Was this inner circle discussion better then the last one? Why or why not?
What did you like better about this seminar?
What didn't you like?
What do you feel would help the class as a whole in the future?
Remember, no mean girl comments!
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I felt that the new rule requiring everyone to leave once their point was made was very beneficial to the seminar. The conversation was less redundant and people were able to get in one the conversation more easily.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Laura that this seminar was better than the last one because of that new rule. However, I still don't like the fact that by the time you do get in the circle what you want to say no longer applies to the conversation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Laura and Taylor that this seminar was better because more people were able to get into the circle and share their ideas, i also feel that maybe we should only talk about a couple topics to ensure that everybody is able to have their point heard.
ReplyDeleteI think this seminar was better because no one could sit in the circle for a long time. This gave everyone more of an opportunity to participate. For Civil Disobedience, however, there were too many topics, like Alison said. I think that if there were fewer topics to discuss, we would make more progress. After everyone gets used to the inner circle I think that it is important to try a complete class seminar again.
ReplyDeleteThis socratic seminar seemed to run a little smoother than the last one, probably because we all knew how it worked. Like the others, I didn't like how many topics there were because it stopped us from getting very in depth about any of them. As a whole though, there were a lot of good points made and people could get a chance to speak more often
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I agree with everyone else that this seminar was much better then last time. The new rule worked well in my opinion. Everyone seemed to get a say and I don't think anyone was too chatty. Like everyone else, the issue with not being able to say what you want before the topic moves on is difficult. Overall, I thought it was a success.
ReplyDeleteI think that this was the best socratic seminar yet. About not getting a chance to say what you want to while its being discussed, I think that although it is sometimes tough, it definitely is easier to get your thought out with the inner-outer circle method then with the big group because only six people can talk at a time and it's even harder to be heard when there are 27 people trying to talk about the same thing. However, I still think it might be worth it to try two whole-class discussions and see how that works.
ReplyDeleteI think that this seminar was successful and that the new rule helped to ensure that the conversation was not dominated by a few people. I also agree with Alison that there may have been too many topics to discuss and if there were fewer topics everyone would have the chance to speak on each.
ReplyDeleteFor me this socratic seminar was by far my favorite of the seminars we have had so far. Its been said before, but the new rule about only being able to speak once helped the seminar so much. It helped the seminar to remain a seminar and not turn into a heated argument like it sometimes does. (Almost) Everyone was able to get thier ideas across. I hope that our next seminar follows the same method of seminar as this one.
ReplyDeleteThis seminar seemed slower than the others. The inner circle- outer circle format slowed it down, with lines forming even with the new rule. I think the rule helped in that it did not turn into arguments and more people got to express ideas.
ReplyDeleteI think having the socratic seminar be a debate, would make it much more exciting and intuitive. Then you could appoint me as the moderator instead of you. But thats just my two cents.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the new structure of these so-called "socratic seminars" is not what it once was. Back in the glory days a socratic seminar was a large, widespread group discussion. In recent months, under the direction of a teacher who will remain nameless, our "seminars" have taken a turn for the worse, silencing a majority of the class and cutting it down to six or so students. I for one am a strong supporter of the long forgotten socratic seminar I once knew. So please, bring it back. Not just for us, but for the sake of future students. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Sam's point because usually a minority is more reliable than a majority (at least that's what I've heard). Anyhow, I thought this seminar was just great. Almost everyone got to talk which was nice for those particular people. It was frustrating to get in the circle and suddenly have a new topic that I had nothing to contribute to without repeating what everyone else had already said.
ReplyDeleteI do not approve of this new set up of socratic seminar. I feel that this process creates a very agressive environment. This is often distracting from the discussion and it does not permit an open discussion. I also feel that this set up fragments the quality of the discussion because people who want to contrubute to the discussion have to wait for a seat. By that time, the topic may have already passed.
ReplyDeleteI prefered the last socratic seminar to the one that we had recently. In the most recent seminar people would join the inner circle and then decide not to participate. This caused much frustration for others who wanted to get a point across but were unable to because there were no open seats in the inner circle. However, I did like the fact that people had to leave the circle once they shared their idea and this opened it up for others who were outside the circle.
ReplyDeleteMe again, I also feel that the discussion in the inner circle was worse than last time. This is my personal belief because no one including myself had any idea what that essay was about. XOXO -Billy
ReplyDeleteI did not think this inner circle seminar went better than the other one because I thought the conversation was very choppy. I liked that this seminar talked about very meaningful and deep issues. I did not like the inner and outer circle because the conversation became very choppy. I think in the future we should have a regular seminar with one big circle or a debate.
ReplyDeleteYes, we should try the debate at least once if the teacher could prepare the concepts to be argued. Inner-circle Outer-circle definitely works better than whole circle discussions, but the last one kind of got out of hand. We repeatedly talked about the same topics and transitions were sloppy and ackward. The management (by Mrs. Ware) helped keep the seminar on track, while making sure every one contributed.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the inner/outer circle this time. I like that everyone gets a chance to speak. This will be good for the class in the future, at least for now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Maya that it was hard for you to get what you wanted said. Also, when you finally got in the circle all your ideas had been said and you sort of had to make it up on the spot.
ReplyDeletei wish we would go back to the first socractic seminar format because it was easier to interject and say something that was being talked about, as opposed to trying to comment on a point made 5 minutes ago
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