POWER-OF-THE-QUESTION PROJECT: SOLEDAD O'BRIEN

Name of lesson: Soledad O’Brien, tone, style and active listening

Suggested grade levels: 6-8 (can be adapted for grades 9-12)

Suggested subjects: Language Arts, Social Studies, Journalism, Humanities, Government

Suggested time allowance: seven class periods or sessions

Lesson overview: In these lessons, questioning skills are explored using a CNN newscaster Soledad O’Brien video. Topics include recognizing the importance of tone and style, being active and engaged listeners, and building a repertoire of thoughtful and powerful questions. This lesson also introduces probing interview questions, specifically “out-on-a-limb” and “devil’s advocate.”

Objectives

Students will:

* Analyze interviews for tone
* Determine interview style
* Compare and contrast different questioning styles
* Demonstrate an understanding of question types, using student discussions and assignments
* Evaluate other’s questions and determine which are most effective

Copyright 2009 Y-Press

Part one: identifying tone

05/21/2012

Prior to class, write the word “tone” on the board. Ask students to individually brainstorm synonyms for it, listing in their responses in journals.

Part two: identifying interview style

05/21/2012

Write the following question on the board: “What examples come to mind when you think of the word STYLE?” (What does it look like?)

Part three: setting the tone with style

05/21/2012

Give students time to review research. Group famous people together to share background information to clarify and discuss the tone/style they will take in their interview.

Part four: pushing and probing questions

05/21/2012

In the final section of the video, O’Brien discusses the importance of asking interview questions that push and probe.