Grandparent Interview Find a story

Interviewing tips

Purpose: Find A Story 0 You do not want a list of vacation spots, jobs, Christmas memories, etc. 0 You do want a specific story with a narrative arc – characters, conflict, resolution. 0 You will interview your grandparent to get your story. 0 You will ask many questions about this story to get your results. It will take about an hour to get a really good story. 0 You will write a 2-3 page, double-spaced story with your results.

Who Do I Pick? 0 Grandparent who likes to talk and is easy for you to talk to. 0 Grandparent you don’t know that well and want to get to know better. 0 Not a grandparent struggling with serious health issues or dementia. 0 A grandparent coming to Grandparent’s Day is good, but not necessary. 0 No grandparents? Aunt, uncle, older family friend. 0 Can be in-person or on the phone.

Choose ONE Topic 0 Childhood 0 Vacations 0 Occupation 0 Courtship and Marriage 0 Your parent’s life

Topic Idea: Childhood 0 Childhood: Gather background 0 When and where was your grandparent/family member born? 0 Where did he/she grow up? 0 Did your grandparent have any siblings? Did he/she have to share a room? 0 What was his/her favorite thing to do as a kid? 0 Did he/she have any chores? 0 How did he/she do in school? 0 What was the family’s stuff like? Nice? 0 Pets?

Dig In: Childhood 0 Using the background questions, ask for specific stories. 0 One of these plus lots of follow-on questions might yield a good story; don’t ask all! 0 What were some pranks you and your siblings played? 0 Describe a time when you got in a lot of trouble. 0 What did your parents think about your friends and what specifically happened to make them think this? 0 Who did you go to in times of trouble? Please describe one of those times. 0 What is something you were really good at that your family celebrated. 0 Do you feel like one family member got treated differently than the others and describe an event that shows this. 0 Do you have a good story or a few stories about a pet? 0 What chores and jobs did you do, and describe something memorable that happened once when you did these.

Topic Idea: Vacations BACKGROUND: 0 Did your family take vacations? 0 What were some favorite ones? 0 Who went? 0 Why did you pick the places you went?

Dig In: Vacations 0 Based on the background, ask questions to genearte a specific story. Examples: 0 Was there a vacation when getting there (or home) was more of an adventure than the trip itself? 0 (If people outside the immediate family went) Why did you vacation with those people? What was special about them? Can you remember a special time with them? 0 On a vacation, was there a time when real disaster hit? 0 What is one vacation you remember very well and why? What happened? (Ask lots of follow on questions.)

Topic Idea: Occupation (Job) 0 Occupation 0 What was your grandparent’s/family member’s first job? Where was it? How much did he/she get paid? 0 Did he/she have any other jobs throughout life? What and when?

Dig In: Occupation 0 Once you have background, ask follow on questions to generate a story. Try one of these for a starter question. 0 What about your job was meaningful to you? Did you work more for pay or for meaning of the work? Explain. 0 What was your favorite job and why? Ask for lots of details about what the day to day work was like, what your grandparent did, what was fun and difficult about it. 0 What was your least-favorite job and why? Ask follow ons. 0 Who was the best boss you had? What makes a good boss? Were you a good boss? 0 If you were to have another job, what would it have been? Ask follow on questions about it. 0 If you didn’t have to work, what would you do with your time?

Topic Idea: Marriage 0 Background 0 Where did he/she meet his/her spouse? 0 What did he/she love about his/her spouse? 0 Describe his/her wedding (when, where, etc…) 0 How many years has he/she been married?

Dig In: Marriage 0 The story of how they met might be really fun. Ask a lot of questions about that to draw out the whole story. Be sure to ask about what they were doing/like before they met. 0 The wedding itself is only interesting if it had a major disaster. If it did, ask questions about it! 0 Marriage can be a sensitive topic if a spouse has died. However, most people like talking about the happy times they had, so feel free to ask those questions if it seems ok. 0 Most people married for a long time have lots of advice about how to have a good marriage. Ask for some! Then, when they give it, ask for a story that demonstrates why that advice is good.

Topic Idea: Family 0 Background: 0 How old were they and how long had they been marred when Kid #1 arrived? 0 How many kids were in the family? 0 Describe the genders and years between kids and who shared a room with whom if they did. 0 Describe who got along best with whom.

Dig In: Family 0 Describe a time when your parent got in big trouble. Get all the details! 0 Describe your parent’s personality at school: hard worker, lazy, procrastinator, etc. What did your grandparent do to discipline and encourage your parent? 0 Who in the family did your parent really get along with? Why were they such good friends? Describe a time when they did something special with or for each other. 0 What were holidays (especially Christmas) like for your family? What kinds of presents did they have? What are the most memorable celebrations? 0 What was the thing your parent was best at? Worst at?

Interview Questions: General 0 WHO is involved (appearance, personality, as well as they can remember actual words and dialogue people said) 0 WHAT is the conflict (what happened to bring about the event, what happened during the event, why did those things happen, what happened next, how did it end – this is the PLOT) 0 FEELINGS about the story (how did people feel as the conflict happened, how did they feel about the resolution) 0 SENSORY DETAILS (as they tell the story, ask what things looked, smelled, tasted, sounded and felt like) 0 ADVICE (what did he/she learn from this event, what advice for you?)

Best Words to Get Good Stories 0 Describe 0 Why is that? 0 Explain what you mean by... 0 Can you tell me more about that? 0 Why do you think that happened? 0 What were you/others thinking while this was going on? 0 What would you do differently now than you did then?

Practice Interviews 0 Student volunteers?

Consider This: 0 An interview is all about listening. Listen carefully and ask questions based on the story as it’s unfolding. Don’t worry about getting all of your questions answered; worry about getting your grandparent to tell you an interesting story. 0 You also need to take notes. You can bring a computer if you type faster than you write. Don’t record the interview: to write from a recorded transcript will take you hours. 0 Take notes on what is striking. If he/she says something really funny or interesting you want to quote, write it down word for word. 0 Ask your grandparent for permission to take notes before you begin, and ask him or her to slow down or pause for a minute while you write your notes. 0 You will need to go back and ask follow-up questions as you write.