A Socratic Seminar for Diverse Students

A Socratic Seminar for

Before I get started on this blog post, I want to give credit to my fall semester observation mentor Meredith Irwin who currently teaches ELA for Northwest ISD; I was introduced to this Socratic model in her classroom. After trying it with help from my current spring semester mentor, Mandi Bush, I felt like I had to share the effect it had on our students.

We live in a world that prizes the extrovert and frowns upon, or maybe just isn't too fond of, the introvert. Susan Cain writes about this very issue in her book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. I read this book during my sophomore year of my undergraduate for a writing class. It wasn't until I began diving into my education classes that I realized many of the classroom strategies I was being taught also prized the extrovert. Now, having students communicating outwardly and verbally in class is 100% necessary. But, to my understanding the classroom needs to set a healthy balance between extroverted activities and introverted ones. After all, it's just another factor that makes up a classroom of diverse learners. So, here is one example of how I have allowed both types of students to show what they know in class. We live in an extrovert versus introvert world, it's time we shift to a world that simply coexists for both. What a better place to start than in the classroom? Extroverts and introverts alike, welcome to a discussion format that allows both to shine.

Above is the Socratic seminar seating format. There is an inner and outer circle. Upon entering class I hand the students a card that says "inside" or "outside." The student proceeds to his or her seat, depending on their card, and they begin preparing for the discussion. What makes this Socratic seminar discussion different than most is the inner circle is using verbal discussion, while the outer circle is a technology-based, chat room discussion. For the chat room I generally use todaysmeet.com. I project the actual chat onto the overhead at the front of class so the outer circle has a large visual, and also so the inner circle can comment or gather ideas from the chat to discuss. Halfway through the discussion, students will switch from one circle to the other. I pay close attention to the conversation occurring within the inner circle and when class concludes I print off the chat room transcript. I then assess students based on both their participation on what I hear from the inner circle and what I read from the outer circle transcript.

This format allows the extrovert to chatter and communicate about the discussion topic verbally, yet allows the introvert to type up their thoughts without the daunting factors that come with talking in front of the group. Through Socratic, it's obvious who has read the book or who has studied the content versus students who are not doing the work. Too often we come to the conclusion that if a student doesn't outwardly speak about it then he or she must not be doing or understanding the work. Keeping these expectations in perspective, 74% of all people suffer from speech anxiety. "All" meaning introverts and extroverts combined. As you may have heard before, 25% of the population is made up of introverts. What you probably have not heard, is this study percentage was determined by Isabel Myers of the Myers-Briggs organization in the early 1960's. Since then, random samples from the Myers Brigg organization in 1998 showed that introverts actually make up 50.7% of the population. So, over half of your students probably don't favor speaking in front of groups due to their introversion. Introversion and extroversion aside, over 7/10 of your students get anxiety when speaking in front of a group.

No, I'm not saying that we should never make students speak in front of groups. What I am saying is that students who do not flourish in public spaces, where they are forced to speak, should not be assessed based off of their verbal participation as compared with those who love to speak in front of others. This discussion format is just one way to help all types of students by pushing them to verbally discuss, while offering them a web safety net where the educator can still assess the student's understanding through what they type.

If you're wondering whether this formatting is necessary and beneficial, try it yourself. I knew it was from the response of two different students as I handed each of them a different card and one student said immediately, "Aw, Ms. Moss can I please have inner circle?!" and the other who let out a disappointed sigh and said under his breathe, "ugh, not the inner circle."

Want to know if you or your students are introverted or extroverted? Click here.

If you have any questions or want to know how I prepare students for Socratic seminar please comment below.

Ambiverted as ever,

Sources:

Myers, I. B., McCaulley, M. H., Quenk, N. L., & Hammer, A. L. (1998). MBTI Manual: A guide to the development and use of the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (3rd ed.). Palo Alto,
CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

 http://www.statisticbrain.com/fear-of-public-speaking-statistics/

GoFormative!

What's the best way to make sure students are reading? 

Well, quiz them of course. And I don't mean daunting, mentally taxing quizzes that cause students to fear failure whether they read or not. I mean a quiz that asks topical, content based questions that if students listen in class and do their assigned reading, they will be successful.

I know, all too well, the frustration of reading and coming to class to watch the kids who didn't read skate by with the same or even better grade than those of us who did. Two things happen from here. Either the kids who were once reading stop doing so because hey, I was only reading for class and if my grade isn't affected whether I read or not then I'm not going to. Or two, kids keep reading because they all love literature and stay up all night reading because YAY books I love them. Which do you think is the usual case? So, let's get students to read.

Now, how can I quiz students upon entering the class while avoiding the fumbling of paper, tedious procedure of grading every worksheet, and then finding out what questions weren't answered well? 

Let's eliminate these quizzing follies and utilize modern technology - GoFormative to the rescue!

