Unit+and+Lesson+Plan

“Get a Job!: Interviewing Skills”

Duration: Three Weeks

Objective: Student groups will create videos demonstrating effective interviewing skills, then download videos into their iPods and use videos for tutorial/practice for mock interviews.

Materials Needed: Computers to search career websites (ie. Monster.com, careerbuilder.com, etc.) Digital cameras/video cameras MovieMaker/iMovie iPods

State Standards: WI English/Language Arts Standards: A.12.4 Students will read to acquire information C.12.1 Prepare and deliver formal oral presentations appropriate to specific purposes and audiences E.12.3 Create media products appropriate to audience and purpose WI Business Education Standards: A.BS.13 Participate in (and evaluate) mock interviews A.BS.14 Discuss the importance of verbal and nonverbal communications during an interview WI Information & Technology Literacy Standards: A.12.5 Use media and technology to create and present information

Procedures: Following a general introduction and overview of interviews—their purpose, three parts (before, during, after)—and a discussion of the importance of performing well in an interview, students in Interpersonal Communications class will be divided into small groups and assigned various aspects of interviewing: Preparing for an Interview, Dressing for an Interview, Interview Body Language, How to Answer Common Interview Questions (multiple groups), and Interview Follow-up. Students will then be directed to career search websites (ie. careerbuilder.com) to research information about their assigned topic. Groups will have approximately three days to complete research and will present researched notes to the teacher in a conference; teacher may point out holes in information and send groups back to gather more details. Once the research is complete, students will script and rehearse for filming a 3-5 minute video teaching their topic. Groups will create a rough story board and script, again conferencing with the teacher upon completion. When ready, students will film their videos using digital cameras or camcorders. They will then take the rough footage and make it into a “movie” using Movie Maker, iMovie, or a similar type of software. Completed videos should include opening titles, necessary visual transitions, audio enhancements (music, voiceovers, etc) if necessary, and ending credits, including credits of research sources. Final movies will be converted into mp4 files and loaded on class iPods.

Students will view all the videos and use them, in part, to prepare for mock job interviews.

Assessments: Movies will be assessed using a rubric created for the project. Student learning will be assessed via performance in mock interviews as well as varied written assessments.

Corollary: I also teach a “developmental-leveled” course called Communication Skills which also studies interviewing skills. The completed videos, loaded on the classroom iPods, can be utilized by the EEN students in this class to enhance the learning of the material as well.