I-Search Interview #1 Taylor James

So my first interview went really well. The questions i came up with kept the converstion moving. Some questions i asked were what schools they attended to? How many years does it take to complete the standards needed to become a Psychologist? As i was asking these questions, my interviewee had alot to say about each question so the whole interview easy and very informational. I think the only hard part of the interviewing was making up the questions. It was hard because i had to make sure that they made sense and i was not repeating the same questionw twice. Also, coming up with enough questions to ask to make sure i was getting all the information i was curious about and needed to know. Some advice i would give is to give your self between coming up with your questions and your interview. Read over your questions out loud to make sure they make sense and are not confusing. Also,when listening to their answers make sure you wait til they are done with what they are saying,then add on or start asking your next question.

One more to go after this,

On April 19th, 2011 I did my 2nd interview. According to my experiences from my first interview, I was even nervous then I was all the way in the beginning! My sister wasn't helping me either. This interview was a face to face interview, so we drove to her house and started my interview. Charlene Black was a RN for about 20 years, then she switched to Labor and did that for another 25 years; so overall she was a Nurse for 45 years! Charlene was now retired and was very happy with her past career. This interview went by pretty quickly I guess but it was way longer than the first one! It was a great experience and I learned so much about an amazing woman! I'm looking forward to my 3rd interview!

First the worst, Second the Best

...third the nerd?





My second interview went overall very well. Since this was the second time that I would be doing something that I normally don't do, it was way better than the first experience. The first time I was exteremly nervous but since I already knew what to do.. It wasn't that bad. I interviewed Dr. Viray who has been my orthodontist for the past three years. Knowing him and being familiar with him helped a lot and it made me less nervous. I got to learn about a stranger I barely knew about and I felt as if I accomplished both my English assignment and the fact that I knew him more as a person. Him giving me advice and suggestions in the future makes me feel like I will be successful in the future.

Second Take

This was one nerve wrecking interview, compared to the first one at least. This one was with my aunt, who had previously owned a restaurant before being a waiter at my parents' restaurant. She has a slight problem with pronouncing words correctly so I had to pay attention very carefully to really get information out of her. We sat there in the same spot as my previous interview, having some memories flashing back to me. I reminded myself that in order to make this interview successful, I had to focus more on the person I was interviewing. The interview went well. There were times where I had to politely ask her to repeat what she had said but other than that, everything was perfect. I even had time to ask her about how her current job was doing. I felt very confident after the interview that I had all the information I needed. To maybe improve my interview, I think I could've had a little time before to get used to the way she spoke before asking the important questions. I feel another step closer to the completion of my I-Search Project, which lifts another weight off my shoulders.

Dos

I completed my second interveiw with my mom's freinds duaghter Sabrina. She lives in South Carolina so it was a telephone interveiw. It was much better than doing it over email. She had just graduated from bootcamp so i got alot of information about bootcamp and the types of thing you have to do. Her boyfreind even helped out with questions Sabrina couldn't answer. All in all it went extremely well. Only one more interveiw to write up and we are done with this part of the project.

2nd Interview Down for the Count.

I Scheduled this one a bit late. It was on a Tuesday. I called John Barton, an architect on monday afternooon to see if he would be available. I got an interview for 4:30 the next day. I was pretty nervous and had the gut feeling on the ride there. As i entered the house i kind of calmed down a bit after seeing what kind of person he is. When we got to the table i just asked 1 question at a time getting about 10 minutes of response each. I was listening carefully but at the same time everything in my vision seemed to shrink down. I still however managed to get all the info down. And before i knew it about an hour later. The interview was finally done. I have one more to do and the hard part of the I Search Project will be finally over.

be the first one to be done as Police!

hi ! now i got big fish. i interviewed the Police Chief. He was very busy with he's schedule so, i asked him if he had 15 minutes for my interview and he accept it. i interviewed him. i was pretty amazed to know that he was in police department since 1968. i am done with all my interviews so now, i am free but i have to do conclusion and put all this papers together and lots of work !!! i will finish it because i am a police officer now.

another interview bites the dust hah!

well i did my interview on friday one day after the 2nd interview was due. But i asked the teacher for an extention to turn the interview. Well i want to start by saying that this was a fun interview because i went with some friends to do the interview. the person that i interview was funny and told me much things that help me realize on what to do. on with military career to choose. And he told me things that it will help me to be on the army. and told me things that happen to him like his experiences on the field and that grab my attention because it sounds like fun instead on going to college . and told me that instead of wastin money on college it will be better to joing the army . That it will be a good career to do. and finally he recomended more people to do my final interview. Thats why this was a intresting interview.

