Socratic Seminar Cram Session!

If you lost your Socratic Seminar materials...

If you are confused by something on your handouts...

If you just need some reassurance and clarification before our seminar on block day...

THIS IS THE POST FOR YOU!

This post contains everything we've done the past three days to prep for our Socratic Seminar on Wednesday, February 28th and Thursday, March 1st.

Below is one of the more important handouts. It was printed in class on purple cardstock.

There are 3 types of questions on this handout:

• Level 1 Plot Questions - These questions are OPTIONAL. You should really only complete these two questions if  you literally didn't understand something about the book and you absolutely need clarification!
• Examples: How did Equality escape from the Palace of Corrective Detention? Why don't they have electricity? What did they find in the house at the end? (*SPOILERS*)
• Analysis Questions - "Analysis" really just means breaking down a whole into parts and looking more closely at the parts. This is any kind of question that generates conversation (not just a simple question-answer interaction) between multiple individuals. It could be about a particular concept (Rand's philosophy, point of view, etc.), symbols (lightbulb, books, colors, the forest, etc.), or a part of the plot (Liberty and Equality's relationship, the rules of the City, the end of the book, etc.). Your study guide questions are a good place to start, but be sure you are asking a question that will generate a conversation, not just a simple recall answer. 
• Examples: Do you think Liberty and Equality are ready to be parents? Do you think Prometheus and Gaea are appropriate names for them? Why did Ayn Rand have Equality build a lightbulb as opposed to something else? 
• "Light Conversation" Questions - These are the "gossip-y" type questions you ask as the seminar gets rolling and maybe begins wrapping up. They are not questions that require a huge depth of thought to answer, but you have to have read the book to be able to answer it. 
• Examples: If you could ask Ayn Rand one thing, what would you ask? If there were a sound track for this book, what songs would be on it? If you lived in this society and Equality came back to save you, would you go?

Yes,  you must do the last two sections: My Favorite Parts and Other Smart Things I Can Talk About.

The only requirements for it to be smart are:

1. You are passionate about it
2. You can talk about it for at least 15 seconds

For each question, if it asks for an answer, YOU MUST GIVE ONE. It's okay if it's "wrong." The worst that will happen is someone will say "I disagree" during the seminar. 

You also need PAGE NUMBERS that give an example of what you are asking about or prove your answer. These page numbers aren't for me. They are for you! The less time you spend flipping through your book, the more time you have during the seminar to contribute and earn credit!

This is the tracking sheet we will use on block day. You don't have to do anything with it until the day of the seminar. It was printed on bright green cardstock.

This packet is full of optional resources. It lists types of questions to ask and even gives question stems. It is NOT a required assignment. It is meant to be a "resource" or helpful tool. 

Remember, students who are not prepared on block day will be given an alternative assignment that will take the entire class period to complete. 

Not sure what a Socratic Seminar is?

Well, in class today, we watched part of a video that demonstrates a real Socratic Seminar! You can see it below. A few notes though:

• In the video, you'll see the kids have red cups on their desks. This is a tracking tool used by the teacher. We will not be using that. 
• These students are discussing gender roles as a pre-reading activity. They have not yet read the text and so most of their answers are references to their personal experiences. In our seminar, you should be referring to the book just as often as your own experiences. 
• The outer circle is interacting by providing feedback digitally. They are not just chilling on their phones.

Intro to Socratic Seminar

Today, we introduced our upcoming activity, a Socratic Seminar over "Anthem."

According to ReadThinkWrite.org, a Socratic Seminar is...

a formal discussion, based on a text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others.

Below is the information packet students received today regarding the purpose, process, preparations, and expectations of our Socratic Seminar. We reviewed it in class and discussed what students were responsible for doing to prepare and participate and what I as the teacher will do to prepare them for their participation.



To summarize, we condensed it down to these responsibilities:

Students are responsible for... Writing questions to pose during the seminar BEFORE the seminar date Preparing to respond to questions by marking text evidence Having knowledge of the text and of the overall plot Communicating with peers in a grade-appropriate and respectful manner Articulating ideas and supporting with evidence as necessary Taking notes over the their own participation and the participation of their partner

Ms. Hamman is responsible for... Providing feedback to guide question writing Structuring preparation time to assist students with writing quality questions Creating and providing materials to assist students in question writing Creating and providing materials to allow for self-evaluation during the seminar

On Friday, students will receive a prep packet to help them collect their best questions from their study guides as well as the tracking sheet for use on the day of the seminar. These handouts will both be turned in at the end of the seminar and will contribute to the student's overall grade. 

Powerpoints from 2/13 - 2/16

Last week, we focused mainly on catching up on reading and discussing "Anthem" together. However, some individuals have asked for the powerpoints in order to make up missed warmups or notes. 

Below are the powerpoints from last week.

