Friday, January 21, 2011

Interview: Sheriff Salsich



Every week, Sheriff Yollis' class and Sheriff Salsich's class  meet for a Buckaroo Book Club on Skype over at the Reading Roundup! They've discussed  The Garden of Abdul Gasazi and Thank You, Mr. Falker

The third Buckaroo Book Club was scheduled for today. Unfortunately, it was a snow day in Connecticut, so the students were not at school! Fortunately, Sheriff Salsich was available! 


The citizens of Yollis county conducted an interview. Nicole was the photographer, Grace and Adia recorded the interview via TodaysMeet.

Here is a transcript of the interview.  




Students tried to think of open-ended questions rather than closed questions.
(Open-ended questions are questions that cannot be answered YES or NO. Here are some examples:
Closed question - "Do you like teaching?" The answer is yes or no.
Open question - "What do you like about teaching?"  The question requires a full answer.)
 
Students conduct the interview.

Topics included: teaching, hobbies, and traveling.


One hobby Sheriff Salsich enjoys is watercolor painting.


He shared some of his work with us!

Here are some better images of the watercolors he shared with us!

Spring Oak - Wilcox Park

Kaye Caulker, Belize

Buttonwoods



Sheriff Salsich lived in Belize for eighteen months. He had no electricity or running water in the village!

Sheriff Salsich happily answered each and every question that the interviewers asked.

Bye Sheriff Salsich! Everyone has to skedaddle!


What did you enjoy about the interview?

Why are open-ended questions better?

Do you have any additional questions you'd like to ask?

16 comments:

  1. Dear Sheriff Yollis and your wonderful bucharoo students,

    Thank you for the wonderful transcript with Sheriff Salsich .
    You did so well asking some great questions. I like how Sheriff Salsich responded to your wonderful questions too.

    I really like this open end questions for the person who is been interview needs to open up more about him or herself than just saying yes/no. For it is so easy to answer yes/no to a question.

    I would love to know if Sheriff Salsich taught himself to paint or is he taking painting lessons?

    Great good buckaroos I am pretty sure your Sheriff teacher is very proud of you all.

    From your pal down under,
    AA.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @ AA,

    We had a wonderful time with Sheriff Salsich today. Although we know him through blogging and Skyping, we have never had a chance to get to know him outside of the classroom. It was a wonderful interview!

    I don't know if he taught himself to paint or not. Perhaps he'll answer your question here.

    Yes, asking open ended question is a great way to get to know someone. If you just ask yes or no questions, the interview is over quickly!

    Hope you're enjoying your summer!

    Mrs. Y♥llis

    ReplyDelete
  3. @ Mrs Yollis,

    Yes, Mrs Yollis you are so right with yes and no answers its short and I feel also boring.

    I love to get too the core of a person and find out what makes him/her tick.

    Now you asked about our summmer well Mrs Yollis we really have not had much of a summer. As a matter of fact its been very mild.
    But still am loving these school holidays and having BB home with me.
    Do hope your mum is doing well?
    Please give her our best from down under.

    Well Sheriff Yollis better sign off now as the whole family is of to celebrate Australia day with fireworks on the edge of the beach.

    From your blogging buddy,
    AA.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Mrs Yollis' class,

    Wow, you guys have already given me so many ideas but I just love this and I hope I can do something similar this year!

    I would love to have my new class interview someone on Skype and come up with some open ended questions. That is such an important skill to be able to have meaningful conversations and get to know people.

    I thought it was great that you had Nicole as the photographer and Grace and Adia recorded the interview on TodaysMeet. Go girls!

    Here is a question for everyone - if you could skype with anyone in the world who would it be and why? That is something to think about!

    I'm so impressed with Sheriff Salsich's artwork. He is one very talented teacher!

    I'm looking forward to reading about your next adventures!

    Your pal,
    Mrs Morris

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Mrs. Yollis' class,

    Thank you for that great Skype call! That was a wonderful way to spend part of my snow day. I am very lucky to collaborate with all of you and Mrs. Yollis. I feel like I'm really get to know you from the Reading Round-Up videos and your excellent comments.

    And I was so impressed with your great questions and the way you followed up after my answers.

    @ Adia and Grace,
    Wow! You did a fantastic job transcribing the interview. I like how you added that my lights go off if I don't move :)

    @ Nicole,
    Wonderful job as photgrapher! I like that you got a picture of Lindsay's cool cast.

