Sunday, January 19, 2014

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.

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