The Sneetches with Socratic Seminar...5th Grade - Equality Unit pt. 2
Today, students participated in a Socratic seminar focused on the text, The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss. "A Socratic seminar is a formal discussion, based on a text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions." During the discussion, students listen to their peers, think critically to formulate a response to the others' ideas. This strategy allows students to "work cooperatively and to question intelligently and civilly." (Source) In my last post, I wrote about how 5th grade is working on leading their own discussions rather than being questioned by me. The Socratic method allows them to get comfortable doing just that.
A couple of weeks ago, we watched a video of The Sneetches being read aloud.
Afterwards, students were assigned Socratic-type questions, open-ended in nature. In order to prepare for the seminar, students worked with a partner or small group to articulate their own answers to the questions and would be responsible for leading the discussion about their assigned questions.
When the big day came, our Socratic seminar day, students were ready for the discussion, papers in hand and thoughts in mind...Before we started, we set some student-generated expectations for the discussion.
1. No sidebar conversations. Don't interrupt.
2. Participate.
3. Speak clearly.
4. Stay on topic.
5. Share the spotlight. (Something that is said often in our classroom to remind students to allow all students the chance to speak.)
6. Look at the speaker.
During our discussion, students touched on a variety of topics from tolerance to religion to segregation. Below are some of the questions we discussed and student responses to each.
How does tolerance reconcile with having a belief system that is important in one's life?
You don't have to agree to be respectful.
You have to realize you can't change others' beliefs.
Without anyone being tolerant with their religion, the world would be crazier than it is now.
It's important that we are able to accept others and their perspective in life. If not, then neither will live in peace.
Besides tolerance, what other message does Dr. Seuss convey about human behavior in The Sneetches?
The Sneetches' lack of tolerance (for those that were different than them) opened them up for being taken advantage of.
Thanks to Mr. McBean, they learned to tolerate each other.
No matter how bad something is, someone is going to try to take advantage (of the situation).
Compare the story's theme with historical events - both past and present.
It reminds me of segregation, when blacks weren't treated equally. The star-bellied Sneetches had better things and were allowed to do stuff that the plain-bellied Sneetches were not.
The part in the story where the star-bellied Sneetches weren't allowed to play ball reminded me of the book, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, because the kids weren't allowed to play together.
Think about the ending. Why do you think Dr. Seuss chose to end it the way he did? What message do you think he was trying to convey through the ending? Was it effective? Why or why not?
To show people it doesn't matter what you look like or what you believe in, we are all equal.
He probably ended the story the way he did because he wanted children to know it doesn't matter how you look or what color your skin is, you can still be friends.
Before we left group that day, I asked students to rate their discussion on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being THE BEST DISCUSSION THEY'VE EVER HAD. The results were overwhelmingly positive. They also were able to identify an area of improvement such as adhering to the expectations. Overall, students were able to participate in a meaningful and respectful discussion where their opinions were heard, considered and responded to. I can't wait to have another Socratic Seminar to see how students progress in their debate and conversational skills.
