Lexi Hartley December 2014 Social Studies Methods Dr. Stoddard Socratic Seminar: The Butter Battle Book Context Overview: This is a middle school Socratic Seminar discussion lesson on Dr. Seuss s 1984 story The Butter Battle Book. This lesson has two purposes: to help prepare students to participate in a seminar discussion and to review Cold War concepts with students. In this lesson, students will both read and discuss a text in class. This lesson is designed for a class with two teachers with access to two different spaces, such as a class taught by a student teacher and a supervising teacher or a content teacher and a special educator collaborationist; however, it can be modified to fit a singular classroom or a setting with one teacher. Background: This lesson is a Socratic Seminar lesson designed for a sixty-minute seventh grade classroom. In a Socratic Seminar, students participate in a student-led discussion or a core or important text with teacher guidance. The students discuss open-ended questions using specific examples from the text as evidence. Instead of addressing the teacher, the students address each other. Although the teacher might provide a warm-up activity or an opening question, in a Socratic seminar, the students provide the majority of both discussion questions and answers. The goal of a Socratic seminar is for students to explore the main ideas and values of a text by answering open-ended discussion questions using evidence. Socratic Seminars also allow students to practice their discussion skills such as voicing their opinion, supporting their opinion with evidence, listening to a classmate s opinion and expressing their disagreement with a classmate. Furthermore, Socratic Seminars are a good way to help students learn how to interpret texts that are extremely important or multi-layered. This lesson is intended to be taught as a review activity at the end of a unit on the Cold War. By this point, students will have learned concepts such as the nuclear arms race and mutually assured destruction, as well as specific examples of Cold War events such as the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the building of the Berlin Wall. Rationale: The Butter Battle Book tells the story, in typical Dr. Seuss rhyme, of the Yooks and the Zooks, two neighboring civilizations engaged in a conflict over a trivial issue. The Yooks and the Zooks build progressively more complicated weapons, an allegory for the nuclear arms race of the Cold War. Although The Butter Battle Book had no impact on the actual events of the Cold War, it provides an excellent overview of Cold War concepts. It also conveys the fear and uncertainty that individuals in the United States felt during the Cold War. This text is a good base text for a Socratic Seminar because it lends itself to many topics of discussion, including a review of the Cold War concepts and elements that are included, a discussion of Dr. Seuss s motivation to write the story, and a discussion of the story s open-ended close. Additionally, the text is extremely accessible to students of all reading abilities and levels, and is extremely engaging for all students. Since the text is so accessible for students, and may even be familiar to
some students outside of school, it is an especially good choice for an introductory Socratic Seminar in the beginning of the school year. Connection to Standards: This lesson aligns to the VA Standards of Learning USII.8: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the economic, social, and political transformation of the United States and the world between the end of World War II and the present by c) identifying the role of America s military and veterans in defending freedom during the Cold War, including the wars in Korea and Vietnam, the Cuban missile crisis, the collapse of communism in Europe, and the rise of new challenges. This lesson also aligns to the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) s standards for the strands of Science, technology and society, global connections and power, authority and governance. This lesson also scores highly on many Powerful and Authentic Social Studies (PASS) Standards, including Standard 1: Higher Order Thinking, Standard 3: Substantive Conversation and Standard 4: Connections to the Wider World. Instructional Objectives: Students will be able to relate the text The Butter Battle Book to Cold War concepts including mutually-assured destruction and nuclear arms race by relating specific aspects of the text to these concepts in a Socratic Seminar discussion (content, skills). Students will be able to theorize the reason why an author would chose to convey a political message in an entertainment medium such as a film or fiction book as demonstrated by their discussion in a warm-up activity, a Socratic seminar and their reflective journal response at the end of the Socratic seminar (skills). Students will be able to hold a student-lead discussion using textual evidence to support their points as evidenced by referencing the text, responding to others questions thoughtfully and appropriately, and posing discussion in a Socratic Seminar discussion (skills). Assessment: Students will be assessed by their participation in the pre-seminar ticket, the seminar, and the post-seminar self-evaluation/journal. The pre-seminar ticket asks the students to complete some basic comprehension questions, while the post-seminar self-evaluation/journal asks the students to reflect on their experience as well as journal about a topic in the reading. During the seminar, I will keep a running record of all students who participate meaningfully in the discussion by asking a discussion question, answering a question using evidence, or building on or disagreeing with a classmates point. I will then collect all seminar tickets at the end of the class and I will collect the post-seminar self evaluation/journal at the start of the next class. Students will receive two possible points for completion for filling in their seminar ticket, two possible points for talking at least once constructively during class, and six points for filling in their post-seminar reflection and homework journaling assignment. On the post-seminar reflection and journaling assignment, I will also provide feedback on students performance during the seminar; I will note if participated and whether I agree with their self-assessment or not.
