Initial Interview - Corrina Date of Interview: 12-05-06 Time of Interview: 6-6:30 pm Location: Paul Public Charter School, Library Subject Name: Corrina Interviewer: Nichole Interview Questions Part I - Biographical 1) Tell me three words that describe you 2) Where do you live? 3) Tell me about your family 4) Do you have a computer at home? 5) Tell me about your neighborhood 6) Where do you go to school? Please describe. 7) Tell me about your teachers? Do you feel supported and understood? 8) Do you have a favorite subject? 9) Do you do well in school? How so? How were your grades? 10) Is there anything you would want to change about your school? Your teachers? Part II - Programmatic 11) Have you ever been in a program like this before? If so, tell me about it. 12) Tell me about the Higher Achievement Program 13) Why did you want to participate? 14) Do you think there are any benefits to being in the Higher Achievement program? 15) What have you learned so far? 16) Describe the HAP “Culture”. What do you think of the Culture Constitution? 17) Tell me about Ms. Aishah and Ms. Andrea? What kind of expectations do they have? 18) Tell me about your mentors? Do you feel that they and the staff are supportive? 19) Describe the perfect mentor 20) Do you think that gender makes a difference? What about race? 21) Do you know what you want to do when you get older? Future goals/plans? Description of Setting (See previous descriptions of library) Corrina is an 8th grade student at Paul Middle School. She is 13 years old, Latina (her parents are from El Salvador), with long dark brown hair and brown eyes. She is wearing the Paul uniform of blue pants, white polo shirt, black shoes, and white socks. She is slightly below average in height with a slim build. She is an attractive girl and gets a lot of attention from the boys around her. She has told me before that she’s already had several boyfriends, though she has not had sex with anyone yet. She has a little sister, Anna, who is in the 7th grade and also in the HA program. Corrina has been in the Higher Achievement program for 3 years. Corrina’s parents seem involved and active in her life, particularly her father. She gives me the impression that he is very protective, stern father who loves her very much. Corrina is very popular in the HA program. Most of the students know and like her, and she is something of a leader, passing out sheets to students and leading Community Meetings and other efforts by 8th graders. Corrina is a very smart girl, but could try harder sometimes academically. The times when I have helped her with her homework, she tries to do the bare minimum and gives up easily when any significant mental effort is required. When pushed and encouraged, however, she easily comes up with the answers and demonstrates her true academic prowess. Corrina seems to be a child who needs consistent positive reinforcement. This was also demonstrated in her desire to receive “Shout Outs” and to be recommended as Scholar of the Week. She received this honor 2 weeks ago for the first time since she’s been in the program. She has been told by several of her mentors that she needs to work on her attitude. Though she says she has never heard this from her teachers in school, she recognizes that if so many HAP mentors and staff have said it then it must be something that needs work. Over the past several months her tendency to quickly develop and attitude and become “hot under the collar” has subsided a bit, demonstrating that she is truly working on improving. She has even said to me, “Ms. Nichole, I’m doing better with my attitude. I’ve really been working on it.” Overall she is a sweet, bright, outgoing child who has a lot going for her. She always greets me with a smile and greeting, and occasionally a hug. Today, we were alone in the library. The students had not yet come upstairs for their mentoring sessions as they were still in Community Meeting. Occasionally a custodian would walk by straightening up the area, but other than that we appeared to have the space to ourselves. Corrina is normally a very talkative, expressive student, but today during our interview she was giving me uncharacteristically short answers, almost seeming to rush through the conversation. Before we started she was concerned about not finishing a project for class on the computer, and part of the way through she also indicated that she had to go to the bathroom. Both of these issues may have distracted her from our discussion. Interview Transcription I turned on the tape recorder. C: (speaks into the recorder) Hi (laughter) N: Um. Ok. The first part is biographical, which is basically you telling me about yourself. Ok? So first, I want you to give me three words that describe you. C: Um. I’m educated….motivated…and pretty (smiling, giggling) N: Um. Tell me about your family. C: Um. My family is kinda big. I’m not gonna say like big big, but yeah um. It’s a Hispanic family… N: From where? C: From El Salvador N: Ok. C: Umm… N: Brothers? Sisters? Do you live with both your parents? C: I