Shaking Kneel

For my second Interview i interviewed Mrs. Omstead. I didn't know who she was at first and i have no idea where her room was. My friends suggest me that i should interview Mrs. Omstead, they know her. I told them i don't know who she is and i don't want to interview her. But they explained me that Mrs. Omstead is a nice person and like to talk a lots. One of my friends Keena said she will asked her if Mrs. Omstead had free time to meet with me. She come with me at Husky Period and we start the interview. This is my first personal interview. I was very nervous. My kneels are shaking while i am interviewing. I stop shaking when it's almost end. It took the whole Husky Period and it was my very nervous moment. After the interview Keena said me why my kneel was shaking a lot, she know why she was just kidding me. We both laugh when we come out of the class.

Second the best

My second interview went way better then my first one. a face to face interview is way easier then over email or over the phone. i feel like you can ask more questions and be more personal. I feel like i learned way more in this interview than i had in my first one. The interview went really well i got to go on a ride along with the crew. It is pretty intense when your going down the streets with the sirens blaring and having all the cars pull aside. the reason they were called was because a kid broke his leg from jumping of his roof. It was pretty cool seeing the firefighters go to work and help the kid. My next interview i hope will go as well if not better then my last

Easily said than done

I had my second interview by phone and it was really nervous to do it. I had my nerve calmed down a bit I usually did but when I heard the voice of a person who just had conversations on the email and not even once imagined what he is going to be sound like. I had my questions on the paper ready and when I heard the voice of a stranger I was so nervous that I forgot which one to ask and at least I remembered to greet. He was a really nice person who told me a lot of things that some sounds interesting and most of them were his experiences. During the time of interviewing my face was full of sweat and busy speaking and taking down the important part of answers. Even though I told myself to calm down, sometimes words are useless against actions.

Improvising Is the Key..

After I turned in my first interview, I felt so relieved and happy. I felt like I was stress free for a second. However, two weeks later, the second interview is due. A week before the due date, I started to feel paranoid for some weird reason. I felt like I was not going to be able to find someone to interview and I started to feel overwhelmed. Also, the interview started to feel impossible to do even though in reality, it is not that hard. It also did not help that I was not able to get hold of the person I was planning to interview. Luckily, I spotted someone from my church again that Sunday before the duedate. When I got to sit down with Kimberly Magtoto, I realized how unprepared I was. I did not have papers to write on and any new questions I needed to ask her. At that moment, I started getting really nervous because beside the fact that I was not completely prepared, it felt a little awkward being alone with her. As my interview proceeded, everything started getting better. We started having long conversations and even though I did not have new questions for her, I was able to just improvise on the spot and think about the things I am interested on knowing. If this ever happens to you, my advice is to just stay calm! Just try to keep the conversation going and get the interview done. Improvise to make your situation work out and always think about what you want to get from that interview. It also helped me when I actually told Kimberly that I was pretty nervous because she actually tried to make me feel better!

Not nerve racking at all,

First off, let me tell you how extremely nervous I was. My first interview was with Crystal Brown Lee, she's our very own Washington High School student; Jessica Lee Long's older sister. The interview flew by very smoothly, the bad thing is the fact that it was so short. But that's alright because I got all the information I needed and successfully wrote my paragraphs. My first interview was very nerve racking, I froze while I was asking my questions a couple of times.. I've learned my lesson now and that won't happen in my 2nd interview!