Resources Needed: Seminar entrance ticket Class set of texts: The Butter Battle Book, Dr. Suess Seminar/discussion rules displayed on whiteboard throughout discussion Projector/computer for Do Now Post-Seminar Reflection/Journaling sheet Instructional Plan: Classroom Set-up: The classroom that I teach in has students sitting in pairs of three in classroom pods. Although the students will eventually rearrange their desks into a circle, they will complete the reading and seminar ticket while sitting in pods. In many Socratic seminars, the students actually complete the reading at home, but I only have access to thirty copies of the book--enough for one class only--so the students will not be able to take the books home. Do Now (3 minutes) As the students enter the classroom, they will see the following Do Now projected onto the board. They will also have a classroom copy of Dr. Seuss s The Butter Battle Book on their desk. The Do Now will say: 1. Do not touch the book on your desk. 2. Do you know any children s books or movies that have a political message for adults? If you can think of any examples, write them down on your Do Now Sheet. After around two minutes of brainstorming, I will lead the students in a short discussion of some movies or books that are geared towards children but have a political message for adults. If the students can t think of any examples, I will note that movies such as Wall-E, The Lorax (book and movie) and Happy Feet all have a political message, mainly about the state of the environment. I will then explain that today we will be reading a book that was written in 1984 for children but really discusses the Cold War for adults. Reading/Seminar Ticket: (15 minutes) I will then explain that we will be reading this book, The Butter Battle Book, as a class outloud. At this point, I will hand out the seminar ticket sheets. I will explain that students should try to answer these questions as we read to help prepare for the discussion. I will also explain that some of the questions, like the last one, require a bit more thought, so we will take a few minutes after we finish reading to answer that question. We will then read the text, with a new student reading every few pages. The reading itself should take approximately twelve minutes, with three minutes left for the students to finish their seminar ticket. Seminar Ticket: 1. Why are the two groups at war? 2. Make a list of each time the Yooks get a new weapon and how the Zooks react. 3. How does this story relate to what we are studying in history class?
Discussion Norms: (3 minutes): I will then explain some of the norms and behaviors for the class discussion that we will be having. I will project these norms on the whiteboard and keep them projected for students to refer back to during the seminar. The discussion norms and behaviors I will teach include: 1. Students will sit in a circle. 2. Address each other when you speak, not the teacher. 3. Build off each other s arguments. Use the suggested phrases on the board to show that you agree or disagree with a classmate. 4. Refer back to the text, and talk about specific points. Tell the rest of the class the page number where you found the part of the text that you are talking about. 5. Be respectful of one another. 6. Be sure to participate at least once! I will be keeping track of who participates, and you will receive a participation grade. Suggested Phrases: To show you agree with someone or to build on their argument: I agree with Joe because I want to add to what Sarah said I also think that because To show that you disagree with someone: I think Matt makes some very good points, but I also think I respectfully disagree with Suzy because Room Set Up: (3 minutes): At this point, I will explain that half of the class will go the library with my cooperating teacher for their discussion. The rest of the students will be tasked with moving the rest of the desks aside and arranging the remaining desks into a circle for discussion. I will explain that we will only have three minutes to complete this procedure, so all students must remain on task. Seminar Discussion: (20 minutes) I will begin the seminar by asking the students a warm-up question. I will explain, To begin, please turn to your partner and tell them what they thought of the ending. After a minute of discussion, I will give the class the opening question: How does this book relate to what we are studying in history class? From then on, the students will have control of the discussion, hopefully building on and expanding each other s points and suggesting their own question. If I notice that students are simply repeating each other s points or if the discussion lulls or comes to a halt, I will provide an opportunity for students to bring up their own questions by asking Are there any other questions that somebody wants to pose to the group? If no students pose a question, I have a list of potential questions prepared. These questions include: - Why do you think Dr. Seuss chose to wrote this book? - Who do you think is the intended audience for this book? Why? - Let s talk about the ending. How does this text end? Why do you think that Dr. Seuss chose to end this book this way? - What do you think the Yooks and the Zooks represent?