live with both my parents. I have two brothers, two sisters. N: How old are they? C: One is 12…no 11…the other sister is 24…one brother is 26 and the other one is 16. N: Imma tell him you don’t know how old he is! C: Yeah. He’s 16 N: So do they all live with you? And what about grandparents or aunts or uncles or grandparents or anything? C: No. Oh, My aunt lives with us. That’s it. N: It’s your father’s sister or your mom’s sister. C: My mom’s N: Ok. And what do your parents do? C: My dad’s a construction worker and my mom works in a building. N: (laughing) Let’s hope! You don’t know what she does? C: I don’t know. N: You should ask her about that just for your personal information. Ok, tell me…Where do you live? Do you live in DC? C: Yes. N: Do you live in NW or….I don’t know DC so you have to tell me C: NW N: Is it near Paul? Is it walking distance or do you take the bus? C: Take the bus. N: You take the city bus or do they have a school bus here? C: I take the city bus. N: Ok, tell me about your neighborhood. C: It’s quiet. And… the neighbors aren’t like…Like you know how sometimes…Causes my family has parties and sometimes we play loud music and it doesn’t end until like 3. Like the neighbors don’t complain, cause I’m surprised because my other neighbors in my other neighborhood, sometimes they would complain. N: Do you live in an apartment or a row house or a standalone house? C: Standalone house. N: Ok, tell me about…You go to Paul right? C: Yes N: Tell me about your school. C: I guess it’s a good school. N: You guess? C: Yeah. It is a good school N: You sure? C: Yeah N: Ok. Feel free to be completely honest. No one is going to hear this but me. C: No. That’s all I got to say about it. N: No, you gotta tell me more than that. C: Ok…I learn a lot. It’s hard. I get a lot of homework. More than I need to get. N: Yeah, y’all do get a lot of homework. C: And…basically we read…for recess we have to read. Mandatory. Yeah N: Is that that have lunch half reading thing? C: Yeah. Merit Time. N: So do you like your school or not? C: I like it. N: Tell me about your teachers. C: My teachers? Some of them I don’t like….just because they give us a lot of homework and they act like we don’t have…the teachers that give us homework. They act like we don’t have a life after school. N: Yeah. You guys don’t get to have a life after school; especially if you’re in Higher Achievement. You stay busy, but that’s a good thing. When you become a teenager you need to stay busy right? Or else what happens? C: Um. I don’t know. N: You get into trouble. C: (pauses)…..ok. (chuckles) (3:47) N: Ok. Tell me about each of your teachers. C: All of them? N: Yeah. Just quickly. Just describe them to me and tell me whether you get along with them…if you like them. C: Ok. My first period teacher, Mr. ?. He’s ok. I get along with him sometimes. Yeah. But he thinks I talk to much. Ms. ? She’s ok. I’m doing good in her class. It’s just sometimes…like…you have to kind of…she doesn’t accept like bad work. N: Tell me the subjects too. C: First one is art. Second one was reading. Mr. ? teaches Social Studies and I like his class cause we have discussions that don’t bore me. Yeah. And I do good in class. Ms. ? She gives too much homework. And she…sometimes I think she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. N: What class is that? What subject? C: Science. And Ms. ?. I talk a lot in her classroom, cause a lot of my friends are in there. N: What subject is that? C: Math. N: Girl, you know you don’t’ need to be talking in math class. C: Yeah I know. And so…That’s why I kind of don’t do good in that class. But, I do good, but not (can’t understand) N: Well you know what the good news is… C: What? N: At least you know what you need to do to make it better C: Yeah. Like, I’m trying to not talk a lot anymore. Ok, and umm last period, Ms. ? She’s my favorite teacher. She teaches Spanish. N: What makes her your favorite teacher? C: Because she doesn’t give that much homework and in class we do a lot of fun work. N: Like what? What makes it fun? C: We read stories that are interesting and then we talk about it. And she keeps us laughing and Like she tells jokes and all that. N: So you feel like you can talk to her and relate to better C: Umm hmm N: What is it about her that makes her easy to relate to and easy to talk to. C: I think she…I don’t know she just knows how it feel to be a kid. I guess that’s why she doesn’t give us a lot of homework because she knows we have other homework. But like, at the same time she can be hard. Her tests are hard. N: Is she young? C: Not really. I think she’s like in her 30’s N: That’s not young? Is that what you’re trying to say? (laughing) C: (laughing) I thought you meant…by young I thought you meant like 20’s or something. N: Ok, so your favorite subject right now is Spanish? C: Yeah. N: How did you do on your report card? C: I got one B and the rest A’s N: Was the B in math? C: No, it was in reading N: So why did you say you didn’t do well in math? C: I DO do well, it’s just I got a 93 I think. I could get 100 if I didn’t talk so much. N: Well at least YOU know. All A’s and one B is really good though. (6:48) C: Yeah N: If there was anything about your school that you could change what would it be? If anything? C: The homework. If I was principal, I would tell the teachers to give less homework. N: Ok. Anything else? C: No. N: Ok. If there was anything about your teachers other than the homework, what would you change? If anything? C: Uh. My teachers…well….