    @ AA,
    Great comment as always! To answer your question: Yes, I am teaching myself to paint. I haven't taken lessons but sometimes I will read books to get tips. Part of the reason I like to paint is because I get to experiment and learn as I go. I usually learn more from "mistakes" than I do when things "go right." Another reason I enjoy it is that it makes me really look closely at things. To me, the process of painting is more important than the finished work.

    @ Mrs. Morris,
    Thank you for the compliment! If I could Skype with anyone it would probably be the Dalai Lama. I would ask a lot of open-ended questions!

    From,
    Sheriff Salsich

    ReplyDelete
  6. @ Sheriff Mr Salsich,

    Wow you really are a wonderful painter. Your details in your painting are so beautiful and I really love the wonderful colours you use to paint it really brings them to life. I just love colour for so many reasons.

    Your paintings really do draw you in. I could spend hours just analysing every detail in each painting.

    You really do have a talent and to think you are teaching yourself(WOW) the art of painting. Well done.

    What a great concept how you learn by making mistakes and looking at things more closely I feel we all should take that lesson on board.

    From AA.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a great opportunity for your students! I absolutely love the learning going on in your classroom(s). How did you start this collaboration?

    Kind regards,
    Mrs. Watanabe

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    I'm writing about your blog on my blog and was wondering if I could place a picture from your website onto mine for a visual?

    Thanks again for all you do!

    Kindly,
    Mrs. Watanabe

    ReplyDelete
  9. @ Mrs. Watanabe,

    Thanks so much for your kind words! We love learning, and our learning used to only take place within the walls of our classroom. Having a class blog has opened up the learning opportunities for all of us!

    The best way to start collaborating is to explore other class blogs and leave comments. Many teachers and their students are interested in developing connections with other classrooms and they will comment back to you. Soon, you will notice that you are building a relationship with a certain class or classes. From that beginning, you can look for other ways to get together and learn.

    That is how I met Mr. Salsich. First through commenting on each other's blogs...and then...looking for other learning projects to do together.

    Please let me know if you need more information!

    Sincerely,
    Mrs. Y♥llis

    P.S. If anyone else has some advice...please add! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. @ Mrs. Watanabe,

    Thanks for asking if you can use our image! Sure! Just include a hyperlink back to our blog! :-)

    You're making real progress as a blogger!

    Your friend,
    Mrs. Y♥llis

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Mrs. Yollis's class,

    I really liked some of the pictures that Mr. Salsich painted. I never knew he had that much talent. Mr. Salsich is my teacher and I knew that he really likes to paint with water colors but I never knew that he could paint that well. That is amazing! I also didn't know that he had all those jobs.

    From,
    Alison in Mr. Salsich's Class. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dear Sheriff Yollis

    I loved Sheriff Salsich's Water color paintings!
    They were so colorful :)
    Also, did he take art lessons?

    From,
    Emmett in Mr. Salsich's Class

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dear Mr. Salsich,
    I liked the Skype call with you. How much did you have to practice to become such a good artist? Did you start when you were a kid or adult? My favorite painting is Kaye Caulker, Belize. I like it because it looks warm and it's at the beach. Do you always paint when you are on vacation?
    Yours truly,
    Ben
    Mrs. Yollis class

    ReplyDelete
  14. @ Ben,

    Thank you for the compliments about my paintings. I'm glad you enjoyed the Skype call, it was a lot of fun for me too.

    To answer your questions; I have always been able to draw the things that I see. I think it is just a talent that I was born with. I have had to work on getting better with watercolors though. When I'm sketching with pencils I can just erase mistakes, but it is very hard to change things with watercolors.

    Most watercolor paints are transparent. That means that you can see the other colors underneath them. So, if I make a "mistake" and put down a color that is too dark, I can't lighten it by putting a lighter color on top because the lighter color will be transparent. And it is very hard to remove or erase watercolor paint once you have put it on the paper.

    So, I really have to think ahead and plan the colors I will use. I start with all the light colors first and then layer the darker colors on top. But I learn something new with each painting I do and that is why I enjoy it so much.

    I don't always paint when I'm on vacation, but usually I do. If I can't paint I always have my sketchbook with me to do drawings.

    From,
    Sheriff Salsich

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dear Mrs. Yollis' Class,

    We liked the paintings of the plants. Our favorites are Spring Oak and Buttonwoods. Is your class going to make paintings inspired by Sheriff Salsich?

    Marissa and Nyla

    ReplyDelete
  16. Dear Mrs. Yollis' Class,

    I think your class is real lucky to interview a good artist. He has talent. I love water color paintings. I like the Buttonwoods the best.

    Julia, a 49'er

    ReplyDelete

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