Name: Tommy Brown

Lesson Title: Socratic Seminar

Grade: 10
Type of Lesson:

Date of lesson: Spring 2015 THIRD

Content Area: ELA
School: Seton Catholic High

Introductory
Practice/Review
Mastery

Multicultural Goal (integration and

assessment):
Goal Six: Multiple Historical
Perspectives

Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

-This is accomplished when the class
learns about the origin of Socratic
seminars and puts themselves sin the
shoes of a WWII veteran.
Learning Goal(s):
(1) Respond verbally
to open-ended
questions

Assessment Task(s):
1) Socratic Seminar
2) Journal Entry

(2) Exhibit and hone

active listening skills

3) Lit Circle Sheet #2

(3) Compose a
personal letter using
correct structure and
format.

4) Letter to
Relative/Teacher

(4) Demonstrate the

ability to role-play

6) Vocab Basketball

(5) Hypothesize what

is going to happen
later in a text using
foreshadowing and
context clues.

Assessment Tool(s):
1) Completion of Chapters 3-6
2) Socratic Seminar
3) Exit Ticket in Journal
4) Vocab Follow-Along Handout
5) Lessons Learned Essay Handout
Assessment Criteria:
1) Every student will make at least 3
comments during our Socratic.
(Charted with checklist)

5) Memoir Letter

7) Lessons Learned
Essay

2) Students will complete a memoir putting

themselves in the shoes of Eddie when he
gets back home from WWII. (Memoir
Graphic Org.)
3) Students will turn in their first lit. Circle
worksheet
4) Students will compose a letter to a relative
or teacher (1-2 pgs.) Informing them they
have taught them a life-lesson they still take
with them to this day.(Letter Graphic Org.)
Evidence of Mastery:
90% of students will accurately complete a
letter to a relative or teacher achieving proper
format and content.
100% of students will complete their first lit.
circle worksheet and receive an 85% or better
as a group.

80% of students will accurately put

themselves in Eddies shoes and write a letter
accurately depicting Eddies feelings using
evidence from the text.
Academic Standards/Professional Standards (Include a sentence or phrase, not just the
standard number.)
Primary focus (most students will be able to):
9-10.SL.2.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-onone, in groups, and teacher-led) on grade-appropriate topics, texts, and issues, building on others
ideas and expressing personal ideas clearly and persuasively.
9-10.SL.2.2 Examine, analyze, and reflect on ideas and support or refute points under discussion,
by providing specific evidence from materials under study and other resources.
9-10.SL.2.3 Work with peers to set rules for collegial discussions and decision-making (e.g.,
informal consensus, taking votes on key issues, presentation of alternate views), clear goals and
deadlines, and individual roles as needed.
9-10.SL.2.4 Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current
discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and
clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions.
9-10.W.4 Apply the writing process
9-10.W.3.3 Write narrative compositions in a variety of forms that
9-10.RV.3.2 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a nonfiction text,
including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; evaluate the effectiveness of specific
word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language of a court opinion differs from that of
a newspaper).
9-10.RV.3.1 Analyze the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in works of literature,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on
meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings.
Differentiation (content, process, product):
Students will be given the opportunity to choose any person to write their letter to. They may
write it to a relative or teacher and can describe any possible lesson that person may have taught
them throughout their life.
Accommodations:
(Process) To meet IEPs, students can submit their letter and memoir to me one extra time in
order to revise their edits and make corrections tot heir format before it is graded.
(Process) Students who struggle with writing application will be given a graphic organizer in

order to help with the organization of their ideas.

Prior Learning:
1) Understand the difference between a Socratic
and a debate
2) Understand their expectations for their lit.
circle sheets
3) Students should know the procedure for
Journal Entries.
4) Comprehension of Chapters 1-6

Prerequisite Skills:
1) Students should be able to organize their
thoughts.

