Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan

Lisa Harper

Dr. Stoddard

Nov. 24th

Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan

Grade: 6th

Class: U.S. History: 1877 to Present

Length: 40 minutes

Topic: Susan B. Anthony and the Women’s Suffrage Movement

Overview: For this lesson I will be using the Socratic Seminar Instructional Method. The Socratic seminar is a way to get all students involved. Socratic seminars are useful in that it teaches the student to make a point through using the text for support, listen to other student’s opinions and respect them and encourages students to think independently and learn cooperatively. Socratic seminars force all of the students to think critically and use text to assess and analyze what they have read. Each student is required to speak at least once so it encourages involvement by all students.

Seminar Text:

“Susan B. Anthony is Arrested”

Rationale for text:

I chose this text because the students will be studying the Progressive Movement and Women’s Suffrage. This text is worthy of a seminar because Susan B. Anthony was one of the key individuals that helped women gain the right to vote. The reading level is one that is appropriate for 6th graders and it also touches on some key issues with regards to women’s rights. The text also used vocabulary words that are necessary for the students to know and understand.

Objectives:

·  The students will be able to demonstrate the essential knowledge of Susan B. Anthony’s role in the Women’s Suffrage Movement through meaningful discussion in a seminar format (SOL Objective - US II.3e).

·  The students will demonstrate the ability to analyze and interpret a primary source document to increase understanding of events and life in United States history through discussion in the seminar format and through written expression in paragraph form. (SOL Objective - USII.1a)

·  Students will engage in substantive conversation in a way that builds an improved and shared understanding of the role of Susan B. Anthony and the Women’s Suffrage Movement based on provided text (PASS Standard 3).

Assessment: The students will be given a short reflection response paper to assess what they thought of Susan B. Anthony’s impact on the Women’s Suffrage Movement, Susan B. Anthony’s actions as read about in the story, if they agreed or disagreed with what she did and if they disagreed what they would have done differently. In addition I would like them to consider the actions of the Judge and assess why they believe he acted the way he did. The students will be given a classwork grade for turning it in. The paper will be graded according to if they followed the instructions and if they wrote about what they learned about during the seminar

Content and Instructional Strategies

The students will be given a copy of a text. The students will each take a turn reading a paragraph until all of the text is read. The students will then be asked a series of opening, core and potential follow-up questions based on the text.

Opening Questions: What role did Susan B. Anthony play in history? Why was Susan B. Anthony arrested? What events led up to her arrest? Why did Susan B. Anthony believe she had the right to vote?

Core Questions: Why was the Fifteenth Amendment important to Susan B. Anthony? Why did she want to be handcuffed when she was arrested? Where was her trial held and why wasn’t it held in Rochester? What point of view did the judge have? What happened when the judge asked Anthony is she had something to say? Why was the Supreme Court’s ruling in 1875 a setback for women?

Potential Follow-up Questions: Why did the officer refuse to handcuff Anthony? Why didn’t the judge send Susan B. Anthony to prison? What impact did Susan B. Anthony make in the women’s suffrage movement?

Other follow ups may include – “where did you find that in the text?” “can you say more about that?” “what do other people thing?”

Preparation for the seminar (seminar text): The students will be given background material to read the night before that gives a brief overview of who Susan B. Anthony was and what role she played in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The students will be asked to answer simple questions that would act as a ticket just so they can begin the seminar with some prior knowledge. The text for the seminar will be read aloud in class with each student reading a paragraph until the text is completely read.

Room arrangement: The desks will be in a circle so all of the students are able to see each other. Tent cards with the student’s names will be on the desks so the students are able to address each other by name and either agree with a point made or present an opposing opinion based on the text given.

Preparation for the seminar (discussion skills): As the facilitator I will explain to the students that when they have a response they should be able to point to a specific example or way to support their response from the text. In addition to verbally giving the instructions to the students I will give them a handout with the way in which they can make the answers given more meaningful through the use of support found in the text. The students will be directed to be respectful of others by not speaking or chatting when another student is speaking and to raise their hand if they have something to add to what someone else said or if they would like to respond to a question.

Procedures for the seminar: First the students will be seated. The teacher, acting as the facilitator, will address the students and give them the guidelines of what is considered acceptable seminar behavior. The students will be allowed to speak and address the questions asked, but will need to be respectful and raise their hands if they would like to speak. The students will refer to each other by name, if agreeing or offering a counter response. Each student will be required to speak and answer questions presented at least one time. The students will be asked to read a paragraph starting with the person sitting to the left of the facilitator and going to the next person for the next paragraph and so on until the entire text is read. After the text is read the students will be asked one broad overarching question to begin the deliberation of the text. The students will answer the opening question/s and then proceed to answering other core questions as well as other potential questions. After the questions have been answered the class will debrief about what they learned not only about the text, but also about the style of deliberation and discussion of the seminar. The students will be assigned a reflective paper that is 1-2 paragraphs stating what they thought of the seminar and what they learned individually. Good – you may need to find a way to model the discussion skills and will need to be patient in the discussion to facilitate skill development in addition to a good understanding of the story

Post-seminar and Debrief: The class will discuss what they think went well with the seminar and what they think could have gone better with regards to the seminar.

Resources: Nextext Stories in History book series “A Changing America”.

Differentiation: The students who are above average can be given an extension activity that will serve to challenge them. Find out more about Susan B. Anthony’s fight for Women’s Suffrage though primary source readings.

Adaptations: Students with reading difficulties will be given a copy of the text the night before coming to class for the seminar so they can practice or preview the material as much as needed. You may also want to give them the seminar questions to help them prepare for the discussion. In addition a tape can be made so the student will have it to listen to prior to coming to class. The student can follow along with the tape while previewing the material in the book.

Reflection: I think the Socratic seminar will go well in that it is a chance for everyone to read and explore the text through questioning. I think for some poor readers it may not seem to go that well because of poor reading skills, but I will support all students through positive reinforcement and praise for the attempt made. The students will get the opportunity to respond, but will have the text to refer to for support of their response. I could see the potential for some discipline issues such as calling out, but I will be sure to make the students understand the rule of being respectful to all by raising their hands if they wish to speak. I will also stress the importance of not using negative name calling or degrading another student because of their answer or way in which one responds.

Post-teaching reflection: The students really seemed to enjoy the seminar set-up and were willing to participate. Even students who were not usually very vocal participated through reading. I think the lesson went well because it was something different. It also made them use the text for the information when responding to questions. The students were asked to tell me what they would have done differently if they were Susan B. Anthony which encouraged them to try to think on a higher level and use their reasoning skills. I would like to find a better way to differentiate for students that are higher learners.