"I would treat writing as a life passion and possibly a hobby rather than a career"

If there's anyone who's been feeling confident with their I-Search so far, PLEASE give me advice on it. My second interview has gone a little better than the first, but I still feel so strange. I feel like I'm not doing any of this right and it keeps bugging me. The fear of making a huge mistake is what keeps me caught up, It makes it difficult to get anything done at all. I know teachers always tell their students to just try their best, but it's not that easy for me I guess. It's not that I'm a perfectionist. I have nothing to go off of, no examples, I'm kind of lost. Every time I type something up to turn in to Mr. Speckels I keep thinking how it either won't make sense, or the writing is bad. All that stuff. Is anyone else having difficulties with this project? Or if not, do you have advice? Lastly, The title was a quote from my interviewee. She loves being an author and sees it more as a passion rather than a profession. For her getting paid to be an author is really just a bonus, she'd still be writing regardless. A lesson in life: pursue a career you ACTUALLY like.. something you'd want to be doing regardless if you were paid for it. Don't be one of those bitter people who get stuck with a job they hate, trying to make ends meet.. The opportunity is here, there's two more years of highschool. Make it worth something!

Tips To Writing And Doing A Succesful Interview

For a succesful interview you need to do only two things, be prepared with questions and if you run out of questions you need to ask the interviewee what else should i know about this career. Running out of questions is very rare. Like for my interview i had enough questions and only at the end when i was done i asked my interviewee what else should i know. Its important to have as much information you can get from the person. The more information you have the faster you can write your paper and get a good grade. This will help if you can not think of anymore questions ask your interviewee what else am i supposed to know. They wil help you by giving you more information. The less questions you have it will be harder to write your paper, so the more the better. So students try these tips like i said before it will help you by giving you more iinformation.

Half Way Done

I interviwed a woman named Faith Munn for my second interview and it was a good interview. It was a phone interview and it was not the same as a regular interview in person. You have to make sure you speak clearly into the phone and don't mumble so the person can here you clearly. That's just a few advice if you are doing a phone interview with someone. Also make sure that you are not doing something else while you are on the phone such as homework, or watching TV, or texting. This is rude and if the person you are interviewing here's it then they might be offended. But I had a good interview and I hope everyone else does to. I dont really recomend having a phone interview because you do not get the same experience as being in person but if it comes down to it and you have to have a phone interview, you might want to follow my advice and you can have a good interview as well. Bye good luck to everyone else. (:

2nd interview thing

I intervied a receptionist at a hair salon and he was really cool. I interviewed him over email and it was awesome. We talked about hair and how he got into it. It was awesome hes really cool. He gave me great answers for my interview.

It's Who You Know...

For my second interview I remembered that a doctor I had gone to before wrote children's books. Great, I can ask about illustators. Thats art, right? Any way, I found out he is an art collector, he studied art history, and he knows a local artist that paints in the style I'm interested in, and this artist gives lessons!!! Jackpot!!! Hey, this I-Search thing works! P.S. Yes, it really really helps to record the interviews!

Success is right around the corner

After I interviewed Michael Caracapa, I was sure to ask him if he could possibly give me another contact that would be willing to do an interview. Right away he called up John Kinson. Right after the phone call, he told me that John lived only around the corner! So I walked over and Mr. Kinson and I set up a date for the interview. The following Monday I rode my bike over to his house and we started the interview. Although the questions I asked him where similar to the ones I asked Mr.Caracapa their responses where pretty different. My guess is because their personalities are close to opposite. John was an older man, nearing the end of his career. I could tell he had plenty of experience in the field. But when he told me he has served Alameda for almost 25 years, I couldn't keep my eyes from widening. John Kinson also said he wouldn't change his job if he had the chance, witch proved to me why he's been a fire chief for so long. John Kinson has had a load of experience as a fire fighter and I'm glad be was able to share some of it with me in our interview. I hope the next one is this easy.

2nd interview

Once again, having a recorder is very useful. And again background noise was a bit of a problem. Okay, I interviewed this guy in a Baskin Robin's, because I don't know I guess he works there sometimes, and everyone was dragging their chairs and making that really loud screeching noise whenever they got up to leave. Also, unlike the first guy, this guy talked pretty quiet. But it's all good because I still got all the information I needed. Next time I'm going to try to arrange an interview in a quieter setting probably. I guess.

This is my 1st interview. A little late...

I interviewed this guy from one of my dad's classes. It was pretty easy to set up, I just emailed him and stuff. He seemed pretty cool, and since he has taken classes in journalism, interviewing him was pretty easy. It really helped to have a recorder with me so I could get all of the details right. We were in a coffee shop, so it was kind of loud, but I didn't miss anything important. This seems to be the only real problem I had.. a lot of background noise. Luckily the guy spoke pretty loudly so it was all good.

