Community Interviews moves students from reflection to relational learning by teaching the mechanics and purpose of interviews as a tool for understanding identity, agency, and community connection. Grounded in Ethnic Studies and SEL, this lesson helps students see interviews as a way of honoring people’s stories and lived experiences.
Designed for grades 3–5, this 30-minute lesson centers a live interview with a community member, modeled by the educator. Students learn how intentional questions can surface identity, community roles, and sources of support. Using a Mind Map graphic organizer, students actively listen, take notes, and organize information about the guest’s early memories, family, community, assets, and interests.
The lesson reinforces prior learning by revisiting community observation charts and pictorial input maps, while introducing the concept of agency through movement and call-and-response. Students then reflect on the interview process in their Learning Logs, identifying the types of questions that help us understand who someone is and beginning to generate their own interview questions to use in subsequent lessons.
What’s Included
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Step-by-step lesson plan focused on interview mechanics and identity
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Mind Map graphic organizer for structured note-taking
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Guided interview questions aligned to identity and agency
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Movement-based vocabulary integration
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Learning Log prompts for formative assessment
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Alignment with WAESN Elements of Liberation and OSPI SEL Standards
Why Educators Use This Lesson
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Builds foundational interviewing and listening skills
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Deepens understanding of identity and agency
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Strengthens community connections through lived experience
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Prepares students for student-led interviews in future lessons
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Supports SEL, empathy, and reflective learning
This lesson is ideal for educators seeking community-rooted, developmentally appropriate Ethnic Studies instruction that helps students learn how to listen, ask meaningful questions, and understand identity through relationship and story.