Journalism Reflection

This year’s journalism unit was a new kind of learning for the students, especially me. I was surprised when Sean Thomas came to present and teach us about this whole unit, because it really is a great opportunity to meet with an actual professional journalist. Not only did he teach us on the skills of a journalist, but he also taught us how the news industry operates.

For my topic on the interviews, I decided to research on the SAS school cafeteria and the menu. Specifically, my angle was the health issues with the meals and students’ opinions and thoughts about it. I interviewed about 4 people, but I only recorded 2 on quicktime. Three of them was with 8th grade students, and one with an SAS parent. At first, I had decided to interview with Mr. Hoe (Head of the Kiosk department), but it was too difficult to find a schedule for him. Because I didn’t get the time to interview with him, I decided to interview a parent instead. I wanted to get students’ opinions because they’re the ones purchasing the meals provided to them, and I interviewed a parent because I wanted to know more about what their concerns are on what their kids are eating.

My interview with April Yoon, a B side student was first, and my first question was, “In your opinion, what are your thoughts about the provided school menu?” (April, 0:50). I asked this because I wanted to start off the interview with a broad open-ended question that will give me follow up questions to ask. At the end of the interview, I decided to ask if her parents were ever concerned or worried about what she eats because I wanted to know about what the parents think or might’ve said from a student’s perspective. This was my first interview on my topic, and I have to admit it wasn’t my best. After I listened to it, I realized that I barely had any follow up questions and it didn’t sound conversational.

My second interview was with another student, Yubin Ohn. This interview was a lot better than my first, because when I listened to Yubin’s responses carefully, I had a lot more follow up questions with much thought. An example would be, “If you could bring your own food from home, would you? If you had the choice? Why?” (4:58) Not only did I ask more follow up questions for this interview, it also seemed more like a conversation when I was having the interview and after I listened to it. At the end of my interview, I made sure that I asked the question, “Is there anything you’d like to add?”, as Sean Thomas said that this last question is essential in interviews. Also, I told the interviewee that I appreciate their time for answering my questions.

For some of my text evidence, I didn’t record it on quicktime because I had asked a few people some questions after the deadline on Wednesday. I had to ask more people because I needed more answers for the soundbites in my news package. For example, on my news package, I asked Elena Cheung a few of my interview questions to get more of a variety of opinions. I also asked my mother to represent an opinion from an SAS parent and I asked her a few questions such as, “Are you ever worried about what I eat at school? Do you trust what SAS gives and provides for your kids?”

Overall I thought that this whole journalism unit was a great opportunity for eighth graders to experience what it’s like to be a journalist and an interviewer. The interviews and news package helped me understand more about the news industry and how it all works.