Experience in Business

In my second interview, i didn't have much problem in finding someone, who would be willing to give me their time for my project. I had already experienced on how i was suppose to keep trying to get someone help me. However, i did face a obstacle, which was about the questions to ask from the interviewee. It seemed like i had already asked all of the question needed in my first interview, but then my mom told me to do ask some of the same question with some additional questions in second interview, because she said everyone has different life experience and i might get slightly different responds, that can help me choose the carrier. Thus i was able to resolve the conflict with my mom's help, because now i do think that we shouldn't only depend on only one person's responds to make life lasting choices.

This interview went very well. However, it wouldn't been as much successful if I wouldn't have asked the question "Would you do the same business if you move to some other place" and this question let us have a long conversation, and it came up with very good responds that helped me choose my business even better. As he said "yes because i have a lot of experience in this business. In my own opinion this is the best occupation to have." In this conversation he told me lot of other helpful things too, which really helped me. Thus that question became a key for my interview's success.

Always BE ON TIME. Dress well. Try to make a question that will make a conversation last long, because this is good. It looks batter and professional, and can change some one's totally bleave about you.

2 DOWN ONE TO GO

This interview was the most awkward interview I ever done the guy was shy. He didn't give me a lot of information. The only good thing about this interview is that I did it in Spanish. One thing that I like about this interview was that he told me that been a chef has benefits because you get to know people. He got me motivated to cook. He sounds like a nice guy. After the interview I went to the kitchen and I started to cook a meal for the family. When I done cooking I set the table really good so it would look like a restaurant, and it did. It was good. The interview was OK I learn more about chef and I think that is a good thing for me because I want to be a chef. I think that people that are chef have a lot of fun. And this is how this interview has change and motivated my way of thinking about the life in my future and my future life of the world of a chef and the duties for the hunger of the world

one more left... yaaay!

Today after school i stayed to intwerview my spanish teacher, Ms. Danner Vera. I thought it would be cool to look into becoming a spanish teacher since I speak it fluently, and I even help students in class. It was a really easy interviewing process because Ms. Danner Vera is really easy to talk to. The started off a bit slow but by the time we were done it was already 3 o'clock. Im glad the interview was so easy, because now there's only one more left to do!(: Doing the i-search step by step has really made it easier to get the interviews done and think of questions to ask. After this interview, i've really been thinkning about learning more about becoming a spanish teacher, i think it'd be a cool job to have.

2 out of 3....great one left -__-

I was a bit more nervous for my second interview because she wasn't family. Having my questions ready was a big help, that calmed my nerves a lot. I got a lot of use full information from this interview, i tried my best to change some of my questions i asked in the previous interview. I learned that some interviewees are not as nice as others so pick your interviewee wisely. The interviewing process is definitely getting easier for me, its more fluent now but still nerve wracking. i hope my next interview is as good or better as this one was.

Omg Is this over yet?

Yesterday I finished up my second interview. Thankfully I got lucky again and another one of my friends sitrrs was available for me to interview. Her name Is Megan McClary she is still in school to be a chef This totally helped me out on uncovering my topic which is Chef. I had no challenges before,during, or after the interview. i will admit I felt a little nervous because I didnt know you could interveiw someone over email. I got all my questions answered. Yeahhhh I actually had a great time with her over email. Megan really opened up to me and I actually learned a lot more about being a chef than I already suspected. I asked her questions mostly based around what inspires her to keep cooking and why does she loves doing whatever doing so much. You can tell she is extremely passionate about her job. She has a very outgoing personality so I really felt like I could be myself and she didn't reject answering any questions. I smiled with some awesome answers she gave me and actually really listening to your interviewee helps out.

2nd interview done..3rd interview here I come

Ok so I guess I didn't do as well as I thought I did on my third interview but hay I did my best. As usual I was nervous. Took me at least thirty minutes to even dial the number and start the interview. Anyways I did it. I got the information I wanted. But I got to admit it wasnt as good as my 1st. My interviewee didnt seem like her job or maybe it was because she wasnt in the mood for an interview. She seemed kind of out it. But it was nice I guess to interview her. I tried not to get on her bad side, tried not to interupt her, I listened when she talked, and I tried to keep the questions at a bare minimum and got some of the information I needed. hope alot of your guys 2nd interview went well and that your last and final interview goes great.

