Lesson 7.5

Mock Interviews With Peer Feedback

Unit: Unit 7: Launch: Career Readiness and FACS Shark Tank
Topic: 7.1 Present Yourself
Grade: 6 to 8 (written at grade 7; see Differentiation for the grade 6 support and grade 8 stretch)
Days: 1 class period of 40 minutes
Room: Classroom, desks in groups of three with two chairs facing each other and a third to the side

Lesson markdown PDF Word

For this lessonHandout Interview Question Cards and Feedback Sheet Slides Mock Interviews With Peer Feedback

Standards

NYS module line

IGLR 3. Employability c)Demonstrate effective communication skills
IGLR 3. Employability b)Show understanding of interpersonal dynamics
IGLR 3. Employability d)Explore and implement strategies for career readiness

CTE theme line

CTE CCO 3. Employability Skills d)Demonstrate personal development of employability skills through practice of these skills in a variety of classroom applications
CTE CIR 2. Listening c)Show understanding of active listening and feedback techniques

NYS FACS learning standard

NYS FACS Learning Standard 3 (Intermediate)Key Idea: Students will understand and be able to manage personal resources of talent, time, energy, and money and make effective decisions in order to balance their obligations to work, family, and self.
Performance Indicator: Students identify their own abilities and interests as possible guides to career choice.

CDOS

CDOS Standard 3aInterpersonal Skills. Students demonstrate the ability to work with others, present facts that support arguments, listen to dissenting points of view, and reach a shared decision.

National FCS 3.0

National FCS 3.0 1.2.2Show the skills used to find a job and to keep one.
National FCS 3.0 13.3.3Show how to listen well and give useful feedback.

Enduring understanding and essential question

Big idea: An interview is a conversation you can prepare for, and the preparation is not memorizing words. It is having done it out loud before, with somebody watching, who told you what they saw.
Essential question: What does somebody see when they watch me, that I cannot see myself?

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

(Low) Demonstrate the opening and closing of a professional interview: stand, make eye contact, shake hands, say their own name, and say thank you at the end.
(Mid) As the candidate, answer six prepared questions and one drawn at random, delivering the three-part "tell me about yourself" answer and one STAR story without reading them word for word.
(High) As the observer, score a classmate on the four traits and the two content items on the printed feedback sheet, and write two pieces of specific feedback: one thing to keep and one thing to change, each naming something the observer actually saw or heard.

Vocabulary

Tier 2 (general academic): observe, specific, feedback, role, professional
Tier 3 (FACS): interview, candidate, employer, STAR, composure, adaptability, professionalism, follow up. See Vocabulary 07.md.

Materials and setup

Handout 07.05 - Interview Question Cards and Feedback Sheet.md: the six question cards plus the twelve random-question cards printed and cut, one set per triad; three feedback sheets per student (one for each round they observe, plus their own to keep)
Lesson 7.4 handouts returned at the door: the three-part answer and the STAR planner. Students may hold them but may not read from them during the interview.
Lesson 7.2 resume drafts returned at the door with teacher marks, for scoring in the last 15 minutes
Rubric 07 - Career Readiness and Shark Tank.md, one per student, handed out at the start of Step 4
Lesson 7.3 self-score sheets from the FACS folders, so students can compare what they thought with what a peer saw
Slides: Slides 07.05 - Mock Interviews With Peer Feedback
A visible timer with a sound, and a bell or a chime for the round change
One tie, one collared shirt on a hanger, or any one professional item hung at the front. [Sal: optional. Some classes take the handshake and the greeting more seriously when there is one physical marker in the room that says this is different from a normal period.]
Setup notes: arrange the room into triads before the bell, two chairs facing and one to the side. Write the round order on the board: Round 1 A interviews B, C observes; Round 2 B interviews C, A observes; Round 3 C interviews A, B observes. Assign letters as students walk in so triads are not friend groups. Allergy check: none.

Pre-assessment

Yesterday's 3-2-1 exit cards, already sorted. The "needs more" pile is who gets the teacher standing near their triad in Round 1, and who gets a pre-filled Situation box on the STAR planner. Also the Lesson 7.4 clipboard column on empty Result boxes: those students get 60 seconds of teacher coaching before Round 1 starts.

Do now and hook (Time: 4 min)

On the board: "You walk into the room. The person hiring you has not said a word yet. Name three things they have already noticed about you."

Debrief: take five answers fast. Expect clothes, whether you looked up, whether you were on your phone, whether you said hello, how you sat. Then the hook: teach the twenty seconds. Stand at the door, walk in, offer a hand, say "Good morning, I am [name]," sit when invited, put both feet on the floor. Do it once badly (eyes down, hands in pockets, mumbled name) and once well. Make every student practice the handshake and the name with the person next to them, on a count of three, once. It takes 40 seconds and it is the single most portable thing in this unit.

