1. Pair up with a classmate, but make sure your partner is someone you don’t know well.

2. The theme of your interview will be the neighborhood your partner chose for their profile.

3. Write three interview questions for your partner, but don’t show it to him or her. (Your partner should do the same for you.)

4. Before you start, make sure you have paper and pen to take notes while your interviewee is talking. You might also want to practice recording the conversation with your phone or a tape recorder. That way, you’ll make this interview as similar as possible to the one you will do with the subject of your formal profile piece. You have to give your notes to your partner after the interview.

5. Set a timer and spend five minutes on the first interview. Then swap roles for another five minutes. As each interview begins, practice some basic steps that professional journalists take: Ask for your classmate’s name (and how it’s spelled) and age, and make sure it’s clear that your interview will be “on the record” and that you’ll be taking notes.

Please also note that while a good interviewer is curious, be careful to be respectful, too — don’t ask questions that might be taken as rudely invasive.

6. Afterward, reflect together on your experience:

• What was it like to be an interviewer? What were the challenges of writing and asking questions?
• What was it like to be an interviewee? What kinds of questions made you really think or made new information occur to you?
• What lessons might you take from this experience into the interview you’ll do with the subject of your profile?