Vocabulary development:
1) Memoir
2) Flashback
3) Plot
4) Theme
5) Symbol
6) Conflict
Anticipatory Set (Recall prior learning/create interest.):
I will explain to the students that we have reached the best part of our unit! This stage in the unit
is al about collaboration with one another and self-reflection. I will summarize what we will be
covering throughout this lesson and how students will be interacting with one another. I will
review main points of the book up until chapter 4 and we will then form a large circle with our
desks in preparation for our Socratic.
Procedures [model; instruct (with explicit connection to Blooms Taxonomy); samples; guided
and independent practice; monitor progress, etc.):
Note: Chapter Six continues Eddie's journey in Heaven.
Day One:
NOTE: Literature Circle Worksheet #1 Due.
Students shall discuss Eddie's journey as he discovers more about his life by answering questions
about his journey of self-discovery, and by making connections about Eddie's life at the Pier and
his relationships with others including his former army captain during World War II.
1) Socratic Seminar
-Even in wartime, Eddie's life at Ruby Pier serve to be useful when he escapes imprisonment by

juggling stones. I will ask the questions informally:

What is Eddie learning about himself on his journey in Heaven?
What is Eddie discovering about his time spent at Ruby Pier?
Although Eddie is trying to survive a war, he still manages to take time to try and save an
innocent child from the burning tent. What do Eddie's actions say about his character?
How does the war emotionally and physically harm Eddie?
What impact does the war have on Eddie's life at home?
Where does Eddie go after he returns from the war?
Now, physically and emotionally scarred, Eddie still takes time to protect children. Again, what
do his actions say about his character?
We will collaborate as a class before separating into our lit. circle groups to focus in on these
questions in detail.
Students will be assigned their independent Lessons Learned Essay. Before the end of class,
students will login to Jupiter, as I pull the handout up on the board. We will go through this
together in class. This assessment is designed to show me their writing ability without any rubric,
peer-edit, or word-check. This gives me the ability to gauge where my students are as writers
without aid.
Exit Ticket: Students will complete a Journal Entry answering the following questions: How

does war affect the lives of soldiers returning from home? How is their life different once they
return? What struggles do they face? Is this any different from the struggles soldiers like Eddie
faced when returning from WWII? (Include 3 references from the text) (1-2 Paragraphs)
HW: Read Chapters 7, 8, 9 over the weekend and complete section 3 and 4 of their novel
graphic organizer.

Day Two:

1) Students will arrive back from the weekend having read chapters 7, 8, and 9 ready to discuss.
2) We will break up into our literature circles and recall what we read and what Eddie has
learned from those he has encountered.
NOTE: While in these groups, students will assign lit circle worksheet roles for Week #2 which
will be due on Friday.
3) Model Letter construction, format, language (30 minutes) Display sample letter on board.
4) Assign 1-page letter addressed to relative or teacher using correct letter format we learned in
class. Turn into class box by end of class.
Day Three:
Hand back letters from yesterday and go over with class as a whole what needs revised. Average
struggle points. Any structure or format that needs re-taught.

Allow 10-15 minutes for students to revise their relative/teacher letter together in their lit circles
and turn into class box for resubmission.
Explain that Socratic Seminars are question-driven discussions, named after the great
philosopher, Socrates, who used questions to teach his students. In these discussions people don't
talk over one another; they listen to each other's comments respectfully; they don't attack
anyone's opinions and they agree to disagree.
Based off what we learned and discussed in our Socratic seminar on Friday their journal entries
over wars affects, and knowledge from yesterdays letter writing workshop; Students will write
a memoir from Eddie's perspective about being home from the war (World War II). (Practice
write for summative essay)
Write about your (Eddie's) experience in the Philippines, as well as about your life upon your
return home. How do you feel about what you have/have not accomplished? What do you want
in your life next? What relationships are important to you? (Must include three references from
text with page numbers)
(1-2 pages)
Students may start composing their letter in class in order to have any content questions
answered as well as questions still lingering over letter format.
Day Four:
1) Students will come into class and draw a card from a stack on the center table. These cards
will have vocabulary words on some and definitions on the others. Students must find the mate

to the card they have. This quick vocabulary review game will create our peer edit pairs as well
as our vocabulary pairs.
Students will swap their memoirs and they will peer edit them. (20 Minutes)
Once peer edits are complete, students will have 15 minutes to revise their memoir and turn them
in to the class box. They will be graded and handed back tomorrow.
We will then take a break from writing and bookwork and take some time to have a little review
fun in preparation for our final assessment. We will split up into two teams and play our
Basketball Vocab game covering vocabulary from the unit. (Wordly Wise Attachment)

I will introduce Vocab Basketball.

