Question

Assume you are employed as a counselor at your local high school. You need to conduct a 30-minute interview with a student who has suddenly had a dramatic decline in her grades. Prior to conducting any interview, it is extremely important to plan its structure, the type of information you hope to acquire, the timing and sequencing of the interview, and the types of questions you might want to ask. To prepare for the interview, analyze the structure of the interview and present a summary including the following reasons for your choices:

State the purpose of your interview and Discuss the topics you plan to cover and the sequence in which you will cover them while addressing the questions you will use to obtain the information.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) The three main purposes of the interview would be to pinpoint the exact circumstance under which this problem began, find the cause and find the solution that the child finds the most acceptable.

If it were a thirty-minute interview, it would be essential to spend the first ten minutes talking about the first exam where the grades first declined. The purpose would be to talk about the days surrounding that incident. This would help define the exact moment where the student felt dejected and uninspired to do good work in school.

During the second set of ten minutes, it would be essential to talk about friends and family life that surrounded those days. In this way, it would be easy to spot the trigger and perhaps even identify the cause. The student might mention a problem at home, with friends or in any relationships. This problem could be the source of anxiety that has caused the student to perform poorly at school.

For the second set of ten minutes, the student should be allowed to talk about things that help bring their mind at ease. It is essential to find out what kind of activity or type of people are most pleasing and relaxing to the student. In this way, the counsellor can use this information when formulating a solution that would best help the student come back to a peaceful state. For instance, if the student loves family time, it would be good to get the family involved in administering a solution.

The purpose of this interview would be to gain as much information as possible in order to best comprehend the situation and find an optimal solution.