Procedure

Step	Teacher will	Students will	Time
1. Set the three roles and the rules	Name the three roles: interviewer (holds the question cards, asks, does not coach, does not laugh), candidate (answers, does not read from the paper), observer (holds the feedback sheet, says nothing until the end). Read the six questions aloud so nobody hears them for the first time in the chair. State the rule for the seventh: the interviewer draws one random card and asks it last, unseen. Show the feedback sheet on the slide and read the two writing prompts: one thing to keep, one thing to change, each naming something you saw or heard.	Take a role. Read the six questions. Put the three-part answer and the STAR planner face down on the desk.	5 min
2. Round 1	Start the timer: 4 minutes of interview, then 1 minute of the observer reading the feedback aloud to the candidate, then 30 seconds to swap. Circulate and stand near the triads from the "needs more" pile. Do not intervene unless a triad stalls; if it stalls, hand the interviewer the next question.	A interviews B, C observes and scores. At the bell, C reads the two feedback lines aloud and hands the sheet to B.	6 min
3. Rounds 2 and 3	Same timing, twice, tightened to 4 minutes of interview plus 1 minute of feedback per round. Announce the role rotation clearly each time.	B interviews C, A observes. Then C interviews A, B observes. Every student has been all three roles and holds one feedback sheet about themselves.	10 min
4. The Topic 7.1 formal check (15 min). Resume and interview scored on `Rubric 07` criteria 1 and 2	Hand out `Rubric 07`. Read criteria 1 and 2 aloud with the four levels. Students fill the self-assessment row for those two criteria only, using the resume draft and the feedback sheet as their evidence, with one sentence of evidence each. Then collect the resume, the feedback sheet, the three-part answer, and the STAR planner as one stapled set, one set per student. Score criteria 1 and 2 from that set plus the observation notes taken during the rounds, after class.	Fill the self-assessment row for criteria 1 and 2 with a score and one sentence of evidence naming a bullet, a moment, or a line. Staple the four documents in order and hand them in. Write one sentence on the feedback sheet: the trait a peer saw that you did not put on your own Lesson 7.3 self-score.	15 min

Do now 4 plus 5 plus 6 plus 10 plus 15 is 40. The 15 minutes for Step 4 are not negotiable; that is the topic's formal check and it needs the time. If the class settles slowly, take the minute out of the do now handshake practice, not out of Step 4.

Questions to ask

Monitor understanding:

What are the three roles, and what does the observer do while the interview is happening?
Which of your six questions is the one where a STAR story fits best?
You are the observer. What did you see, not what did you feel?
What do you say at the end of an interview, before you leave the room?

Deepen learning:

You just watched two people answer the same question. What made one answer land harder?
Your peer scored you higher on composure than you scored yourself yesterday. Who is right? How would you find out?
Why is a handshake and a name worth practicing when it takes four seconds?
What is one question you got asked today that you want a better answer for? What would the better answer be?
Somebody asked you a question and you did not know. What did you do with your face and your voice? What would you do next time?

Check for understanding

During Rounds 1 to 3, the teacher carries the class list and marks each candidate on two things only: did the three-part answer have all three parts and did the STAR story have a Result. These two marks plus the peer feedback sheet are the evidence for Rubric 07 criterion 2. A student who is missing a Result gets a 90-second reteach at the start of Lesson 7.6 and a second, ungraded, 60-second interview with the teacher during Lesson 7.7's brainstorm.

Closure (Time: folded into Step 4)

Students write the comparison sentence on the feedback sheet: the trait a peer saw that they did not name themselves on the Lesson 7.3 self-score. Two volunteers read theirs. Then the teacher's one line: "The person across the table sees things you cannot. That is why you practice with people instead of a mirror."

Differentiation and supports

ELL: the six question cards are printed with the Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish translation of the question under the English, from Vocabulary 07.md. The feedback sheet has the two writing prompts in all four languages. The candidate may answer in the home language for one of the seven questions, with the interviewer marking it as such on the sheet. Sentence starters for the observer in all four languages: "One thing to keep is ___, because I heard ___." and "One thing to change is ___. Next time try ___." A bilingual peer in the triad wherever the roster allows.
IEP and 504 (general): the three-part answer and the STAR planner may stay face up and be referenced for a student whose plan includes notes or prompts (the rubric scores whether the three parts are present, not whether they were memorized); an extra 30 seconds of think time on each question; a triad of two students plus the teacher as the third for a student who needs an adult in the room; the option to do all three rounds as candidate only, with the teacher taking the observer role; a checkbox-only feedback sheet with the two written prompts given orally to the teacher instead; seating away from the noisiest corner. Extended time on the Step 4 self-assessment, finished during Lesson 7.6.
Grade 6 support: five questions instead of seven, and the random card is drawn from the first six of the twelve, which are the concrete ones. Grade 6 candidates may use the three-part answer as a reference for the first question. Grade 6 observers score the four traits and skip the two content items, which the teacher scores instead.
Grade 8 stretch: the interviewer asks one unscripted follow-up of their own after any answer ("You said you are organized. Show me where."). Grade 8 candidates answer one question standing. Grade 8 observers add a third written line: what the candidate would need to change for this to be a real hire.
UDL checkpoints used: multiple means of action and expression (every student practices the same skill in three different positions, speaking, asking, and observing, so a student who freezes as candidate still demonstrates the content as observer) and multiple means of engagement (the random card and the role rotation keep the stakes low and the attention high).
No-presentation accommodation: this is the lesson in Topic 7.1 where a student could be most exposed, and the accommodation is real. A student may be interviewed by the teacher alone, in the hallway or at the teacher's desk, with the door open and no audience, at any point in the period or at lunch the same day. A student may also submit the three-part answer and the STAR story in writing or as an audio recording made outside class, scored on the same Rubric 07 criterion 2 descriptors. Nobody is interviewed in front of the whole class, and no interview is recorded or shown to anyone.

