First and fourth periods used a modified Socratic Seminar (see slideshow below) to discuss the relationship between conflict and setting in “The Sniper.”
Second and seventh periods got an introduction to the Moodle site we use in class and some more practice with Schaffer model elements by identifying selected sentences in paragraphs.
Homework
- English I Honors:
- work on the wiki reconstructing the arguments and counter-arguments presented in class;
- answer the following question about today’s Socratic Seminar by leaving a comment on this post. (Do NOT put your full name. Use only your first name and last initial.) What did you think of today’s discussion activity? What were two things you thought were effective about it? What was one thing you would like to have changed?
I thought today’s activity was somewhat challenging, but it was very enjoyable. I thought the idea of everyone having a speaker and tapping him/her on the shoulder if you had something to say was great. I also thought that everyone else had to be quite and analyze the debate was good too. The only thing I might change is having everyone required to make one argument or another.
I think today’s activity was really fun. It allowed us students to express our ideas. It improved our group working and debate skills. The one con was that when we were in the middle we began to talk over one another. Overall I really enjoyed this activity.
I thought today’s discussion activity was a new, different way to make us think. Two things that I think are effective are how it made us analyze different situations and use evidence/facts to support a claim. One thing I would have changed is how everyone talked at once.
-Evlyn L.
I thought today’s activity was good because debating about a topic always helps you get to think harder about the topic. I think that doing that activity helps us think deeper about how the setting and conflict work together in writing. We were challenged about why we thought a certain way which is a great way to learn. If I could have changed the lesson, I would have made half the groups argue one way and the other half be opposed because it would have been more of a debate rather than just a discussion.
Today’s activity was fun and very helpful. The activity got us to debate about something and to think hard to make sure our argument was a good argument. When we do activity’s like this we always end up learning something in the end. This debate would have been better if you had designated which side to debate about to the 6 groups, that way we would have more of an argument.
Today’s activity was something completely new to me, but I enjoyed it. I’ve never thought of what it would be like to change the setting and the characters of a piece of literature. It was fun seeing other people’s view of the subject. The activity was effective because it definitely got me to think about the short story, “The Sniper” more. If I had the opportunity to modify the idea of the activity I would have made to groups with opposing ideas discuss and debate the subject.
– Simon R
I think the activity we did today was very fun because we discussed our ideas and opinions on how the setting can or cannot change. There wasn’t anything I would change, except for that everyone thought that the conflict wouldn’t change much.
I thought our activity today in class was a fun and different way to discuss our ideas. Two of the things I thought were good about this discussion were that we had to think about what we were going to say and how to say it. The other thing I enjoyed was hearing everyone’s points of view and how they backed up their claim. One thing I would have changed would been that everyone had to speak at least once instead of the same people.
I really enjoyed the activity in class today. I think it was effective because it really helped us to discuss the topic and get different views on it. It also made class a bit more interesting. One thing I would have changed is to have everyone speak at least once or twice.
I thought todays activity was a new and really fun way of interracting with other students and sharing our thoughts. This was a new activity for me and i really enjoyed it because we heard different thoughts that other students had than what we did. One thing that was a con was that sometimes everyone didnt get a turn to speak because the arguement was going back and forth between two students. Besides that, this was a really cool way of analyzing the story “The Sniper.”
I liked that we got to discuss whether we thought that he could be changed or not, or somewhere in the in the middle, and were not assigned to one of the sides in the debate. Another thing I liked was that we got to do this, I’ve never done anything like it and it was very fun. The only thing I’d change is that people have a time limit to argue then they switch out with another person in their group, so the debate is sort of still on the same things the first people were talking about just with other people.
I thought the activity we did was fun and a new way of letting students express there ideas. I liked how we got to argue with each other which we not normal do in other class, but since this was a way of express our thoughts for that idea. I think we should do that more often in class, but over all it was fun and intersecting.
Mr. Scott i have a problem with the schaffer practice. I was trying to scroll through the questions and now i can’t go back to number 1. I’m on 26 and i haven’t answered any of them
I thought the socratic seminar was very interesting.We were able to speak out and argue to get our point across which I have a lot of practice on(Devansh).Another thing I liked about the seminar is that we could have improved our public speaking skills.One thing I would have changed is to designate sides for the debate since it was very one sided.
I really enjoyed classed today. It was a great way to view peoples different opinions in different ways. I’ve never done anything like that before. I had so much fun.
Wow, good stuff; arguments are always fun, aren’t they? It was certainly enjoyable to watch and think about the whole thing. It was interesting how everyone not in the middle had to stay quiet, with the exception of the shoulder-tapping switch thing. The only problem is that there was really no order besides having the six in the middle. And, as others have said, they tended to just speak up over each other, which I guess IS an ARGUMENT; it’s just tougher to get your point across when you’re trying to blab over everyone else.
The activity we tried today was a very interesting way to conduct an argument. It really got me thinking about question I would not normally ask about a story. I liked the fact that we got to get into groups and discuss before the full argument started. I also thought the ability to tag the current speaker for your group, replace them, and add to the discussion was very neat. The main thing about the Socratic seminar that I did not enjoy, was all the people listening to your every word. Although this improves the function of the debate, I just do not like having so many people around you, all getting ready to try to prove you wrong. I would change the audience to one person per seminar, with one person discussing in the center, and add a second seminar to get more results and less pressure.
I don’t what has happened to my stuff so I’ll just say it again.