2/3 Done. AHMEN.

Last week I finished up my second interview. Thankfully I got lucky again and another one of my best friends was available for me to interview. Her name is Shannon Watkinson and has been a dance teacher for three years now. This totally helped me out on uncovering my topic which is “Choreographer/ Dance Teacher”. I had no challenges before,during, or after the interview. i will admit I felt a little nervous but that feeling went away very quickly once she arrived at my house. I got all my questions answered and remained calm. I actually had a great time with her (as always). Shannon really opened up to me and I actually learned a lot more about her dancing career than I already suspected. I asked her questions mostly based around what inspires her to keep dancing and why does she love her job so much. You can tell she is extremely passionate about her job. She has a very outgoing personality so I really felt like I could be myself and she didn't reject answering any questions like my first interviewee did. I realized just putting on a smile and actually really listening to your interviewee helps a lot. Only one more left sophomores!

When Procrastination Turns Out to Be the Best Idea You've Ever Had

I seem to be a fan of my own idiocy, for I decided "I-Search? Meh, I'll be fine! I have two weeks after all!" Then sometime last night (or this morning, the details are fuzzy), I remembered. True to my over-reactant self, I spazzed, looked through some note cards (used as writing prompt idea reminders rather than for notes, naturally), found my friend's father's e-mail address, and sent an over-formal, over-polite e-mail. The entire interview was done in only a few replies, which suited me just fine, for I was wary of my time restraints. The tone on my end was overly-formal and almost stiff, whereas my interviewee seemed almost too glad to help, very cheerful through his text. His daughter is a friend of mine and I am assuming he knows what troubles and lengths she has gone to for her I-Search, but nonetheless I am glad that he could help me before the due date came too near. Though I need to expand my highly introverted circles, being forced to look for people within them that I can relate to is a enlightening albeit alarming discovery. It's said that through various relationships, it would only take less than six for any one person to meet any other person on the planet, it really helps to know what resources one already has before you go off to the phone book (as if anyone even has those any more).

be the one ! second interview

hi guys ! was up? how was your interview and interviewee. mine was a lot better than last time. i told her i will see her face to face at 6:00 but, later i had so much homework i just mailed her that i won't be able to come and i will send her message over mail. she agreed i just love her she is very nice. i mailed her all the question but, still it was very weird to mail her to tell me about the environment around her. the clothes, desk and etc; i was pretty sacred thinking how about she didn't mailed me enough information? but, she did mail me enough information. i had success for it. i am very happy that she gave me all the information i wanted. and now i will type my essay easily.

just be happy and ask them all the question you have believe me they will be very happy helping you finishing this project. my last interview will go well too,

Its finally over!... Almost....

Yep! You heard right! I finally (almost) finished my interviews! However, that last one was freaky. I spent about 20 minutes before my interview freaking out about the fact that I had to call and interview this complete stranger. The worst thought going through my mind was, "What the heck am I supposed to do when I call her?! I can't call for a professional interview when I'm practically bouncing off the walls from nervousness! Craaaaaap~!" I was so nervous, I thought I was going to start talking then suddenly trip over a random, out of nowhere, chair! O.O - If you know the feeling, try drinking milk (that's what I did)! Since milk makes everything better! Yay! :3 Anyways, back on topic. - When she picked up, it was really awkward getting things started and it was the same when we were trying to hang up, but I couldn't tell if she was nervous of not, or if it was just me. Maybe since she was a professional she had experience with phone interviews? Or maybe its just easier to be the interviewee? Who knows.... Anyways, if you guys ever feel like you might die from a phone interview, try finding a quiet place to relax, listen to some music beforehand to calm you down, bring a pencil, some paper, and always have your questions ready beforehand. It would be embarrassing if you didn't have your questions ready and ended up making the person on the other side feel anxious because of the awkward silence.... Good luck all! Just one more to go! Horray!!!

Last minute call!!!