Students are already separated into their teams so I will explain the rules and procedures

of this vocabulary strategy.

After explanation, I will model one question with each group to ensure they understand

the components of the game and how it is run.

After modeling is complete, students will play rock-paper-scissors to determine what
team gets to go first. After which, the team will start deciding what level questions they

wish to answer about the novel and the vocabulary.

There are 3 levels. (Level 1= Easy, Level 2=Intermediate, Level= Hard)

Students who end up with the most points at the end of the game will win brownie points and
bragging rights to the trophy (Yes, there is a trophy) until the next time we play vocab basketball.
Closure (restate learning goal & connect across curriculum/real life application and extends
learning):
In closing, I will call for one volunteer to come write on the board. This student will write down
the answers to What were our main discussion points in our Socratic? as the class responds.
Once complete, she will use the handoff strategy and hand the marker to a student of her

choice to write on the board. This student will write down what the class responds to What are
the components of a good letter? How is it structured? She will then handoff to another who
will write down the answers to How are these different from that of a memoir? Once
completed, I will recap the day and assign Chapters 9 and 10 for homework.
Materials:
Technologies Implemented:
1) Journal
1) iPad
2) Lit. Circle Sheets
2) Computer
3) Socratic Rubric
3) Projector/Screen
4) Letter Rubric
ATTACH: any lecture notes, strategy explanations, handouts, rubrics and so on that you
use

Socratic Circle Questions

1.) What have you gotten out of this book thus far?
2.) What do you think the blue man represents?
3) What was so significant about Eddie meeting his old captain?
4) What exactly is Ruby symbolic of?
5.) What are some ongoing themes you have recognized?
6.) At this point, what do we believe Eddie feels was the meaning of his life?

A LESSON
LEARNED

Eddie has
learned
many
useful and memorable lessons in this novel. Inferring from the first three people Eddie
has met, what life-lessons has Eddie learned from those he has met in heaven?
Your task is to be a fly on the wall in the scenes where Eddie has learned these lessons.
I want to you BRIEFLY describe to me where at in the story Eddie learns this lesson
back it up with textual evidence. Describe to me three lessons Eddie has learned and how
YOU can/would/do apply these in your very own lives.
For Example: If Eddie learns that Life is not fair tell me where in the novel he learned
this, briefly describe who taught him this and what was going on in the story when he
learned this, and then tell me how Life is not fair connects to your life directly. When in
your life has life not been fair? Have you been in situations similar to Eddie? Explain
them to me.
FORMAT:
MLA Format: If you reference the text, you should have in-text citations as well as an
MLA citation at the end of your essay on a separate sheet. B sure to follow ALL MLA
formatting rules. Points will depend on this.
Length: Your essay is to be a MINIMUM of two pages. Notes to Mr. Brown are not
included in these two pages (Maggie Mulinaro).
Introduction: Again, If you are not interested in a reading, you do to read it. I am the
same way. MAKE ME WANT TO READ YOUR ESSAY! Your introduction is where
this is achieved. If your introduction is boring, odds are, your paper will be to. Your
introduction should ALWAYS MAKE YOUR AUDIENCE READ YOUR ESSAY!
Conclusion: Tie everything in your essay together. Refer back to your intro and all
paragraphs. This is where your paper comes together to show relevance and connections
between your main points. Make it worth it. 9 times out of ten, we remember the ending
of a movie, but forget the details in the middle. Make your ending memorable.

