathered
supplies, examined their research positions, conducted research,
and generated a possible list of questions, they are ready to go
into the field. Be sure that all students carry the appropriate Individual Roles in the
Field Worksheet to the interview so that they can follow
their individual checklists. Ask students to review the "During
the Interview" section of the Conducting an
Interview Evaluation before leaving. Remind students to
collect their materials and papers in their individual Interview Folder -- For
the Teacher!!! If you are going to be grading the
fieldwork, use the Fieldwork Rubric
and give students a copy in advance.
Step 8. Conduct the Interview and File Materials
- Students should proceed as in the practice interviews:
- Soon after the interview, have students write fieldnotes. A
good place to start is with the three questions on the Writing About a
Interview Worksheet: 1) What surprised you? 2) What
intrigued you? 3) What stirred or disturbed you? Encourage
students to write in detail, recounting the words of the
participants, describing the setting and the experience, and being
as accurate as possible. Have them file these fieldnotes in their
Interview Folder --
For the Teacher.
- Now students are ready to start Lesson 5, which will lead them
through archiving, processing, and producing products based on
their field experiences. They will need the materials from their
team and/or individual Interview Folder -- For
the Teacher to process their fieldwork.
- Have students complete the Conducting an
Interview Evaluation to document what they have learned in
this lesson. If desired, grade the students' work and record at
bottom of the form.
4th and 8th Grade
Explorations and Extensions
- It's your turn! On your own or as a team, identify an
Interviewee and conduct a second interview on the topic. If ready
to plan a entire fieldwork project, use the Fieldwork Checklist for
guidance. This worksheet provides assistance with planning all
phases, including steps that have, up to this point, been done by
the teacher.
- Brainstorm words or phrases that come to mind when you reflect
on your fieldwork experience. Choose some to arrange as a poem.
- Pretend you are a radio reporter and record a story about
your fieldwork. Share it with classmates or the Interviewees.
- After the interview is finished, use the Student
Post-Interview Review Questions to review the session,
including the notes taken during the interview, to see if there
are additional questions that need to be asked of the Interviewee,
to discuss the mechanics and content of the interview, and to plan
subsequent interviews. This is part of the ongoing self-evaluation
process. Written answers can go into your
portfolio.
Unit II Resources
Unit II
Outline |
