Everyone Has a Story

For the past couple of years in PLP, we have had Exhibitions every 6 months to answer an inquiry question revolving around a certain topic, but this year for us grade 10s our winter exhibition was a little bit different. During the time leading up to the exhibition we didn’t really know what we would be doing as the grade 9s and 8s had already started their projects and we were told we would be doing something different. Around 2 weeks before the day of the Exhibition, we were told we would be interviewing people at the exhibition and making a podcast.

Let me explain in more detail, before the winter break we started a unit called Everyone Has a Story. We were partnered up with a grade 12 (I was with Gabi) and then we would be making a total of three mini podcasts (one being recorded on Exhibition night). These three podcasts were based on the storytelling format of a radio and podcast company called Storycorps. “StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.”

We started off this series of podcasts by learning a little bit more about what we would be basing our podcasts off of and the theme we were trying to go with. Also, why and how StoryCorps was created in the first place and to do this we watched an introduction video about it:

This video not only gave me the little bit of the history behind StoryCorps but showed me the impact of asking someone about their story has on people. After learning about what StoryCorps is, I listened to a bunch of their stories, which were around 2-4 minutes in length which doesn’t seem very long but many of the stories had such a powerful meaning. Some of them were hard to listen to and brought me to tears as they were so sad and meaningful but at the same time were engaging. The reason so many people listen to these stories from StoryCorps is because they come from everyday people and are sometimes relatable stories that people can make a connection to. This project seemed pretty fun and I was excited to get started but one thing that scared me was that I was going to ask the wrong question or seem really awkward during the interview. To help our class with this, we were given a sheet of questions, as well as we watched a video about 5 great tips for interviewing people.

The first thing the video explained was to ask What questions and avoid the question that can be answered with a yes or no. Next the video said to listen and show the interviewee that you’re paying attention, to show you’re listening and then you can follow up with a question like What did you mean by that? The video also said to repeat back but make sure it’s in your own words, and finally use silence, don’t interrupt them when they are talking, wait 3-5 seconds before asking another question or following up. These questions were definitely very helpful and made me more confident about doing the 3 interviews.

Seycove Story

The first podcast we did was about our grade 12 partner, and would be part of a big class episode called Seycove Stories where we would piece together everyone’s stories. Gabi told the story of her family moving to New Zealand for her dad’s work and then moving back to Vancouver when she was in grade 7. She told her story and how hard it was to be put into a totally unfamiliar life. I found this a really interesting story and was really happy I got the chance to edit and be Gabi’s partner. Throughout recording the story I actually found it quite easy to come up with followup questions as it just happened in the flow of the interviews. The hard part was actually editing it down to around 6 minutes from 15 because I didn’t want to take out certain parts but then at the same time I couldn’t keep a 15 minute podcast as I wanted it to be concise and to the point. Once I finished editing the podcast, I was happy with how it turned out although I had a couple edits I made after getting some feedback from Ms. Willemse and Gabi. Here is my first Podcast out of the three:

Family Identity Story

Our second podcast was a little more personal to each of us as we had to interview one of our family members about anything. This was a little challenging at the start as I didn’t know who to interview and about what. But after some thought I decided to interview my grandparents about a near death experience they had and how this has changed their point of view. I started off by making some interview questions and then I called them for the interview as they live in Victoria. The topic I ended up interviewing my Nana and Grandpa about was the near death experience they had when an old growth tree fell on the hood of the car while they were driving. This story was in the news and all over when it happened and was a scary experience for my whole family because we were all saying what if? What if the tree had hit a second later? What if my grandpa was driving faster? Now we are just grateful and thankful that my grandparents are alive and well and it is a miracle they are alive. The interview ended up being around 7 minutes and after editing it, I got it down to 5 min although I feel like I might have been able to make it shorter. Here is the final draft of my second out of three podcasts:

Everyone Has a Story 

The third podcast was a little different from the other two as this time we didn’t know the person we were interviewing. Instead we would be interviewing people at our Winter Exhibition while the grade 8s and 9s were showing off their Star Wars projects. I was super nervous because what if I didn’t know what to say or blank or mess up really badly especially as we had to interview at least 3 people. To get prepared for these interviews the class before the Exhibition and we spent the whole time going over good questions to ask and follow up questions that are not yes or no questions. This really helped because it not only gave me other question ideas but also helped me practice asking questions. When the Exhibition night came around we were all ready, with treats and snacks for our interviewees, a couple comfy chairs to sit on and A LOT of Christmas lights. My first interview went ok although I was a little nervous and I didn’t know where to go with the interview after a couple minutes so it didn’t last that long. My second interview was a really cute story that I learnt about a woman who moved to Canada and loved ice skating and the snow. But my third interview was definitely the best overall. It just felt like a conversation and I wasn’t nervous at all when interviewing. This interview was about Kat, a former student from Seycove who worked in New York as a journalist, has now moved back and is now going to pursue her career in screen writing. The reason I loved this interview so much was not only the ease of talking to her but also she was an inspiration to me as I don’t know what I want to do in university yet but her story has shown me I should definitely pursue something I’m passionate about. This interview ended up being around 15 minutes and I cut it down to 6 minutes. As we only had to choose one interview for our final story, I chose my last interview and started editing. Once I finished my first draft I received critique on it from my grade 12 partner which was super helpful as I wasn’t quite sure what parts I could cut out. This is the feedback I got:

After taking the feedback and using it in my second draft I feel very proud of my editing as well as happy with the final short podcast. Here is my exhibition podcast:

Overall I think this was a super fun project that I really enjoyed doing, although I was super nervous about interviewing people. Once I began talking to the interviewees it was super easy and felt like a conversation. These interviews skills that I learned will definitely be used in different projects as it is always helpful for videos, podcasts or whatever it is to have an interview from a different perspective.

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