Thomas R. Brown
Seton Catholic High School
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Lesson 4
1-22-15
I am unsure as to the success of my first Socratic circle. I opened class by
discussing with the students that they have reached the best part of this unit, in my
opinion. When they heard that they were going to do a lot of collaboration, they were
very excitingthey love group work. But it surprised me that they were bored with the
idea of reflecting on the book. As a reader myself, I enjoy reflecting on what I read,
asking questions, and making it personal to me; my class today seemed to hate the idea.
However, once we broke out into a big circle and I asked how people have the power to
change the world every day, the conversation sparked like crazy! It helped a lot that the
girls and guys had two sides to this question. The guys believed that stuff happens and it
does not make an impact but the girls really rose to the occasion! They brought up
chapter 2, which was using textual evidence to support their claims, which really made
me happy! Once all students realized that they had the freedom to express their own
opinion, they loved it. This Socratic seemed to help many of my students learn how to
back up their claims using textual evidence. Rather than letting kids say, well in chapter
2 I made them find the page so the rest of the class could turn to it. The amount of
collaboration and story analysis that happened today really made an impact on my
attitude towards the rest of my future lessons. Today was where I realized that I have
done an adequate job making this book relevant to them as individuals so far.

What I was most disappointed about was that the girl who was not interesting in
the book, hardly spoke unless she was called on. I have discussed with Mrs. Ramer as to
why this is happening and neither of us have discovered an answer to this question. What
I am worried about right now is the possibility of her having lost a close friend or relative
recently, which may be sparking an emotional reaction to this book, being that its about
mans death and journey to Heaven. I sent the guidance counselor an email asking for
more clarification on this possible emotional reaction and I hope to hear back soon.

Thomas R. Brown
Seton Catholic High School
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Lesson 5
1-23-15
I learned today that when you differentiate assignments to where they will be
personal to each and every student, you will have maximum engagement. I never
understood what this even meant or how it was even possible until today. As we were
learning how to write a letter; the format, the style, the context, etc., students seemed to
realize that they NEEDED to know how to do this. I briefly discussed with them how
they would communicate if they did not have Facebook during this learning segment and
they all said letters, but not a single one for them could tell me how to properly set up a
letter. This is not what I mean by differentiating assignments though. After our segment
on letters, I told the kids they were to write a letter to a close friend or even a teacher
about how they have had an impact on their life, whether it was for good or for bad. The
students were oddly excited about this assignment because they had the freedom to
choose whom they wrote it to and what it would say. I gave them no other rules. It could
say whatever they wanted it to, they could even make something up. I did have one
student finish in class and the creativity that arose from this inspired me! He wrote a
letter to his future self about how life was during the current time and how he should
remember what it meant to be happy as a child, remember his dreams, and if he had not
yet accomplished them, to do whatever it took to do it. I loved this outcome for one
reason-there is no way I could have come up with that. There is no way I could have

came up with that prompt so the fact that the task was differentiated enough to allow this
type of creative writing made it interesting and fun for the students.
Thomas R. Brown
Seton Catholic High School
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Lesson 6
1-26-15
I feel like I am cramming writing and composition instruction down my students
throats. Last week, all my students did was read and write and then write some more. I
discussed this concern with Rachel and she informed me that the way the school is set up,
they have reading their first semester for English and then composition their second
semester. I felt that this as enough of a concern to remind the students of this fact. I am
not sure why I did this but last night, all I could think about was how my students have to
be tired of writing.
In response to this concern, we wrote some more. When I first introduced their
writing prompt, the kids were quite confused as to what their objective was. SO instead, I
improvised and asked a basketball player what it must have felt like to be Lebron James
in the NBA Championship last year. He immediately got excited and started telling me all
about it. I then asked him to alter his response into first person as if he were Lebron.
Once he was done, I explained to the class that is what they wanted to do. I was ecstatic
because my little alteration gave them an example as to what they needed to do.
On a side note, today was the final straw for the girl who hates this book. She
has had a disinterest in the novel ever since I told them what the title was. After class, I
held her back and asked what was up (in a professional way). She told me it was nothing
at first but once I told her that I want to make this book interesting for her and that I

actually cared that she learned something, she informed me that she was not Catholic.
Needless to say, I felt like an idiot because I thought everyone who attended Seton was
Catholic (that is the way it was when I attended the school). After a short discussion as to
how this book is not about Heaven from the Catholic perspective and that it is about one
mans idea of Heaven, she seemed to be a bit less judgmental of the novel. She will be a
student I pay close attention to in her formative assessments in order to ensure she is
grasping this concept.