Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan s1

Socratic Seminar Lesson Plan

Overview: This lesson plan is intended for 11th graders in American Studies course. The lesson will focus on William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition Movement and last approximately 60 minutes. For this lesson plan I will be using the Socratic Seminar instructional method. The goal of the Socratic Seminar is to engage the students in a conversation in order to have a deeper understanding of the goals and values of a text. The instructor is to facilitate this discussion; however, the students will be doing the majority of the work. The students will read the article below for homework and come to class ready to discuss and participate in the seminar. They will have to participate at least once and include some type of evidence from the text to support their response. This model gives the students an opportunity to engage in civil discourse and to practice forming arguments using evidence.

Seminar Text: “On the Constitution and the Union” – William Lloyd Garrison This text is worthy of a seminar because it sheds light into the world of the abolition movement. The text reveals the critical aspects of the abolition movement and shows why so many people would rally around the cause. It also reveals sectional issues in America during the 1830s that grow and grow until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of print resources during the 19th century and how they could be a driving force behind a movement.

Objectives:  The students will be able to identify William Lloyd Garrison and his role in the Abolition Movement.  Students will be able to recognize the significance of print resources during the 19th century.  The students will be able to analyze the text and create an argument using support from the text.

Assessment: The students will be given exit ticket assignment at the end of the lesson where they are to write a paragraph about the class period. They will reflect on what they learned from the text, the process of the seminar, and how it affected their learning. This exit ticket will be collected and graded by completion and if they addressed the topics above.

Content and Instructional Strategies

Opening Questions: What role did William Lloyd Garrison play in history? What kind of language does William Lloyd Garrison use to make his points? What events led to this publication? Why did William Lloyd Garrison believe that slavery was wrong?

Core Questions: Why is the issue of slavery so important to William Lloyd Garrison? How does he portray slavery? What is his goal in writing this article? What role does religion play in his argument? What does Garrison think the outcome of slavery would be? In Garrison’s opinion what is the relationship between the North and South? Does Garrison see any room for compromise in devising a political solution to the slavery controversy? How would the common man respond to this article?

Potential Follow-up Questions: How successful is Garrison in his argument? What is Garrison’s view of mankind (i.e. how many races are there?)? What impact did Garrison have on the abolition movement? Why is he successful?

Preparation for the Seminar (Seminar Text): The students will be given the reading for homework the night before the seminar. They will be given guiding questions while they read the article and the completed handout will act as an entry ticket into the seminar. It is important to know that your students have done the reading and are prepared for the seminar so it is a productive lesson. If students have no completed the homework assignment from the night before the article will be read aloud by the students who did not complete their homework (switching every paragraph) so that everyone has some understanding of the article and can engage in class discussion.

Room arrangement: The desks will be in arranged so that everyone is facing each other in a circle. The students will be able to see each other and engage in a dialogue.

Preparation for the Seminar (Discussion Skills): The instructor will first collect the entry tickets into the seminar. Those students who did not complete their ticket the night before will be asked to read aloud the article alternating every paragraph until the text is completely read. If everyone has completed their entry ticket then the instructor will read the article aloud. They will go over general discussion rules and remind the students how to appropriately engage in civil discourse. The instructor will explain to the students that with every response they make during the seminar, they should be able to support their answer with specific quote from the text. The students will all be expected to participate at least once, responding to one of the questions or responding to one of their peers with at least one piece of evidence to back up their claim.

Procedures for the seminar: When the seminar begins the students will be seated and will be reminded once again of appropriate seminar behavior. The article will be read to its completion either by the students who did not complete the entry tickets or the instructor. The students will be encouraged to speak freely during the seminar as long as the dialogue does not devolve into a screaming match. In that case the instructor will ask the students to raise their hands and remind them to remain respectful during the seminar. The students will attempt to build off each other’s comment and be guided by the instructor using the question above. If the discussion gets off track the instructor will use the questions above or give the students a broad, open ended question to refocus the students to the article’s main ideas. After all of the questions have been answered, the class will reflect openly about what they thought about the class periods. This includes both what they learned from the article and how the seminar affected their learning. Post-seminar and Debrief: The class will discuss what they think went well with the seminar. They will speak to the strengths and weaknesses of the process and what they liked and didn’t like about it. They will then brainstorm on ideas of how to create an improved learning experience and these ideas will be incorporated into the next lesson.

