Socratic Seminar Reflection: Grapes of Wrath

        The seminar influenced my thinking about a topic by giving me multiple perspectives about a

certain question.  For instance, I started the discussion by asking what the storm in Chapter 30

symbolized. The answers that I got were that it symbolized hope for the Joad family and their journey.

I originally said that it represented all of the hardships that they went through, but I could see how it

represented hope as well.  Ryann's question about how the function of man changes also made me

think, because I hadn't thought of it before.
       
        I agreed with Camilla's statement about how even people who are famous today, such as rappers,

had a rough childhood.  Not everyone who is well-known and rich had a good upbringing.  That

statement is true for a lot of people.  I don't remember any statements that I disagreed with.  If I could

say something else during the seminar, I would have asked another question. I want to know what

people think the red flower that Ruthie finds in the last chapter symbolizes.    That is a symbol that I

think people overlook and I would have loved to hear what the others had to say about it.
       
        The seminar ended up being a very interesting and entertaining discussion.  There ended up being

some debate about a certain topic (I don't remember what) and that was interesting for me to hear.

People had some great insight about certain topics, and the discussion moved from the chapters

specifically to connections outside of the text.  Listening to Ben and Max go back and forth was

entertaining, even though it lasted a while.
       
       The things that need improvement are that while it made for great entertainment, I thought that the

15 minute debate in the middle  didn't allow other people to share their thoughts as much.  I had to stop

it and ask other people if they had anything to add or if they wanted to ask a question.  It took me a

while to figure out when to cut people off.  Next time, people should be careful not to dominate the

discussion.

Chapters 23-27: Family Discussion Reflection

           Summary of Informational Text:

  The life of Okies who migrated to California in search of a better life was very difficult.  Families had to move around the state depending on which crops were ready to be picked.  They were paid very little and were subject to harassment by their supervisors in the field, and children were often picked on in school.  Most of the time, workers lived in unsanitary conditions, unless they were in a government camp.

        Evaluation:

  This article relates to the text because the Joad family had to move around depending on what crops were ready to be picked.  The wages they received were very low, and with the exception of the government camp, they lived in unsanitary conditions.

Citation:
"Okie Life in California." Okie Life in California. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2014.

Questions:
Has there been a situation where you didn't get along with people older than you (other than your parents)
If the Joads had stayed in Oklahoma, what would have happened?
What other event has effects where residents despise the newcomers, other than someone relocating to a different place?

Reflection:

       The most memorable moment of the discussion was when I asked my sister how the family's struggle was similar to her life.  She said that when she became close to a new girl and that girl started to hang out with them, another girl got jealous.  According to my sister, the girl who was already in the group was jealous because the new girl fit in better.  The most satisfying thing that we talked about was  a time when we were counselors at an Indian dance camp that we used to go to.  There were other counselors there who were older, but they were not familiar with dance or they way that the camp was run.  A big responsibility of being a counselor at the camp is teaching the younger kids that just started out, and those counselors were not able to because they weren't dancers.  As a result, my sister and I (as well as several junior counselors) looked down on them because they were new and hand't done this type of dance, therefore they couldn't perform a lot of the tasks  required of  counselors.  It was very satisfying to talk about this because we were able to get some of our feelings off of our chest.  My questions were better this time around then the previous three times, but I could have used a question that related a little more to the book. 

Socratic Seminar Reflection: PIA #2

                 The seminar influenced my thinking about the PIA because I got to hear some other people's 

rationale for choosing certain answers.  Often, I wasn't sure about a certain answer, and hearing many 

different opinions really helped me narrow some of the answers down.  It helped me learn which 

answers were the distractors and which were the right ones, because I was often in between two 

answers.  One thing that was said that I hadn't thought of before was during our discussion of the point 

of view question to the "Poverty" poem, because I was stuck between two answers.  The answer 

choices were "People who are in poverty cannot escape it because of people who do not know what it 

is like," and "Too many people who talk about poverty have not experienced it."  I thought it was the 

former at first because the poem mentioned a preacher praising someone else, but everyone who talked 

about the latter made me see how that one could fit the question a little bit better.

                The discussion about the question which asked for the generalization that FDR made in his 

speech produced an opinion that I disagreed with.  I think it was Camilla that said that "We face our 

common difficulties" was too general.  I disagreed with that because it was a generalization that was 

supported immediately with specific examples.  I thought that the other examples were a little too 

specific.  I agreed the most with what Ben said during the question about a belief of the poet in 

"Poverty."  He said that it could not be that there would be no crime if poverty didn't exist in the world 

because the poem said "The cause of half the crime on Earth…"  If I had the opportunity to say 

anything else, I would have asked people to explain what they got for the question about what 

"spectre" meant.  I said that I had some trouble with that question but I really meant to ask people to 

explain their reasoning for that question.  I am pretty mad at myself for not explicitly asking that 

question.  That would be the one thing I could change if I could go back.  

              In the seminar, everybody helped each other out throughout the discussion, and I know that it 

helped a lot of my peers, as well as myself.  The questions that were more difficult generated some 

great discussion, and I changed my answers on more than one occasion due to those discussions.  The 

points that several of my peers made are ones that I can use on the next PIA when I am stuck between 

two or more answers, because a lot of times I fall for the distractor.

             The things that need improvement are that people need to make sure that everyone has a 

chance to speak and to not cut people off.  Several times, I saw that someone wanted to say something 

but they would be cut off by someone who had already spoken a lot.  I also wanted to respond to 

something someone said, but before I could do so, someone else would beat me to it and say exactly 

what I was thinking.  That could have been my fault, too, since I should have responded quicker.  If 

someone who generally doesn't speak as much has something to say, people who speak a lot should 

defer to that person.