Assessment

Objective	Standards met	Learning task	Assessment (formative or summative; tool)
1. Demonstrate the greeting, the handshake, the name, and the thank you	IGLR 3. b); CCO 3. d); CDOS 3a Interpersonal Skills; National FCS 1.2.2	Do now practice; the opening and closing of each round	Summative; scored inside `Rubric 07` criterion 2 (the interview), from the observer sheet and the teacher's round notes
2. Answer six prepared questions and one random one, with the three-part answer and one STAR story	IGLR 3. c); IGLR 3. d); CCO 3. d); Std 3 PI E	Rounds 1 to 3 as candidate	Summative. This is the Topic 7.1 formal check. `Rubric 07` criterion 2, scored from the stapled set collected in Step 4 plus the teacher's two round marks
3. Score a classmate on six items and write two specific pieces of feedback	CIR 2. c); CDOS 3a Interpersonal Skills; National FCS 13.3.3	Rounds 1 to 3 as observer	Formative for the observer (checked complete, partial, or missing for daily work) and summative for the candidate, since the sheet is evidence for criterion 2

The Topic 7.1 formal check runs in the last 15 minutes of this lesson. Rubric 07 criterion 1 scores the resume from the Lesson 7.2 draft as revised, and criterion 2 scores the interview from today. Criteria 3 to 6 are not scored yet and are not shown as unscored; tell students plainly that half the rubric is for the project that starts tomorrow.

Homework

None. Optional: give one adult at home your three-part answer and ask them one of the six questions. Note in one sentence what they said afterward.

Connections

Inside the building: the school counselor, who can take one triad for the period and interview four students with real high school admissions questions, which raises the stakes for the whole room. FACS gives the counselor a class already trained in the frame; the counselor gives FACS an adult voice and real questions. Community: an adult who hires, invited to run the last ten minutes as a guest interviewer for two volunteers, in front of the class or in the hallway, their choice. Keep the guest list; the same people are the Lesson 7.11 judge panel.

Sources

NYS Middle Level CTE FACS Content Module 01, Individual Growth and Life Readiness, lines 3. b), 3. c), and 3. d).
NYS Middle Level CTE Theme Module 01, Career and Community Opportunities, line 3. d); Theme Module 02, Communication and Interpersonal Relationships, line 2. c).
NYS Learning Standards for FACS (1996), Standard 3, Intermediate. NYS CDOS Standard 3a, Interpersonal Skills. Wording per 02 Standards/STANDARDS SOURCES - web research.md. [Sal: confirm against the NYSED PDFs.]
National Standards for FCS Education 3.0 (LEAD FCS Education, 2018), competencies 1.2.2 and 13.3.3.
Sal's own materials: the STAR interview lesson and its peer feedback step (FNES 538, April 2026), and the ACT FAST drill's four observed traits, which are the four trait rows on the feedback sheet.
The Communication and Interpersonal Relationships illustrative activity in the state's Individual Growth and Life Readiness module has students "work in pairs to practice effective communication skills," including "role playing active/reflective listening," before interviewing an adult. The triad structure here is that activity with a third role added so the listening gets written down.

Teacher notes

Read the six questions aloud in Step 1. A student hearing a question for the first time while sitting in the chair learns nothing except that this is scary.
The observer role is doing more work than it looks like. Watch for observers who write "good job" and nothing else. One question fixes it: "What did you hear that made you write that?"
Four minutes is long enough for seven questions at this age. If a triad finishes early, the interviewer draws a second random card. Do not let them sit.
Triads of three are the whole design. Pairs do not work, because there is nobody watching, and groups of four leave somebody with no role.
The 15-minute check at the end is the only formal check in Topic 7.1 and it has to happen inside this period. Do not let Rounds 2 and 3 run over. Set the timer and honor it.
Tell students before Round 1 exactly what is being scored. Criterion 2 has four levels and they are on the rubric in their hands. Nothing about the scoring should be a surprise while they are sitting in the chair.
Common mistake: the candidate reads the whole three-part answer off the paper. Say the rule twice in Step 1 and turn the papers face down yourself while walking the room.
Second common mistake: the interviewer coaches. "You should say..." Stop it the first time you hear it, in one sentence: "Interviewers do not help. That is the whole point."
[Sal: keep a private list of the students who did the hallway version. In Lesson 7.11 they will need the written-pitch accommodation too, and it is easier to offer it before they ask.]
Return the scored rubric criteria 1 and 2 at the start of Lesson 7.7 so students know where they stand before the project takes over the unit.