(thinking). All teachers have to teach so…They could try to understand us! N: You feel like they don’t understand you? C: Yes. Some of them. Like Ms. ? She just wants us to be perfect all the time. Yeah and like she needs to give us breaks. N: Breaks in the class or breaks in general. C: In general. Like…yeah. N: Like for example. C: She is…like if we don’t finish our work in class we have to do it for homework, which adds… N: To the homework you already have C: Yes! And she already gives us enough homework. And it’s like. She should give us a break. And if you say one word she gets mad and irritated. N: Why do you think that she can’t relate? C: I don’t know, and I’m surprised cause she’s the youngest of all the teachers. N: Really? Maybe that’s why. Maybe she feels she has to compensate for that. I dunno. Ok, so let’s talk about the um Higher…(looks at clock) Oh ok, we’re doing pretty good. We might get you some computer time (She wanted to work on her homework assignment). Have you ever been in an after school program before? Outside of Higher Achievement. C: I’ve been in soccer…DC… N: DC Scores? C: Yeah N: Oh, I’ve heard of that! Did you like it? C: Yeah N: Tell me about it. Real quick. C: Um we had writing on…I forgot what days, but it was two days worth of practicing and the other two days of writing. And I like playing soccer. I was kind of good. I’m not gonna say I was the best player…but yeah. N: What position did you play? C: The one that runs… N: In the front? Forward? C: Yeah…forward. N: I used to play soccer too.. So what made you switch to Higher Achievement? (9:10) C: I was doing soccer and Higher Achievement at the same time. N: Oh, were you? C: um hm N: So what made you join Higher Achievement? C: My teacher recommended me to join it. So I went to a meeting with umm….I forgot…Mr. Eddson interviewed me and I forgot the other person who interviewed me. My dad was like it was good for academics so I came in the summer and I liked it so I chose to stay in it. N: Ok. That was in what grade? C: 6th N: The summer before the 6th grade? C: Yeah. No. I was in 5th and in the summer I was in 6th. N: Ok. So tell me about the Higher Achievement program. In your words. C: I think the Higher Achievement program is good overall, but when it comes to homework, they need to understand that….we have a lot…especially as 8th graders…we’re older,we have a lot of homework. For example, if I have a lot…I do have a lot of homework…but I have to go to mentoring group. Ms. AB should let me finish it and then I can go to mentoring group, but I asked her and she said no. N: What else. C: The food could be better. N: The food could be better (laughing) C: yeah. And that’s about it. The rest is overall ok. N: Like what? What’s the rest? C: Homework help. You actually get help. I like sitting with my friends and talking to them. And…Mentoring groups. I like the mentors. They teach good. N: What about the studios? C: I don’t have a studio N: Did you ever? C shook her head N: You NEVER had a studio? C: I mean, yeah, but must of the time I didn’t go because I had a lot of homework. N: Ok. What about the Follow Through workshop thing. C: Um. Yeah. I like it because I get my essay done for high school. N: Does it help you in any other way besides the essay? C: Um um N: That’s the primary focus this year hasn’t? The essay? C: Um hm N: And you don’t do it in the 7th grade C: uh uh N: Do you think there are any benefits to being in the Higher Achievement program C: We use our brain more than any other students N: I guess for 12 hours a day C: Yeah. And you get help with your homework. And you can hang out with your friends I guess N: Hang out with your friends? C: Yeah. That’s all. N: What about for the future? C: Oh. It helps with high school N: Ok. What about any negatives? Outside of not being able to do your homework. C: I don’t have anything to say. N: No? What have you learned so far here? You’ve been here for 3? 