Resource: “On the Constitution and the Union.” – William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator

Differentiation: The students depending on their ability could be given an additional reading to compare and contrast the author’s styles.

Adaptations: Students who are not on grade reading level will be accommodated by the amount of time they have to read the article. It will be assigned for homework so there will be no pressure from their peers to finish quickly. It will give them time to really dive into the text. If necessary, students can be provided with a tape of the text.

Reflection: The Socratic Seminar really gives students an opportunity to show what they have learned. That said, it also requires them to have actually done the homework. I am a little worried about what could happen if the students do not do their prep work for the seminar because the seminar is so student-based. It will be hard to take a step back and allow the students to really guide the learning while I do my best to facilitate the discussion and ask the right questions when someone either makes a good point that needs further exploration or is getting off track. Readers who are not on grade level may struggle with this assignment even if they do complete the prep work. I will have to encourage my students throughout the seminar to not only keep them engaged, but to make sure that no matter what is said that they feel comfortable participating again.

Post-Reflection: This lesson was a little harder for me to teach. While I did have control of the classroom I felt that because I wasn’t leading discussion or a prominent part of the lesson I had less control than if I was to just stand up at the front of the room and do a PowerPoint. That feeling was a little eerie as we started, but again similar to my last lesson I taught, I became more comfortable as time past in the classroom. I thought that the kids did a good job with their discussion. A couple of times we began to get off topic, but sometimes it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing and briefly we would explore topics outside of the assigned reading. I think that this kept the students engaged and made it seem less formal of a discussion and more of a conversation between peers. Having questions to read from or to really direct the conversation I thought it was also helpful because students are not going to always want to participate in class and there will be those semi-awkward silences and the questions helped eliminate those or atleast gave the students something to think about while they sat there. I think that overall the lesson went well. Most of the students had done the work beforehand which really helped our discussion of the material. I was impressed by some of the conclusions the students were able to make and felt that they had really gotten something different from this lesson because it wasn’t such a teacher driven approach. This lesson encouraged me for next semester as I will start student teaching and be in the classroom full time.

Name:______Date:______

“On the Constitution and the Union”

Directions: Read and annotate the following excerpt from The Liberator. William Lloyd Garrison originally wrote and published this article on December 29, 1832. While you read focus on finding evidence that supports his argument. After you are finished reading, complete the questions that follow. You must complete this to enter the seminar tomorrow.

There is much declamation about the sacredness of the compact which was formed between the free and slave states, on the adoption of the Constitution. A sacred compact, forsooth! We pronounce it the most bloody and heaven-daring arrangement ever made by men for the continuance and protection of a system of the most atrocious villany ever exhibited on earth. Yes—we recognize the compact, but with feelings of shame and indignation, and it will be held in everlasting infamy by the friends of justice and humanity throughout the world. It was a compact formed at the sacrifice of the bodies and souls of millions of our race, for the sake of achieving a political object—an unblushing and monstrous coalition to do evil that good might come. Such a compact was, in the nature of things and according to the law of God, null and void from the beginning. No body of men ever had the right to guarantee the holding of human beings in bondage. Who or what were the framers of our government, that they should dare confirm and authorise such high-handed villany—such flagrant robbery of the inalienable rights of man—such a glaring violation of all the precepts and injunctions of the gospel— such a savage war upon a sixth part of our whole population?—They were men, like ourselves—as fallible, as sinful, as weak, as ourselves. By the infamous bargain which they made between themselves, they virtually dethroned the Most High God, and trampled beneath their feet their own solemn and heaven-attested Declaration, that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights— among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They had no lawful power to bind themselves, or their posterity, for one hour—for one moment—by such an unholy alliance. It was not valid then—it is not valid now. Still they persisted in maintaining it— and still do their successors, the people of Massachussetts, of New-England, and of the twelve free States, persist in maintaining it. A sacred compact! A sacred compact! What, then, is wicked and ignominious?