Tuesday, February 13

Wednesday, February 14

Thursday, February 15

Friday, February 16

"Anthem" Chapter 1 and 2 Review Map

Below is our powerpoint from class today. The last slide gives directions for the map activity we began in class. This map is due Tuesday, February 13th.

Don't forget to read chapter 3 and 4 for homework tonight!

"Anthem" Annotation Activities and Notes

Today we reviewed chapter 1 of "Anthem" together in class and then proceeded into our annotation activities.

Now, "Anthem" is not a very long book, nor is the plot too complex. It is a relatively simple story on the surface. However, the author has left many things deliberately unexplained within the text. 

This intentionally vagueness is due to the perspective or point of view of the text. Since it is told from the first person point of view, we see the society through Equality's eyes. Equality has only ever known this society. In his heart, he believes his society tries to do the right thing, but he is beginning to see the cracks in the wall. He struggles to understand the seemingly unfair and contradictory actions of his government and society. 

For instance, consider this passage from chapter 1:

So we awaited our turn in the great hall and then we heard the Council of Vocations call our name: "Equality 7-2521." We walked to the dais, and our legs did not tremble, and we looked up at the Council. There were five members of the Council, three of the male gender and two of the female. Their hair was white and their faces were cracked as the clay of a dry river bed. They were old. They seemed older than the marble of the Temple of the World Council. They sat before us and they did not move. And we saw no breath to stir the folds of their white togas. But we knew that they were alive, for a finger of the hand of the oldest rose, pointed to us, and fell down again. This was the only thing which moved, for the lips of the oldest did not move as they said: "Street Sweeper."

And we looked straight into the eyes of the Council, but their eyes were as cold blue glass buttons.

Equality is witnessing reality and processing it for what it is at face value and what his society has told him to be true. But we see the society for what it really is: a kind of crazy, twisted collectivist disaster. So, Equality's observations about the Council of Vocations is strange. They do not breathe, they do not move their lips when they talk, their eyes look like glass buttons...

Almost as if they weren't alive at all!

Now, that sounds crazy, but what about this book hasn't had a touch of strangeness to it? 

Ultimately, we never will find out the true answer, so don't bother trying to skip ahead in the book to find out (although, if you want to read ahead, that would be fine! 😏)

The point is this: The author is giving us all the clues we need to see Equality's world for how it really is and how he really feels about it even when he can't admit it or see it himself. But we have to find it. 

And we can do that through annotating!

So, consider the notes from each class below:

The lovely drawings I did in the margin helped us to answer #4 about the effect that the use of colors have in the text. 

Color can have a strong influence on our emotion and thoughts considering how it interacts with our sense of smell and taste, both of which are strong memory triggers. Author's use it to subtly influence our mood and connect with us on an empathetic level (emotions and feelings). 

The fact that the color grey is used in the context of the house and is associated with dullness, boring, bland feelings and things that are considered typically unpleasant - smoke, dust, old, death - give us a hint as to how Equality feels when he is at home. He feels trapped, bored, worn out. 

But the colors blue and green are connected with the outdoors - the sky and the shadows outside - and are associated with more positive feelings like endlessness, freedom, happiness, and peace. When he is outside, he feels the possibility of growth and freedom. 

A few other points about this activity:

• Don't forget to answer in complete sentences, like I did in the examples above.
• When it asks you to justify your answer with support from the text, THAT MEANS YOU NEED TEXT EVIDENCE!
• The effect of the words isn't about how YOU feel, its what the use of those words tell  you about the characters, setting, or plot. 

Below is the annotation activity that is due at the end of class on Friday, February 9th. Students may work on it alone or with a partner. 

Just a quick note about this activity. The brain holds only 7 slots for short-term memory. In other words, if you mark seven different words or phrases in a text, your brain will remember why you marked those seven things for a short time. However, as soon as something else comes into your brain - your partner asks you a question, you remember a song you like, your phone buzzes and you wonder who texted you - one of those slots is automatically filled with something new and you have lost the previous thought. 

When you are annotating, just circling/highlighting/underlining the word isn't enough! Your brain can't hold all that intangible data! You should be writing notes off in the margin as to WHY you marked that word. What does it remind you of? What is it associated with? Was it confusing? Was it surprising? Even just one word notes to yourself will suffice. Trust me, it will help.

Finally, if you don't know what a word means, LOOK IT UP!

Levels of Questioning Notes and Practice

Today, students were given the study guide for the first half of "Anthem."  You can see the document or print it out below.



You may notice that the study guide itself is blank. This is because students will be composing their own questions regarding their reading and answering them using the text. In order to do this, we need to identify what TYPES of questions students will be composing.

We went over the handout below in class.



As you can see, there are three levels of questions: recall, analysis, and synthesis.

Level I: Recall questions are questions that can be answered directly from the text. They are questions the author explicitly or directly gives us the answer to. These questions do not take much thought to answer and usually only have one right answer. We do not have to draw conclusions or make inferences, because the text will say straight out what the answer is.

