Socratic Seminar Student Learning Plan Assessment Checklist

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Kerver

Socratic Seminar Student Learning Plan Assessment Checklist

Overview

The 1985 movieThe Breakfast Club focuses on five teenagers who all spend a day Saturday detention. Though each student comes from different social circles, they form a unique connection by the end of their detention. During this Saturday, the students explore stereotypes, peer pressure, parental expectations, and self-identification as they engage in both conflict and conversation. The Breakfast Club is a classic movie that deals with many sociological concepts present in the adolescent experience. Students will participate in a Socratic seminar on The Breakfast Club that will allow them to explore and see case studies of the sociological concepts they have been discussing. The film focus on adolescents will also allow students to make connections to their own experiences.

Title: The Breakfast Club: Stereotypes, Norms, and Deviance in Adolescence

Grade/Class: 10th-12th grade, Sociology

Length: Two 90-minute class periods

Topic:Exploring Sociological Concepts in Adolescence through Film

Background Information and Rationale

Students will have begun exploring how the adolescent in American functions within society. Students will be familiar with the concepts of stereotypes, norms, and deviance. They will be working on identifying how these concepts play out in different social groups, adolescents being one of them.

This Sociology elective class is anchored in the use of feature films. Using a film for a seminar text is beneficial for this Sociology class for a few reasons. First, it provides students with clearly defined examples of what some of these sociological terms look like. Stereotypes, deviance, and norms are large ideas, but The Breakfast Club makes them applicable, especially with how they pertain to adolescents. The Socratic seminar following the movie allows for students to explore the sociological concepts in the film in more depth. There are many examples of these concepts, and a group discussion would allow students to hear about something in the film they might not have picked up on. It will also facilitate a deeper understanding of the film and it’s sociological relevance.

Instructional Model:

This lesson uses the Socratic seminar model to delve deeper into the sociological concepts and meanings in the film The Breakfast Club. The Socratic seminar model is a best-practice method that develops students content knowledge while at the same time engaging in discussion skills. This is a student-centered approach that relies heavily on the students to ask questions, make observations, and build off of each other. Depending on the age, ability, and experience of the students, the teacher might jump in with questions, or let the students take the range. The point of the Socratic seminar is not to find a “right” answer to any particular question, but to dig into the values and meanings of the text. Socratic seminars can be used with a physical text, or as in this case, a film. Using a Socratic seminar will be valuable for this particular lesson because it will allow students to really flesh out the larger themes of the film with classmates. They will benefit from hearing what the other student’s observed that they might have missed over the course of the film.

Objectives:

By the end of the lesson, students will have identified examples of stereotypes, norms, and deviance in The Breakfast Club through the completion of the Socratic Seminar Entry Ticket.

Students will have engaged in discussion to promote collective understanding by asking questions, building off of other student’s responses, and pointing to examples in the text throughout the seminar. Students will use their content knowledge, Socratic Seminar Norm guide, and Entry ticket to facilitate the discussion which will be assessed through student self-assessment and teacher observation.

By the end of the seminar, students will have explored the adolescent experience in The Breakfast Club through a sociological lens by their involvement in the Socratic Seminar.

NCSS Standards

IV. Individual Development and Identity

c. Describe the ways family, religions, gender, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, and other group and cultural influences contribute to the development of a sense of self;

f. Analyze the role of perceptions, attitudes, values, and beliefs in the development of personal identity;

g. Compare and evaluate the impact of stereotyping, conformity, acts of altruism, and other behaviors on individuals and groups

Assessment:

- Students will be assessed for their completion of the Socratic Seminar Entry Ticket prior to the seminar.

- Students will complete a self-assessment and reflection at the end of the Socratic Seminar. Thiswill ask students to evaluate their own participation during the seminar. They will also respond with how they think the seminar went, did they feel like it contributed to their understanding, what could be improved upon, and one thing they learned as a result of the seminar.

- Upon reading students’ self-assessments I will provide the class with feedback on the seminar. If any students are left feeling like they did not understand key concepts, I will review them again.

Content and Instructional Strategies:

-Seminar Text: The Breakfast Club, 1985 film, 97 minutes. This film explores many sociological concepts present in the adolescent experience.

Opening Question

-What changed between the beginning and end of the film, if anything?

Core Questions

-What examples did you see of norms?

-What examples did you see of deviance? Was there positive and negative deviance?

-What stereotypes did you see? How did the characters respond to these stereotypes?

-How were students’ views on each other and themselves challenged?

-What social sanctions did you see? (Negative, positive, formal, informal)

-Who in the film had the most social power? The least social power? How would they or did they use it?

Potential Follow-up Questions:

-What similarities and differences do you between the experiences of the characters in The Breakfast Club and your own lives?

-Why was this film created?

-What perspective does this film showcase?

-Teenagers face a lot of pressure from different groups. Where did the characters of this film feel pressure from?

-Preparation for Seminar:

Students will watch the film, The Breakfast Club, in class. During this time they will be required to fill out a brief entry ticket that will prepare them for the seminar. The ticket will have students identify one example of a stereotype, a deviant character or behavior, and one societal norm. Students will also include any other relevant observations, questions, or quotes.