2 years? What have you learned? Or have you learned anything? C: 3 years. This is the third year. I mean everything I learned in Higher Achievement I learned in school. So I guess…My attitude… N: What have you learned about that? C: A lot of the mentors have been telling me I need to work on it. Teachers at school don’t tell me that. N: They don’t tell you that? C: Um um. But teachers here tell me that N: Ok. So what do you think about that? C: I need to change it. N: Think so? They tell you that. Have they given you any guidance about how to do it? C: Try to think before I act N: How is that going? C: Good. Well, I’m trying to. N: That’s all you can do right? C: Yeah. N: Oh, you said most of the stuff you learned here you learned in school. Did being in Higher Achievement ever kinda keep you ahead of what you were doing in school or were you right on track. C: I’m right on track. N: Ok. (13:12) So I hear a lot of people talking about the “culture” of Higher Achievement. What do they mean when they talk about the culture of Higher Achievement? C: I don’t know. N: You don’t know? What about like the Culture Constitution and stuff like that? C: Like why it was made? N: What is it? Or Why was it made? C: Like what they expect from us and the mentors? N: I don’t know. You’re the expert. C: That’s what I’m saying. N: Ok, tell me. C: I already did. N: What they expect from you guys and from the mentors. Like what do they expect? C: Like they expect us to think outside of the box. That’s not what they say, but I think that’s what they mean. N: No, you interpret what you think they mean. C: I think that….In one of them…I don’t’ know which one it is. They want us to think outside of the box and further our thoughts. N: Anything else? C: Um um N: There’s like six of them woman! C: I don’t remember all of them! N: You’ve been here for three years! C: This is our first year with the Culture Constitution. N: Didn’t you guys help make it? C: No! I didn’t help make it! N: Ok. So what do you think about that, and what is it…proactive leadership…being prepared…right? C: Yeah….Ms. Nichole, it’s not that important N: Why not!? That’s like one of the foundations of the program. Do you think it’s useful or helpful in any way? C: Yeah. We read it and it reminds us what to do and what not to do. N: Do you actually follow that at all? Does it stick in your head or anything? C: I try to. I can’t guarantee that I follow all those rules or meet those expectations. N: Ok. So do you think it’s useful to say it every day? C: Yeah N: You do? C: Yeah N: Are you able to translate the nonacademic things that you learn here into the academic setting? C: Yes N: Yes. What…you gave me the furrowed brow. C: Yeah. I. Yeah. N: Howso? C: I’m learning some things. Hold up, what was the question? N: Yeah. That was what the furrowed brow was about.(chuckling) C: Yeah. N: Like the academic stuff, yeah, I could see how that could be easy to take with you back to school. But what about the nonacademic stuff. Like they’re telling you to improve your attitude and think outside of the box…that type of stuff. Are you able to translate that…? C: Yeah…it’s like attitude...I may get attitude with somebody else. So I need to improve that. N: Ok. But that hasn’t been a problem for you at school though? Too much? C: Not that I know of… N: Well I’m sure they would have told you if it had. Right? They would write you up or something? C: I got written up once. N: Once this year or once period. C: Once this year N: What’d you do? C: I was talking a lot and then I said I wasn’t talking and she got mad. N: Ok. Tell me about Ms. Aishah C: She’s a good Center Director. Like if someone has a problem she makes you feel better. Like she knows how to approach you when you have a problem. N: What about Ms. Andrea? C: Yeah. I like her. She understands how we feel sometimes. N: Ok. C: That’s it. That’s all I got to say. Um. I kinda have to go to the bathroom. N: Do you? Ok. Go ahead. C: No, we can finish. N: But I don’t want you to rush through your answers if you have to go to the bathroom. C: Um. We can finish (17:13) N: Ok. Do you feel generally supported and understood and encouraged in the Higher Achievement environment. C: Yeah. Like all the teachers support us. N: Like the mentors C: Yeah. They make sure we’re ok. Like if we have a face that looks mad. They’re like are you ok. I think that’s what I like about HAP. The mentors and everybody here is like care…care…care? Like they care. N: Ok. So tell me about your mentors. C: I like my mentors. N: You do? C: Yeah. All of them N: You have Mr. William… C: Mr. Vince and Mr. Stephen. N: Ok. And so you get along with all of them. Do you feel like they all care about you? C: Yeah N: Ok, there was hesitation C: Like sometimes, they argue about my attitude and I get frustrated and irritated, which causes more attitude. N: Which ones do that the most? C: Mr. Vince…yeah N: Ok. Um…Think about the mentor that you’ve had that you like and the teachers that you’ve had that you like. We’ve talked about this before. What would make your perfect mentor. C: Someone who can relate to you…who knows how you feel and cares and I guess…teaches you good, but at the same time, knows how to have fun…it isn’t boring. N: And do you think that you have that in the mentors you have now? C: Yeah N: Do you think that the gender of your mentor makes a difference? C: No N: What about the race or ethnicity? C: uh uh N: Um. Do you know what you want to do when you get older? C: Psychiatrist N: Really? Great! So you’re gonna go all the way? Get your medical degree and everything? C: Yeah. N: That’s wonderful. Ok, now you can go to the bathroom. C: (sighs in relief) Thank you! N: Go ahead. (19:21) 16