I've been quizzing my students all week using GoFormative, and it's been such an effective way to check understanding. Goformative has an array of platforms to introduce the quiz to your students. For my most recent quiz, I did the basic multiple choice platform where I type in the question and answers myself. But there's also an option where you can take a picture of a quiz, worksheet, or an illustration, and then attach questions to different parts of the picture. My mentor recently did this with vocabulary. As seen below:

Whenever students click on the blue number their answer choices pop right up.

Not to mention, kids can draw if the teacher wants. And they can create silly picture illustrations for vocab words like one of my students did:

Students gain access to the quizzes by the code the teacher is given. The teacher retrieves the code after creating the quiz and clicking "Assign". Students enter the code into goformative.com/join. I have my students sign in with their usual gmail account. Teachers can also create classes, and each class has a code that the students enter into goformative.com/#signup. This way you can make the quiz or test accessible by class. It's a quick and simple process. Day one may be a little shaky, but when students get a feel for the program it saves massive amounts of time.

The program makes it easy to get access to answers. For my multiple choice quiz I can see the exact number of students who got each question wrong, along with how many were answered correctly. This makes it easy to know which questions might need to be gone over, or even thrown out of the quiz entirely.

Whenever I'm ready to grade work, I simply click "Export" in the upper right hand corner and the student names, grade, and answer choices are put into an excel spreadsheet. Easy. As. Cake.

While I'd recommend goformative to my fellow teachers, I truly wish they had a way to convert the tests and quizzes you make to a pdf file so that it can easily be stored in your computer drive, or even printed out for a student if necessary. 

I'm just beginning to get my feet wet in this program, but I've seen nothing but good things. Try it for your classroom! Click on the picture below to get started.

  

Best,

Why I Choose to Teach

Why I Choose to Teach

I didn’t grow up aspiring to be an educator. SHOCKER, I know. Instead, like most kids, I had a million and one forever changing dreams during various points of my life. In elementary school, I wanted to be a singer. I joined children's choir and envisioned myself as Christina Aguilera herself when I was assigned second row soprano. Singing in the shower and during long car rides became my specialty.
 

"To Kill a Mockingbird"

In middle school, I wanted to be an actress. Without hesitation, I took on the character of Scout in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird;” I felt as if there would never be a more glorious place for me to be. Awe of the stage combined with the intense illumination of lights, burned in me a desire to forever exist between the curtains.

Northwest Basketball 2010

In high school, I lived and breathed the game of basketball. The bounce of a ball and the squeak of shoes on the court became my constant, sought-after melody.
 
 Near the end of my high school career, I knew basketball wasn’t going to carry me in to adult-hood, and neither were my childhood aspirations of being a singer or an actress. When dabbling in these different hobbies I wasn’t thinking about what was best for me for the rest of my life. Instead, I was loving my temporary yet utterly fulfilling desire to do what I wanted in the moment. Part of me was lost; and the other, outright angry for not having had more direction in life - for not having someone to whisper in my ear, "Sarah you need to be fill in career name here." 

 I knew that I loved English Language Arts, so going into college I decided to study it with no regard for how I would use it in the real world. Upon years of study and reflection upon brilliant works of literature, I had one of the greatest “A-HA!” moments of my life. In all of my loves in life - singing, acting, playing basketball, and many more - I was driven, inspired, satisfied, thriving, and in love with what I was doing and who I was. I was given the world, and by strangers I had never known until I walked into their classroom. My hobbies were shaping me into a well-rounded young women in responsibility, communication, satisfaction in work, and so much more. A-HA!! The most taken-for-granted individuals I had known in my life were now, I had finally realized, the teachers who pushed me to my utmost potential and, more importantly, to discover what made me happy. I decided that there would be no greater career fulfillment for me than doing for students what many of my teachers did for me. 

I still sing horribly in the car, but I'm not nervous to speak in front of people. I no longer exist between the curtains, but my quirky personality and ambition to be successful is ingrained in my character. I still play pick-up basketball (via getting blocked because I'm a mere five-four), but I know what it feels like to win, lose, and pick-up myself ready to get back to work no matter what. This, along with my love for English Language Arts, is what has molded and inspired me to take on the education profession.

If you are reading this and have been a teacher in my life - You have inspired me to be who I am today. A million “Thank you!” notes could never fulfill the debt I owe you for the work and love you put into my life. So instead, I will show the same love and care for my students as you did to me. This, I know, is even more satisfying for you than any thank you I can give.

Many Thanks,

 

 A special thank you to my student teaching mentor, Mrs. Mandi Bush. It's only been a month in the classroom with you, but I can already see myself calling you years from now either frustrated or rejoicing about the triumphs and trials of this profession. You make coming to school everyday something I truly look forward to.

Check out her blog!
 http://lifewithmiddleschooler.blogspot.com/