Spotlight on Socratic Seminar II by Brandi

Spotlight on Socratic Seminar II


Back in November, as the first marking period of the 2017-18 year closed out, I wrote about my experience doing my first Socratic Seminar. The seminar was on important global issues about refugees related to our class book, Inside Out and Back Again, from Mrs.Loredo’s 8th Grade period 8/9 ELA class. I found the first Socratic to be a very insightful and a meaningful learning experience. I have included the link to my experience doing my first Socratic, which includes an explanation of how a Socratic Seminar works.

This marking period Socratic was much different, because instead of debating about one question regarding global issues, we tackled discussing a Shakespearean play. The marking period was spent reading and analyzing Shakespeare’s comedic play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The story features comedic tradesmen putting on a play, four lovers who run away into a forest, and magical fairies who love to cause mischief. Despite the light-hearted comedic feel of the play, it tackles many intense themes such as love, magic, and control. The recent Socratic I was part of dealt with all these issues and more.

In preparing for the Socratic, we were given five questions that students would get called into the inner circle to discuss. Even though I was only going to be called into the inner circle for one of these questions, I had to be properly prepared to all of them, because I didn’t know which one I would be randomly assigned. During my preparation, the question I enjoyed preparing and contemplating the most is: “Do the characters emerge as one or are they are indistinguishable between each other? If you think they are not individuals, explain why you think Shakespeare did this?” I found I agreed that they are not individual characters, but rather used as props in Shakespeare’s expression of the themes of young love and control. This question was thought-provoking, because it dove deep into the author’s (Shakespeare’s) reasoning when creating the characters.

I ended up being pulled in on the theme of control questions. “The main theme of the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is control. What motivates people to try to control each other's actions? How do people try to control each other's actions? What happens when people try to control each other's actions? In what ways have the characters’ attempted to control one another in the play and were their attempts successful?” This question was actually the prompt for our end of unit assessment and was great to discuss.

I argued that people control because they feel a lack of control, want to obtain ends, or to feel security in power. I explained how the character Oberon tries to control his wife, Titania, because he feels out of control in their relationship. I also touched on how characters want to obtain ends and they control to receive these ends. In my Socratic, I also tied my book club book, Animal Farm, and explained how the characters in that book (which are representative of people in the political Russian Revolution of 1917) control for the sake of power. I shared my thoughts on how characters and people either control psychologically or physically. Finally, I explained how not all attempts to control another person’s actions are successful, but some do work. Overall, I found the theme of control really interesting to discuss, based on the thoughts Shakespeare was trying to show through his play.

One of the best parts of Socratic is being able to observe your peers discussing. The question I found most interesting to observe discussion on was the one that dealt with the theme of love. “Of all the happy couples at the end of the play, Demetrius and Helena stand apart because Demetrius alone is still under the spell of the love potion. In your opinion, does this render their love false, or is it just as valid as the love between the other couples? In forming your opinion, consider what the play has to say on the whole about love.” Some of the conclusions my peers formed when discussing the theme of love is how foolish and blind love can be. I found this to be interesting to observe, because I didn't even think about how Shakespeare was trying to show that theme through his play. I felt being able to observe this question gave me a deeper understanding of what Shakespeare was trying to express in the play.

Overall, I believe this Socratic helped me to understand on a deeper level the meaning behind Socratic Seminars. I received a deep understanding of the value of the three main parts of a Socratic: Prepare, Discuss, Observe. Preparing helps to really use critical thinking, research, and analytical skills. Discussing allows speaking and listening skills to grow, allowing us to work on expressing academic ideas with our peers. Observing shows us different points of view and expands our perspective. The Socratic Seminars allow for a variety of skills and perspectives to be expanded, which is really beneficial, particularly when talking about Shakespearean literature or global issues. My first Socratic Seminar really showed me how insightful Socratic can be, and this one exposed me to why it is so insightful through the different parts of the seminar. I can't wait to see what I discover in my third Socratic!


The link to my first Spotlight on Socratic Article:

http://byramrampage.blogspot.com/2017/11/socratic-seminar-by-brandi.html