I had kinda forgot about my i-search interview or should I say I was ignoring it.I thought it was gonna be very hard but it turned out pretty easy for me. My interview was due tomorrow and not to forget I had taken an extension of a week from Mr. Speckels already,I HAD to get the job done somehow.So,I decided to give a call to my brother-in-law and he helped me with this.It wasn't really hard because I have known him for a long time but it felt different trying to talk professional because it's something that I haven't done in my life.The interview went well even though I was all ready for it.The interview lasted about 15 minutes and I had got all the answers I needed. I suggest everyone to interview someone who you know and this wont give you a hard time. good luck for your i-search :)

2nd interview

My second interview went a lot better although it was with my uncle it was great he was able to provide even more information. Although in pediatrics their are a lot of different areas like the general pediatrician who deals with colds, coughs and daily check up. While a Hematology deals with sub-specialty in internal medicine and pediatrics, devoted to the diagnosis and therapy of conditions and diseases affecting the joints, muscles, and bones. I haven't decided exactly what area. Since I got the chance to interview in 2 different areas I have a better chance in picking the right one.

Isearch interview

My First interview went not so good at first because I couldn’t contact any pediatricians until my doctor got back on the 28 of March. I called her that day and she wasn’t there so I left a message. Then on the 31 I was able to contact her and told her all about the I-seach then a few minutes later Dr. Cheng called from there everything went fine although it was a phone interview I couldn’t ask her certain personal question but I asked most. She was able to provide me ith useful information.

Ratatouille

During the last three weeks we were talking about I- search interview. Firs I though I would be easy but let me tell you it harder as it seen. It was challenging, when I started to look for people for interview, I couldn’t fine somebody I try to call a lot of restaurants, but they said no even one of the guys told me to call a guy then when I call the guy was from Los Angeles. I felt bad because it was frustrated that I couldn’t fine somebody. It became more and more frustrated because the due date was getting close. But then I told Mr. Speckels about that and he gave me more time. I was looking more and I fine a really good lady name Dorothy when I interview her it was cool I like all the thing that we talk and it inspired me for been a chef. Because I was nervous I mess up a little but it was ok. I really didn’t use a process to make this interview I just call and send a lot of messages. And that’s all for the interview. =D

Easy As A Piece Of Cake(=

Throughout the three weeks that was given unto us to do the first interview, I was not able to do my interview until last Saturday, March twenty-six. For the first one and half week I didn't really do anything to improve on it. As the due date came closer I talked to one of my friend from church if I can interview her and she said yes. I made about ten questions the night before to have an outline on the things I will ask her. Luckily, my first interview went pretty well and smoothly! I had a chance to interview Evagene Reyes, someone I am pretty close to, and because of this, I was not nervous at all. The whole time I was interviewing her, it felt like I was just having a regular conversation with her! This is why I chose her first instead of someone I am not as comfortable with. I would advice this to anyone who requested for an extension to make it easier for them. Also, with this, they can get some kind of experience or an idea how it feels like to interview someone before facing someone they don’t really know. One interesting thing that Evagene talked about, which registered nurses should be able to do, is the need to clean patients' butt when they poo and they cannot take care of themselves. Because of this, registered nurses should have a strong stomach and endurance. Overall I got some interesting and important information I should consider, like the classes I should take for my junior and senior year. I hope my next two interviews go as well as this one!!

Unlucky Interview but Done Smoothly

I couldn't finish the I-Search on time, i have to make an extension on it. When i found a teacher to interview and she promised we should meet on Monday after school and do the interview. But after school, when i went to her class she wasn't there. I was waiting and waiting, start to feel worry about it. I need to turn in the paper on Wednesday and i was afraid what if i didn't get to finish the interview. Therefore,on the same day i e-mail it to Mr. Shawn if he could be my interviewee. He said "yes" so i e-mail him the question. On Tuesday, he become busy and he said he will e-mail me today morning but my extension is due today. But it's okay.Still he helped me finish my interview, I got the answers to my questions today morning. I was glad he helped me out, otherwise i have to find another teacher. When i interview Mr. Shawn by e-mail, i was scary if my questions are bad or spell it wrong. However, everything went well and eventually i finish smoothly, even though it is late.