For example, 

What is the name of the character with glasses in Lord of the Flies? 
Answer: Piggy. 

The author tells us that Piggy wears glasses directly in the text.

Level II: Analysis questions are questions the author doesn't directly answer for us, but instead leaves clues that we put together to come up with an answer. These questions may take more thought because we have to prove our answer with text evidence and our interpretation of that evidence. Because we are interpreting the text to come up with an answer, there are a few possible correct answers to a Level II question depending on the reader's perspective.

A somewhat nonsensical level II question :)

For example,

What was Haemon's reason for killing himself in Antigone?
Answer: Haemon killed himself  because he did not want to live without his love, Antigone. The messenger observes that when Creon found Haemon crying over Antigone's body, he was "lamenting her, his love lost underground, crying out that his father had stolen her away from him." (Exo.61-63)

OR

Answer: Haemon killed himself as punishment for his father's terrible behavior. Haemon even threatens his father with this directly when Creon declares Antigone will be executed: "Then she must die. But her death will cause another." (3. 119)

The ultimate reason for Haemon's death is not communicated to us directly, so we must infer based on the observations and actions of the characters.

Level III: Synthesis questions are questions that go BEYOND the text. These are questions that involve the thematic subjects and thematic statements of the text, but are questions that could also be answered by someone who has never read the text before. Answers to Level III questions can be used to further your understanding of the text as a whole, the value in reading it, or its application to the real world. Level III questions take the most thought to answer and there are many possible "correct" answers because they rely primarily on the reader's understanding of the thematic subjects rather than just the plot. Students should still use text evidence to connect to their answers for Level III questions.

A wonderful example of a level III question!

For example,

What does it truly mean to be loyal to your family?
Answer: Being loyal to your family doesn't always mean doing everything your family wants. It can sometimes mean honoring the wishes of some family members, while ignoring the selfish desires of other family members. For example, Antigone showed loyalty to her family by ensuring that her brother, Polyneices, received a proper burial even though her sister, Ismene, told her it was a bad idea. Antigone knew Ismene's desires were more selfish and so she had to ignore them in order to remain truly loyal to the wishes of her family as a whole.

You may also use personal experiences to answer Level III questions, but you must still find some way to connect it back to the events, characters, symbols, or references within the text.

Below is the story we read aloud in class today. Below that are the example questions we came up with in each class. Make sure to review them and bring any questions you may have to class with you tomorrow when we will begin reading chapter 1 and writing questions together for that chapter.

Vocabulary Unit 4

On Monday, February 5th, we will be completing our notes for vocabulary unit 4. Below are all of the links needed to complete these notes at home and prepare for the quiz on Monday, February 19th.

These links can also be found under the Vocabulary tab. 

Vocabulary Unit 4

1. Context Clues Sentences
2. Notes Chart
3. Vocabulary Powerpoint to fill out the Notes Chart above
4. Quizlet to study
5. Extra credit Frayer model handout (complete 1 model for each word for a total of 10 points extra credit) - due Monday, February 19th

Anthem Due Dates and Plot Review Ch 1-6

We are set to begin reading "Anthem" soon and many students have already signed out a copy of the book for this quarter. You can also find a digital copy of the novel HERE. (Please note that there are no page numbers, so students will need to refer to a print copy when citing quotes and study guide answers)

Below are the due dates for this novel that students may print out and keep for their own records. Copies are available in the form of a bookmark in my classroom as well.



We will also be doing study guides and extra credit plot reviews for this text. We will be introducing the study guide Friday and next week, but students may begin on the plot reviews as soon as they begin reading. Both documents below are the reviews for the first half of the book and both are due for extra credit at the beginning of class on Thursday, February 15th.

Ayn Rand Interview

Our next piece is a novella called Anthem by Ayn Rand. During block day this week, we watched a few minutes of an interview she did with Mike Wallace in 1959. In this video, she explains some of her ideas. For most of you, her ideas are very different than what you've been taught at home and at school (and at church, if you attend). We watched the first 9 minutes during class, and I encourage you to watch the whole interview. By watching it, you learn more about her ideas, and understanding her ideas may make Anthem easier for you to understand.

Aristotle once said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." Rand's ideas may be very different than your own, and I think that's what makes her interesting to read.


We will be watching the interview in class on Friday, February 2nd and answering the questions below afterwards.

PSAT Results!

Sophomores got their PSAT results back this week through English classes. If you were absent when they were given out, please check with me.

Here are some materials that can help you understand what these scores mean, and how you can improve them. This is the video we watched in class:

This is another video that goes more into depth about your student score report:



There are many things you can do to increase your SAT score. Some companies, such as Kaplan, Testmasters, and Princeton Review, offer group classes and private tutoring options. These options cost money, but I thought it was important to let you know they do exist. It all depends on what your personal goals are.

Here are some resources for FREE SAT practice:
Khan Academy SAT PracticeSAT and ACT Practices at March2Success