I liked this because I haven’t done anything like it, it was pretty cool doing it for the first time. Another thing I liked was that we got to pick which side as a group or if we were in the middle, and were not assigned a side. Something I would change about it is we all go once, and we have a time limit, then we change out with someone in our group, so that the debate still goes on with mainly the same point of view of their group, just with different people.
I thought that today’s activity was a really fun way to make us think harder about the topic. It was really effective because it made us actually have to think about the topic. It also made us think of our background knowledge on the topic and how to back us our claims. I would probably change this so that not everyone was for the same thing, even though everyone disagreed with me..
I really enjoyed todays activity. It was a great way to learn. I like how we could all discuss our ideas and learn different views people had. I didn’t like how not everybody got to speak, and some people were talking over people. I never thought about changing anything in a story before today. I love our activity and I would love to do it again sometime.
Wow, I’m still messing up.
I thought what we did was very cool and fun. The things that were very effective about it were that we all got to do it, if we wanted, so no one was left out. Another thing that was effective about it was that we had to let another person speak if they speaking so we weren’t all speaking over each other. Something I would change about it is we all go once, and we have a time limit, then we change out with someone in our group, so that the debate still goes on with mainly the same point of view of their group, just with different people.
I thought today’s activity was fun. I think it helped us share our thoughts in a creative way. I also thought it was interesting topic to discuss. The one thing i would change is the way the arguement was set up. Instead of having everyone talk at the same time, i would have 2 groups of people with the same opinion.
I thought the activity that we did today was very a creative and fun way to discuss our thoughts about the topic. The idea of the tapping to go into the circle was very fun. Also I enjoyed listening to everyone’s point of view on the topic. The only thing I would change is that each group would be assigned yes or no. People would have to support that even if they totally disagreed with it. Other than that I loved this activity and hope to do this again soon.
I thought our activity in class today was fun and different. Two of the things that I thought were good about this activity is that you are listening and taking notes to help you better understand what you were reading. I also thought it was really interesting to hear what other people thought. One thing I might change, though, is maybe the people in the middle should go around and hear what each person had to say, then debate whether you think they are right or something should be changed. That way, everyone talks and it’s not just two or three of the same people talking the whole time.
I thought the activity we did in class was very creative. It was a really cool way to show our thoughts on the topic.It was a effective to our learning because it showed us a little bit how debating works. It also gave us the experience that we can look back to which can be helpful in the future. What i would like changed is that we each a a short time limit to explain our idea of the topic and it would of went a lot quicker.
I enjoyed today’s debate activity, although I don’t really like the whole concept of debate. Two things that I thought were interesting and fun were that you had to listen and participate even when you were in the outer circle. I also liked that when you were in the inner circle and actually debating you felt like it was a classroom full of only those 6 people. It was like entering the arena going into the circle, but that’s off topic. The one thing I would change would be to assign a side to each group so that it’s not 4-5 groups agreeing and trying to argue with only one person. Besides that I really enjoyed the activity.
I enjoyed the activity we did in class today. I think that this was an effective way to make us analyze the topic in more detail. Another reason it was effective was that you had to think hard to back up your claim. The only thing I did not like was that some people did not get a chance to go up and be a part of the discussion. Overall I loved class today and I hope we get to do more things like that in the future.
I really enjoyed today’s activity in class! It gave everyone a way to express their point of view on the claim they made. It was a great way to analyze the text and try to make it into your own words. If I were to change anything, I think it would be that you could only go in twice. I overall enjoyed the activity, and I hope we can continue to do activities like this that get you involved.
The activity we did in class today was very fun. What we did in class really helped me get closer to being able to analyze the context easily. I still think that more people should have been able to be in the group debate. I really enjoyed the debate circle and i really hope we do more activities like it through out the year!
I thought today’s class was very fun. I liked that we got to learn how to work together and listen to everyone’s opinion. It was my first time doing anything like that!
I really liked the activity we did in class today! This activity allowed me to understand analyzing the story from two different point of views and let me see how different claims can be made in stories. It also allowed me to get better at debating. If we would have had more time for everyone to go back in I think it would have been better. Although I really enjoyed the activity and I hope we get to do it again this year.
This activity was very exiting. It gave student the ability to express themselves verbally instead of writing things down. It also made everyone think more carefully if they wanted to talk. The only problem I thought there was, was the fact that everything would get too loud. These activities are very fun over all though and give students a chance to have fun.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Socratic seminar activity, that we did in class. It gave me the opportunity to see the different views on answering the questions that were asked. Also, I liked that when we were in the circle, we could swap places with our other group members.The one thing that could be better, is giving everyone within the circle a chance to give their thoughts on how they think the question should be answered. Other than that, it was a very fun activity and I would like to do it again this year.
I think this activity is very useful. It lets students work verbally and interact with other students. It also helps us with real debates. The only thing that was bad was it got very loud at some points. Over all this is is a great activity that was great!
I enjoyed today’s activity, I found it somewhat difficult, but liked the discussion between students. I liked the way the discussion was set up, If someone isn’t making a good argument, you can pull them out and make a better argument yourself. I would enjoy doing more of these activities in the future.
i enjoyed the activity, it want hard but it was challenging. I saw many different views of the questions we were given.
i enjoyed the activity today. i liked being able to argue my point and hearing other peoples. i think this is good for us. the only thing i didn`t like is sometimes some people don`t get to say much.