first interview yayyyyy

So I emailed 7 bakeries in the Bay Area and none of them decide to email me back except one. SO I suggest you email a lot of people and not just one or two since they probably won't even take the time to look at your email. Another good piece of advice is to call instead of email. I didn't do that. So if I did that I'd probably have a better chance of actually getting a response. Anyways yeah. For my first interview I probably talked to a girl who was like 20 at the oldest. So I guess if you talk to somebody near your age you wouldn't be that nervous since you have other things to talk about if you run out of questions. If you stop giving somebody eye contact while you're talking, you're making it awkward for everybody. So you shouldn't really stop giving eye contact pretty much the whole time. And it's kind of awkward writing things down when you're interviewing somebody with the small moment of silence, so you should probably try your hardest to memorize a lot of what they said and write down critical things they said. I guess next time I should do those things. Oh and not to be shy. It's not like you'll ever really see these people again so you shouldn't be shy and not talk all that much. I'm pretty sure they'd want more of a conversation with you than a questionnaire.

And To End It...

I have to tell you, the worst thing you could do for an interview is rely on someone who has changed their phone number without telling you! Especially if they live 2 states away! >:O First and foremost, make sure you get your interviewee's information long before you start your interview or even before the interview is done. You don't have to make sure that you contact them right away, just make sure you can contact them instead of putting it off until you learn when the interview is actually due. This way, even if your in-between disappears (or practically falls off the face of the earth for all you can tell), you can still initiate your interview on your own if you need to. My mistake was not doing any of this! Not too smart, right? If only you could turn back time... but then if we could do that, I'd probably spend that time procrastinating... O.O! XD I love my job~ Anyways~ like I said, not a good idea to leave your in-between with all the contact info (just in case right? :3). Trust me! Procrastination is not a good idea, even if the project hasn't been assigned yet! Be ahead of the game, it will pay off! ...least I hope so.... O.O

A bit late...

For my first interveiw I decided to complete it over E-mail with one of my mom's freinds from highschool. I wouldnt recommend doing an interveiw like this. Since it wasn't live I couldn't build on some of his answers to gain more information. Also, i found that alot of his answers didn't have as much information as I had hoped but it was still just enough to complete my first interveiw. Also, I could have had done a little more research before writing the questions for two reasons, to have a little backround information and to make stronger questions. The positive things I gained from this first interveiw was learning from my mistakes of not doing it live and to prepare better questions. One interesting thing I learned from my interviewee was that he sailed from Guam to Hawaii on a one hundred and eighty foot buoy tender "the Sassafras" and in rough waters the boat was almost capsized on their trip, which he answered as his scariest moment while serving. Now I'm one interveiw closer to being done with the project and I know what to do better for the next two interveiws. I am so excited...

Calm down and do normally

When I had to search for my interviewee, I had trouble finding one. But at last I found someone who was willing to allow me to interview that person. Even though I finally found someone to interview, it took me over a week to find one. Before I found my interviewee I was so worried that I was afraid I might get zero on this project, but I calmed myself and just think that it will be okay as long as I keep finding one and I could ask for an extension. When I wrote for the interview questions to email my interviewee, I was afraid that I might ask some questions that might be asking unnecessary things, so I double checked and sent it to my interviewee by email since he wasn't around. Luckily, he was a really nice person. He answered all the questions and told me all his experience that answered my questions. To summarize it, all you need to do is calm down and do as if you have a lot of time, but do not think that you have all the time you want.

An incredibly creative title

My I-Search started with a random phone call, while I was making cookies. Yes i make cookies and they are delicious. One of my very manly traits. When I looked at the phone it said restricted so I thought, Great another prank call. I answered rudely with What do you want!? Instantly a kind voice responded, Blake? Then I realized my mistake! That was deffinatley the most awkward part. Then we talked for about twenty minutes and I learned many very intresting things. What really helped me were my conversation holding skills. I was able to make up questions on the spot, because I had not written enough at the time. Whatever you do just don't worry about asking the wrong questions and speak your mind. Good luck and please LEAVE FEEDBACK.
BY BLAKE BROWN IF YOU WERE WONDERING.

interviewing an interviewer

Well, finished typing up my first isearch interview and I must say it went smoother than I thought it would. The interview was the only difficult part. I had trouble keeping notes on what he was saying while at the same time paying attention to him and continuing to ask questions. I should have mentioned this before, but I interviewed a columnist from the Mercury News named Mike Cassidy. Quite an interesting guy if I do say so myself, he knew so much about what he does. I learned a lot from this interview, and believe it or not, I'm looking forward to the next one. If i was to give someone advice before their interview, it would be to have a sheet of paper prepared with your questions, and what information you are hoping to get out of the interview. Also, try to have fun with it! Don't look at it as a homework assignment. You will get much better information that way.

