GATE Differentiation Activity Walker Elementary 2009-2010

1. GATE Differentiation ActivityWalker Elementary2009-2010 Socratic Seminar Encounter By: Jane Yolen

2. GATE Teachers at Walker • Mrs. Laws – 3rd Grade • Mrs. Zamosc – 3rd Grade • Ms. Nall – 4th Grade • Mr. Dobbs – 5th Grade • Mrs. Jimenez – 5th Grade

3. Socratic Seminar • “A Socratic seminar promotes active learning as students read and evaluate material based upon the text itself and the abstract or moral questions being raised. In addition, student involvement will vary depending on readiness to participate, passion about the topic, and level of leadership skills.” (Pedersen, The Communicator, 1999-Revised)

4. Text and Excerpt Used • “So it was lost our lands to the strangers from the sky. We gave our souls to their gods. We took their speech into our mouths, forgetting our own. Our sons and daughters became theirsons and daughters, no longer true humans, no longer ours”. • “That is why I, an old man now, dream no more dreams. That is why I sit here wrapped in a stranger’s cloak, counting the stranger’s bells on a string, telling my story. May it be a warning to all the children and all the people in every land”. -Encounter by: Jane Yolen

5. Sample Lesson Plan for Encounter • Children will listen to the teacher read the story Encounter by Jane Yolen. • The chosen student, which will include GATE identified children, will be given an excerpt from the text to read at home and formulate questions, opinions, and statements. • Children will be encouraged to write notes, ideas, and questions on the excerpt paper for discussion in class. • Children will be prepared in class with their excerpt paper for a discussion. • The chosen group for the seminar will form a circle on the rug with their excerpt papers. • Other children in class will sit in chairs and form an outer circle to observe.

6. Lesson Plan Continued… • The following rules will be established before the Socratic seminar begins: • Each participant has three tokens. When a participant speaks, his/her token is placed on a plate in the middle of the circle. When all tokens are gone, that participant does not have any more turns to speak in the discussion. At the end of the lesson, a participant cannot still have all three tokens. • Be courteous. There will be no insults or sarcasm. • There are no right or wrong statements, ideas, or questions. Say what you are thinking. • Be respectful and quiet. Do not play with or make noise with your paper and/or tokens. • Active Listening – Have eyes on the speaker and give him/her 100% of your attention. • Take turns to speak. Give the speaker enough time to finish his/her thoughts. Comment or elaborate on what someone has said. • Teacher instructs children in the circle to discuss the excerpt from the text. Teacher only observes and does not lead or tell the children what to say. • Teacher observes what children are saying by noting: Fact, Opinion, Agree, or Disagree on the Socratic Seminar Record Sheet. • Teacher may also note statements of participants. • Students continue to discuss the excerpt from the text until all tokens are placed in the middle of the circle. Teacher may distribute additional tokens if students have more to discuss about the text.

7. Teacher Observations – 3rd GradeMrs. Laws • To begin the Socratic Seminar, children formed a circle and were seated at the rug. Each child had his/her excerpt paper from the text with notes written on it and each child also had three tokens. Children were instructed that a token must be placed on the plate in the center of the circle when you are going to talk/discuss the text. Immediately, five children threw their tokens into the center of the circle as fast as they could. We had to stop and create a system of taking turns to put tokens in the middle, in order to have an opportunity to talk. Once children got the idea that everyone would get an opportunity to talk, it went much smoother. Some children were very eager to talk and wanted to use all three tokens right away. Other children, who were more reserved, did not use their first token until several children had used all three tokens. Children seemed to comment and add opinions about what the previous speaker said. When a child would start a new topic about the text, the next several comments were also about that topic. The children were attentive and respectful to the person who was speaking. Every child participated by speaking from one to three times. It was difficult for many of the children in the outer circle, who were just observing and not participating in the Socratic Seminar, to stay focused and attentive. Those children were told that they would participate in the next Socratic Seminar.

