Communication assignment

The Interview Discovering

Difference: and Working Toward

Understanding T

In this interview you work to understand another human being by developing a receptive and welcoming attitude toward your interviewee. You will review the principles of CMM as you understand them, keeping in mind that this interview is designed to help you create a positive social world with another person who is different from you. Two things to keep in mind from CMM are to listen in a way that makes others want to speak to you, and to speak in a way that makes others want to listen to you.

You will also make use of Politeness Theory as you speak and listen in such a way as to maintain the “face” of another human being, that is, the self-respect that person has for him or herself and treating that person with dignity. Recognize that we all want to be liked, admired, appreciated and approved. Respond to the other with empathy and compassion.

Work toward having that “authentic dialog” mentioned by Paolo Freire. This means regarding the other person as a genuine subject. Finally, you will complete the “praxis” as Freire defines it, by not only acting through the interview, but by reflecting upon it at the conclusion.

Finding Commonality

Introduction

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Action/Reflection

You do not have to ask all of these questions. These are just to prompt you to go forward. These, however, are good questions and should elicit some deep and meaningful dialog. Here are some sample questions you might ask your interviewee:

Key Scenes

1. Please describe a scene, episode, or moment in your life that stands out as a really positive experience.

2. In reviewing your life, is it possible to find key moments that stand out as turning points for you. These are episodes that you see as a turning point in your entire life.

3. Could you detail a positive childhood memory from your early years as a child. Please describe this in detail. What happened, where and when did it happen, who was involved, and what were you thinking and feeling? What does this memory say about your life?

4. Vivid adult memory. Please identify one memory that you have had as an adult, something memorable or vivid that happened to you in your adult years. Please describe this in detail.

5. Wisdom event. Find an event in your life where you displayed wisdom. This could be a time in which you acted or interacted in an especially wise way or provided wise counsel, or advice, made a wide decision or otherwise behaved in a wise manner. What happened, where and when, who was involved, and what were you thinking and feeling. What does this memory say about you and your life?

6. Religious spiritual or mystical experience. Whether you are religious or not, some people report they have felt a transcendent sense of something sacred at one time or another in their lives., some feeling of oneness with nature or the universe. After reviewing your life, identify this episode and describe this transcendent experience in detail. What happened, where and when, who was involved, what were you thinking and feeling. What does this say about your life?

Communicating with Difference

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The Future

Challenges

Personal Ideology

7. Looking ahead to the next chapters in your life, how do you imagine the future?

8. What are your hopes and dreams for the future? 9. Do you have a life project? This might be

something you have been working on and a plan to work on in the future chapters of your life story. It might involve your family or your work life, or it might be a hobby, avocation or something else in the future.

10. Looking back over your life please identify and describe what you now think is the greatest single challenge you have faced in your life. What is the significance of this challenge in your life story?

11. Everybody has regrets in life, even for those who are happiest or luckiest. Looking back over your life, please identify and describe your greatest regret.

12. Consider for a moment the aspect of values in your life. Describe your overall ethical or moral approach to life.

13. How do you approach political or social issues? You do have a particular political point of view? Are there causes about which you feel strongly. Please explain.

Building Positive Social

Worlds

(continued)

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14. Please tell the story of how your religious, moral or political view may have developed over time.

15. What is the most important value in living?

16. Looking back over your entire life with all its chapters, scenes, and challenges, and extending back into the past and ahead into the future, do you discern a central theme, message or idea that runs throughout your story? What is the major theme in your life story. Please explain.

17. Ask your interviewee to reflect about what the interview has been like for him or her. What were his or her thoughts or feelings during the interview? How do the two of you feel about each other?

Submit a summary of how your person responded to the questions you chose. Also submit your own reflection of what you learned from this interview. Include:

• A description of the person you interviewed. • Anything surprising that you learned about your

person. • What you learned about yourself that surprised

you about yourself. • The difficulty of trying to incorporate CMM,

Politeness Theory, and Freirean ideals inside the interview itself. What specifically did you do to ensure a good interview using these ideas? Verbally, what did you say. Nonverbally, what did you do?

• Describe how your feelings about the interviewee may have changed as the interview progressed.

• What did you learn about communicating with people who are different from you by conducting this interview?

Authentic Dialog