Day+Two++Whom+to+Interview

Everyone has a story to tell but students will need to think about their choices. Often middle school students are not aware of the experiences of family members so involving the family may help them see more possibilities.

This letter from the Story Corps website will be adapted to go home to the family so there is some discussion at home. The teacher will make changes to fit the assignment.

When thinking about whom to interview consider the kinds of personal stories the person might have:

Memorial Stories: Honoring and remembering people who have passed in important. The person you interview may want to pay tribute to a person who has died.

Adventure Stories: Is there an adventure the interview partner might want to share? A blizzard survived, a visit abroad to a differnent culture, a difficulty they overcame?

Accomplishment Stories: These are about achieving a goal, like graduating from school, starting a business, being on a winning team in a sporting event. For example, have you watched the "Olympic moment" stories about athletes who set a goal, overcame the difficulties and triumphed by being chosen for the Olympic competition? These examples of an accomplishment stories.

A Place in My Life Story: Our sense of place is the basis for storytelling. Does your interview partner have a story about their current home, the house they grew up in, a town, a park, a mountain, a restaurant, a store?
 * How would you describe the place?
 * With whom did you share this place?
 * What general experience do you relate to this place?
 * If you have returned to this place, how has it changed?

Story About What I Do For many people, their work has shaped their lives. People might also think about their hobbies or volunteer work.

Recovery Stories Sharing the experience of overcoming a great challenge such as loss of money, illness, or leaving your country.

Love Stories Humans want to know about relationships: how someone met their partner, what it was like when the baby was born, or how a person relates to parents and siblings.

Discovery Stories The process of learning makes for a good story. How did the new product get developed, how did the author think of the story, how did you learn to fix motorcycles....

@http://www.storycenter.org/resources.html
 * These types of story ideas are adapted from Digital Storytelling Cookbook by Joe Lambert from