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    Finding My Happiness! 

    Socratic Seminar

    Advocacy Focus, East Early College High School

    Date

    Monday, November 6, 2017


    seminar

    Background

    Essential Question: Can we define our own happiness? How?

    Activity

    ( Discourse)

    Task: The students will participate in a Socratic Seminar for -

     

    Room Setup:

     

    1. You will need two circles (see picture above)- the inner circle is the Student Circle and the outside circle is the Facilitator Circle.
    2. You will have two Rounds of discussion: Allow the first Student group to discuss for 10 minutes. Then after 10 minutes, rotate the students from the Student Circle to the Facilitator circle and allow the new set of Students to discuss.
      1.  Students may disagree with another student's perspective, but they must provide evidence to defend their perspective. Also, do not allow students to make states like- "I disagree with you because" rather they should state- "I disagree with the ideas that…"
      1. Students should not be offensive/or should not attack another student

     

    Socratic Seminar Expectations— The students will have two roles throughout the Socratic Seminar: Student and Facilitator

    1.  As a Student: during the discussion, you will interact only with the other students in the circle, refer to the text as much as possible, speak loudly and clearly, listen respectfully to the other students, share the air time, and stay focused on the question provided by the facilitator.
    1.  As a Facilitator: during the student discussion, you are responsible for providing high-level questions, redirecting students, remind soft-spoken speakers to speak up/or speak clearly, encourage other facilitators to ask questions/to redirect students. Remember to be extremely polite—avoid harsh directions and redirects. Your goal is to motivate everyone to share an idea/or perspective.

    *If you have a different format for Socratic Seminar that you are move comfortable with, then please provide that information to your advocacy group. The important part is that we expose them to effective expectations and experiences with Socratic Seminar.

    Reflection and Discourse

    Discuss: (Once all students have participated in both roles of Student and Facilitator, then allow a class discussion to happened).