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"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia"

I e-mailed many authors and have received replies from two so far. Both interviews went better than I'd imagined they would. The best advice I have for others concerning their interviews is to be respectful, confident, and patient. When you try to contact someone for an interview, you need to be mature. A key point is to believe in yourself and what you're doing. The more time you spend practicing your interview, the less nervous you'll be. Try to relax. It's not the end of the world, and your interviewee is just as human as you are. If you feel awkward, chances are they will too. If you're confident and polite, then chances are the feeling will be mutual. The only hard time I had with this first interview was with my nerves, and lack of patience. I reread my e-mails to both authors over and over, I kept wondering if maybe I spelled something wrong, or if I came off as rude. And once I'd sent them, I'd keep thinking that no one would reply. It'd only been a day or two and I was worried. I didn't have patience and I see that now. They both replied in about three days, and considering that other authors could take MUCH longer to reply, that's nothing short of a miracle. It was all in my mind, I was psyching myself out. The interview was fine and really, the main thing that can make your interview a bad one is if you go into it THINKING it will be bad. Mindset is everything. Be yourself, and be engaged. If you're passionate about the topic and you're presence is noticeable it'll make things easier. Lastly, ask questions that you normally wouldn't. Think outside the box. Don't make assumptions about careers - there's a lot of factors that you'd never think of. These interviews opened my eyes a little wider to writing, and I now KNOW that this is what I want to do. It's what I will do.

I just save people live's and run into burning buildings, nothing big.

My interview was amazing. It inspired me to fallow my path to becoming a firefighter, and pushed me to become a Chief firefighter. The interview was easy, I interviewed my neighbor a retired Platoon Chief. He showed me all of his awards his old pictures and he even invited me to dinner with some of his old friends. It was about a hour and a half interview, and it would have been much longer but it was already 10:30 p.m. He said it is the best career ever, and that he has connections so I would be able to get more opertunity's. I was amazed about how in-shape he is today at 63, he goes hunting plays some pick-up basketball at the fire staion and is still able to help out the Fremont fire department. I thought the interveiw was going to be akward at first because his wife was siting next to him but she was also really involeved in his fire fighting career. She would help prep his gear, raise money fore kids and cook for the station. This interview really got me excited for my career as a firefighter.

Hotel Check In

As I was going to my interview, I was so nervous that i couldn't believe this is actually happening.
But as I started to talk with the person i felt more calm. My advice is don't be nervous because you might feel nervous on the way but once you start talking, it will slowly develop into a natural conversation. This is how my conversation started, so first it was going okay, not to bad but then slowly we started talking about hotel management. Once we started talking about hotel management, it went really smoothly. So my main advice to people is to stay calm as much as you can. It worked for me. It can work for you to. Another tip is to think that your talking to a family member. I think these 2 strategies also helped me focus more during my interview. So for the people who are still nervous try these strategies they will really help you.

F-F-F-F-FIREMAN

So i wanted my first interview to be easy so I interviewed my uncle. He has been a firefighter for six years. It was good that i got to interview someone that i know well because i wasn't really nervous. It was his only day off and he was at a restaurant when i called him so he had to call me back. I feel that the interview went smoothly and i had more than enough questions to ask him. i hope the rest of my interviews go as well as this one did.

Strange Environments with Non-Strangers

I had wanted to make sure that my first interview was as pain-free as possible, so as to make sure I wasn't put off by the idea of the rest of the I-Search project. I decided to ask Mr. Drage for an interview, and he easily accepted. The interview went smoothly, but with time restraints, it had to be done in two parts. My only issues were with starting and ending each part of the interview, though the questions themselves were simple enough for me. During the second part of the interview, once I had run out of questions, he had continued talking while I sat and listened until I had to leave. Parting was awkward, but I think he understood by the way that he smiled (though I'll never be sure). If one is in a healthy mindset, and does not allow oneself to become stressed, these interviews become much less frightening and the I-Search project as a whole seems that much more possible.