Mission

Bibliophiliac is the space where one passionate, voracious reader reflects on books and the reading life. You will find reviews, analysis, links, and reflections on poetry and prose both in and out of the mainstream.

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. Franz Kafka

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Socratic Seminar Post-Mortem

To be perfectly honest, the seminar did not go quite as brilliantly as I had envisioned. To quote a student (regarding the first inner circle) "You guys were boring." The second circle had much better energy, and there was a good discussion, but it didn't quite reach the level I had hoped. Another quote from the seminar: "So, D____, you would rather die than pee your pants?" This question came up because a character in the story, upon meeting the devil in person, wets his pants.

Still, overall, I'll do it again. More students were more engaged, had better discussion, and asked better questions. So a mediocre Socratic seminar is still better than a good teacher-led discussion.

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