Students who have not completed the entry ticket will be seated in the circle but slightly pushed back. These students will be the observers. They have two jobs: Their first will be to use a copy of the seminar norms to mark when students follow them or when they stray from them. It will be emphasized that this is not to create a high pressure environment, but to improve the quality of the seminar for next time. Their second job will be to summarize the seminar at the end for the class: participation and content.

-Room Arrangement: Since this class is small, students will be in a circular arrangement for the Socratic seminar. Students who do not complete the entry ticket will have their desks slightly behind the circle to create a mini-outer circle.

-Preparation for Seminar: Students will be informed that they will be engaging in a Socratic seminar on the film they will be watching in class, The Breakfast Club. Students at this point will be exposed to most of the concepts present in the film. They will be given an entry ticket and told that their completion of this ticket is for them to participate in the seminar, and will be used to guide them in the discussion.

• A brief explanation of the historical context in which this film takes place will be discussed before the seminar to put students in the mindset of the place and time of The Breakfast Club. Taking place in a Chicago suburb in the 1980s, white flight to the suburbs had been a response of Reagan Era politics. The experiences of teenagers were different from today: teen smoking was more common, teenagers felt alienated from their parents as both mom and dad entered the workforce, and the way in which high school was structured was certainly different. Students will consider these differences as well as some similarities: the fear of growing up to be your parents, the prevalence of “cliques” (though perhaps not as defined now), and school expectations.

• Prior to the actual seminar, the teacher will go over Seminar norms (see below). It will be emphasized that part of their participation grade will be based on how they adhere to these norms. These norms will be posted on the board and are meant to promote a productive seminar environment.

-Procedures for the seminar:

-On the first day, students will fill out their seminar entry ticket while they watch the movie. Students will watch the first 85 minutes of the movie, and I will collect the exit tickets after.

-On the second class, students will be handed back their entry tickets.

-Students will engage in a quick whip-around where they will explain, in one sentence, something they remembered about the film from last class. This can be a pivotal scene, or a particular character.

-They will watch the last 15-20 minutes of the film, making sure they have finished up their entry ticket.

-At the films end, students will move their desks into a circle to start the Socratic seminar.

-I will briefly review the concept of the Socratic Seminar. Using the document viewer to post seminar norms, I will go over the norms and procedures for the seminar.

-I tell students that they will be evaluated based on participation, which can mean:

• Asking a question about the film, concepts, or clarifying questions
• Making connections to the film and sociology class
• Making connections to the film and your experiences
• Responding to another students comment or question
• For students who did not complete the entry ticket, participation will mean taking notes on the seminar and providing a summary of the seminar to the class afterwards.

- We will begin the seminar with the opening questions, and have students take the discussion from there. I will facilitate using the core questions, and follow-up if necessary. The seminar will be finished when the content has been thoroughly explored and the objectives satisfied.

-Post-Seminar and Debrief:After the seminar, I will ask students how they think the seminar went. What was constructive? What could have been improved? What could I have done to help facilitate their understanding of the seminar? I will then pass out the Seminar Reflection Exit Ticket. Students will be asked about their experience, how they think they did in participating, and what they learned as a result of the seminar.

Resources and Materials:

Entry Ticket

Seminar Norms

Seminar Reflection Exit Ticket

The DVD: The Breakfast Club

Document Viewer

DVD player

Projector

Differentiation:

Since I have a foreign exchange student from Germany, I will use subtitles for the film so that she can access the content. Students will have the opportunity to see and hear the film, and then reflect in a written format before engaging in the seminar, so they will have many different ways to process information. Furthermore, the seminar will help students verbally work through some of the themes and concepts in the film. I will have the Seminar norms posted on the white board, as well as some sentence stems to help students articulate their thoughts.

Adaptations:There are no students with 504s/IEPs in this class, but I do have one ELL who is fairly proficient in English but might have difficulty with the movie. I will provide German subtitles for the film her, and post the sentence stems on the board to help her feel comfortable contributing to the discussion.

Reflection: A challenge in having students watch a full-length movie is that some will likely miss the movie showing and will therefore be unable to participate in the seminar. An option is that students can watch the movie at home. I might have to see if they can check out the DVD. I can also offer the option of students staying after school to watch the film if there were many who missed it. This class is usually comfortable in class discussions, so I anticipate that the seminar will go pretty well, even though they will likely need some guidance from me to prompt the discussion.

The Breakfast Club Seminar Entry Ticket

Name:______

Fill in the chart based on if the character exhibits any type of stereotype, norm, or deviant behavior.

Character + Description / Stereotype / Norm / Deviance
John Bender
Description:
Allison Reynolds
Description:
Claire Standish
Description:
Andrew Clark
Description:
Anthony Michael Hall
Description:

Use this box to write down any interesting quotes, questions, or observations:

Seminar Norms

• Be respectful of other opinions
• Use the text to support your ideas
• Step in, Step out
• Share with the class, not just the teacher
• No need to raise hands

If you’re stuck:

• What is the author trying to say or prove?
• What does this (phrase/section) mean?
• What is the most important part of this text?
• How do you know that?
• Why do you think that?
• Could you clarify what you mean?
• What is unclear in the text?
• What perspectives are represented in this text?
• I agree/disagree with you because…

The Breakfast Club: Seminar Reflection

Name:______

1. How do you think the seminar went?

1. What could have been done to improve the seminar?

1. What was one thing you learned or observed as part of the seminar?

1. How would you rate your participation in the seminar and why?