- How do you think people reacted to this book when it was published? If you were a parent, would you want your child reading this book? General disucssion follow-up questions: - What do the rest of you think? - We have heard a lot from Dylan, does somebody else want to tell us their ideas? - I want to hear some ideas from somebody that doesn t usually talk. - Can you tell the class where you found that in the text? - Does anybody else have any questions that they want to discuss? Seminar Debrief/Reflection Activity(10-15 minutes): After approximately 15-20 minutes of discussion or when I feel the discussion has reached an appropriate stopping point, I will ask the students to return the room to its original configuration. I will then give my students some very general feedback on the discussion: without using names or specific examples, I will explain what that I saw that went well, and what that I saw that students could improve upon. I will then ask the students if there was any feedback they had for their peers or for me in the seminar assignment. I will then direct the students attention to the seminar Reflection/Journaling assignment. I will explain that we will have the last ten minutes of class to complete this assignment, and anything that was not completed would become homework. Seminar Reflection Ticket Please answer the following questions: 1. What were some things that you think you did well during the seminar discussion? 2. What are some things that you think you can improve about your performance during the seminar discussion? 3. Is there anything Ms. Hartley/Mr. Moser can do to make the seminar discussion easier for you? 4. Would you like to do a seminar discussion again? Why or why not? 5. Please respond to the following prompt with a journal entry of at least two paragraphs (10 sentences minimum). How do you think people reacted to this book when it was published? Why do you think they reacted this way? If you were a parent, would you want your child reading this book? Why or why not? Differentiation: I will differentiate for students with special learning needs or different learning preferences by presenting the text in several ways. Since the text will be both given to the students to follow along and read outloud by various members of the class, students will receive the information in
two forms: visually and auditory. Additionally, since I will present the discussion norms and suggested phrases on the board and pose the warm-up question and the opening the question on the seminar ticket, students will receive this information in two forms as well. Since the seminar discussion requires a high amount of auditory processing skills, I will hold a whiteboard and write down the question that we are discussing. I will also write down key points of student responses so students can further base their responses on their peers remarks. Adaptations for Students with Special Learning Needs: I will help prepare students with IEPs or 504 plans who meet with the special educator resource teacher, students who are ELLs, or students who attend tutoring after-school by distributing a copy of the book and a copy of the seminar ticket to the students or the ESL teacher ahead of time. This will give these students a chance to prepare for the discussion. If these special educators are unable to prepare these students for the discussion by reading the book or answering the ticket ahead of time, I will meet with these students during lunch to help prepare them for discussion. I will also try to meet with the ESL teacher and my three students who are ESL learners together ahead of time. In this lesson, we will review the terms that we use for discussions and even practice having a discussion over a short text, such as an image. Additionally, if I have a class with a large number of students with IEPs or ELLs, I can differentiate the lesson further by playing outloud an audio-book recording of the text which is available on Youtube. I will ask the students to follow along as they listen to this audio book. Additionally, I have a few students who have auditory processing delays. For these students, I will hold a small whiteboard and write down the discussion question at hand. I will also write down key points of each students comments, periodically erasing them to create more room for other comments. I will then hold this board in a way that all students can see it during the discussion. Pre-Teaching Reflection: Overall, I am quite excited to teach my students through a Socratic Seminar. Although my students have not participated in a Socratic Seminar before, most of my students are used to talking and participating in class. Whenever my cooperating teacher or I ask a question, I would estimate that at least fifty percent of the class, including students with IEPs or more advanced English-language learners, raise their hand to answer or to contribute their opinions. My students are also quite used to answering questions using primary source materials and using the evidence in their text to support their answers, since my cooperating teacher includes at least one primary source material for the students to analyze in each unit. Since my students have already built up some of the skills that are key to a Socratic Seminar, such as speaking up in class, analyzing one specific text, and using evidence in the text to support their answers, I think that they are fairly well-prepared to tackle a Socratic Seminar. Furthermore, this text is extremely engaging and accessible even for students with individualized learning needs, which will probably increase student interest and participation in the seminar.! However, since my students have never participated in a Socratic Seminar before, I do anticipate some problems with the implementation of this lesson. My middle-school students do not react well to change, and I know that changing their seating order so that they will all face
each other will be a major disruption. I also believe that taking having my cooperating teacher take half of the class to a different classroom setting will also prove to be a huge disruption. By the time I teach this lesson, I will be almost complete with my student-teaching experience; my students will probably be very eager for a change, and might have strong feelings about staying with me while my cooperating teacher takes some students out, or vice versa. Furthermore, I am slightly concerned about assigning a participation grade for speaking in the seminar; I will explain that students only need to talk once to earn full participation points, but I am still nervous that some students will dominate the conversations or other students will contribute repetitive or inauthentic comments in order to earn their participation points. Finally, since the students cannot take a copy of the text home to read, I am quite concerned that there will not be enough time in class for the students to read the text outloud and then participate in the discussion. I am considering breaking the lesson into two days--one for reading and one for discussing--but I am not sure how to differentiate this for a student who might be absent on one or both of the Socratic Seminar days.