This, then, is the relation in which we of New-England stand to the holders of slaves at the south, and this is virtually our language toward them—Go on, most worthy associates, from day to day, from month to month, from year to year, from generation to generation, plundering two millions of human beings of their liberty and the fruits of their toil—driving them into the fields like cattle—starving and lacerating their bodies— selling the husband from his wife, the wife from her husband, and children from their parents—spilling their blood—withholding the bible from their hands and all knowledge from their minds—and kidnapping annually sixty thousand infants, the offspring of pollution and shame! Go on, in these practices—we do not wish nor mean to interfere, for the rescue of your victims, even by expostulation or warning—we like your company too well to offend you by denouncing your conduct—although we know that by every principle of law which does not utterly disgrace us by assimilating us to pirates, that they have as good and true a right to the equal protection of the law as we have; and although we ourselves stand prepared to die, rather than submit even to a fragment of the intolerable load of oppression to which we are subjecting them—yet, never mind—let that be—they have grown old in suffering and we iniquity—and we have nothing to do now but to speak peace, peace, to one another in our sins. We are too wicked ever to love them as God commands us to do—we are so resolute in our wickedness as not even to desire to do so—and we are so proud in our iniquity that we will hate and revile whoever disturbs us in it. We want, like the devils of old, to be let alone in our sin. We are unalterably determined, and neither God nor man shall move us from this resolution, that our colored fellow subjects never shall be free or happy in their native land. Go on, from bad to worse—add link to link to the chains upon the bodies of your victims—add constantly to the intolerable burdens under which they groan—and if, goaded to desperation by your cruelties; they should rise to assert their rights and redress their wrongs, fear nothing—we are pledged, by a sacred compact, to shoot them like dogs and rescue you from their vengeance! Go on—we never will forsake you, for their is honor among thieves—our swords are ready to leap from their scabbards, and our muskets to pour forth deadly vollies, as soon as you are in danger. We pledge you our physical strength, by the sacredness of the national compact—a compact by which we have enabled you already to plunder, persecute, and destroy two millions of slaves, who now lie beneath the sod; and by which we now give you the same piratical license to prey upon a much larger number of victims and all their posterity. Go on—and by this sacred instrument, the Constitution of the United States, dripping as it is with human blood, we solemnly pledge you our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor, that we will stand by you to the last.

People of New-England, and of the free States! is it true that slavery is no concern of yours? Have you no right even to protest against it, or to seek its removal? Are you not the main pillars of its support? How long do you mean to be answerable to God and the world, for spilling the blood of the poor innocents? Be not afraid to look the monster SLAVERY boldly in the face. He is your implacable foe—the vampyre who is sucking your life-blood—the ravager of a large portion of your country, and the enemy of God and man. Never hope to be a uited, or happy, or prosperous people while he exists. He has an appetite like the grave—a spirit as malignant as that of the bottomless pit—and an influence as dreadful a the corruption of death. Awake to your danger! the struggle is a mighty one—it cannot be avoided—it should not be, if it could.

It is said that if you agitate this question, you will divide the Union. believe it not; but should disunion follow, the fault will not be yours. You must perform your duty, faithfully, fearlessly and promptly, and leave the consequences to God: that duty clearly is, to cease from giving countenance and protection to southern kidnappers. Let them separate, if they can muster courage enough—and the liberation of their slaves is certain. Be assured that slavery will very speedily destroy this Union, if it be left alone; but even if the Union can be preserved by treading upon the necks, spilling the blood, and destroying the souls of millions of your race, we say it is not worth a price like this, and that it is in the highest degree criminal for you to continue the present compact. Let the pillars thereof fall—let the superstructure crumble into dust—if it must be upheld by robbery and oppression.

1) What is the compact that he refers too?

2) Does he believe that people have a right to hold slaves?

3) What does he claim to be the condition of the Slaves

4) How does he believe slaves are treated?

5) Does he appeal to an authority higher than himself? Why?

6) Does he see any room for compromise in devising a political solution to the

slavery controversy?

7) Does he predict the possibility of disunion? How likely does he think it is?