8. Teacher Observations – 3rd GradeMrs. Zamosc I think that the Socratic Seminar activity in my class gave very impressive results. My third grade students understood the objective which was to have a conversation or dialogue in a civilized manner with their classmates. The topic was to understand an historic event from a different point of view. My students were expected to show their high thinking skills by comparing and contrasting their ideas about the story of the discovery of America told from the Native American perspective instead of the European point of view. After reading and comparing books for many weeks, they were given prior to the activity a copy of the last page of the book Encounter written by Jane Yolen. My children were successful in understanding the story and were able to compare and contrast the events from the narrative from two different perspectives. They were also able to express their ideas and opinions in a clear manner. Students were told the procedures to follow: be courteous and polite and to take turns before talking. They allowed the dialogue and conversation to flow and they were having eye contact and engaged in active listening. They were also respectful to their peer’s ideas. During the dialogue some of the students were able to restate what somebody else said and to express their agreement or disagreement with their ideas. After the activity was done, the students were told to write about their experience s in the Socratic Seminar and to tell about what they learned. After reading their summaries of the activity, I was able to conclude that they all learned from their experience of talking in an intellectual environment in front of their peers. A student of mine, Sara, said that she learned how to talk in front of her class. Another student, Nina, expressed that the Europeans should treat everybody the way they want to be treated. Nina also said that she liked the experience of the Socratic seminar because everyone had the opportunity to say something about the passage and had to take turns to talk. My students understood the procedure and followed the steps easily. First, they read the passage silently. Then, they took notes of three ideas that they wanted to share with the class after reading the passage. Next they sat at the carpet in a big circle in which everyone took turns to participate and talk. Celena and Nina said that they enjoyed following these steps while doing the Socratic Seminar.

9. Mrs. Zamosc Continued… • Some of them use figures of literacy from the text such as “I am an old man now, dream no more dreams.” Shaylalisa said that the man feel that way because he lost his family, land, and culture. Some of them show agreement like Arvee who said: “I agree with Shaylalisa because the Indians were treated as slaves like the Taliban women today”. Arvee also understood cause and effect because she said that the Native Americans had to do what the Europeans said, the same way that the Europeans had to do what the Queen and the King of Spain said. Donnyea made a personal connection to the way how the African American was treated as slaves by the owners of the cotton farms. • Many of my students were expressing their opinions about the Native Americans who they perceived them under a better light, and the Europeans who most of them agree were greedy, only looking for gold and land. John said that the Europeans were treating the Native Americans like slaves and Remvyk added that they lost their humanity. • From my perspective as a teacher, I really think that my class excelled in the way they were able to use higher thinking skills in the Socratic Seminar. They also enjoyed the experience of talking in a polite manner and in taking turns and listening to what someone has to say. The results of the activity from my point of view excelled my expectations. Almost all of them understood the tone of sadness and desolation from the old man dressed in stranger clothes sitting on a stump from the loss of the Native American identity and culture. For example, Aaliyah mentioned that it was sad when the Europeans kidnapped some of the Native American Indians and took them to show them to the Queen and the King of Spain. Another girl, Sharmaine, also said in her introduction that she was going to talk about a sad event in the history of the Native American Indians from the book Encounter. • Many of my students were able to infer and draw conclusions about the different points of view of an historical event. I was happy to see how my students were able to understand this necessary understanding skill. Most of them were also able to provide details and refer back to the sentences in the text. All of them understood the theme and tone of the book. • As a teacher I think the Socratic Seminar was successful because all the participants were able to follow the rules and all of them were listening and participating in the dialogue with enthusiasm. All of them expressed happiness to have done this activity and said that they had new ideas and experiences from the Socratic Seminar.

10. Teacher Observations - 4thGradeMs. Nall • Grace Nall’s Fourth Grade Students (SEI, MEC, and GATE) listened to a Teacher Read Aloud entitled Encounter (by, Jane Yolen). Socratic Seminars were arranged in the following ways: 1) varied learning abilities (from English Learners (from beginning-intermediate-advanced) to GATE students included in the group. Another arrangement involved just the GATE students, too. The purpose for a Socratic Seminar is to create opportunities for students to reinforce listening, speaking and viewing skills, which are all part of our English Language Arts curriculum. The seminars are unique in that the activity is a “student-led” discussion versus a “teacher-led discussion.” • Prior to the lesson based from the book, Encounter, the students were also given a variety of literature genres, such as newspaper articles. We talked about accountable talk and how to make connections to the text ( a chapter book, non-fiction book, or newspaper article). The groups started out small, then increased to an inner circle and outer circle format. Due to an increased class size, having an inner and outer circle group provided the opportunities for class participation. • Both inner and outer circle groups were given the same text and materials from the book, Encounter. Inner circle groups still used listening and viewing skills, but they were also held accountable for their learning by taking notes during the discussion. They also showed listening skills through body language by looking and/or turning their bodies toward the speaker. Whereas, outer circle groups were the ones discussing the topics, issues, questions or their observations based from a page from the book, Encounter (by, Jane Yolen). • Teacher observation showed that one student did eventually become a “moderator” or “leader” of the discussion. I also observed that the pacing of the discussion gradually increased with student confidence. English language learners (some who were also classified as GATE) started to participate, especially after another student in the Socratic Seminar asked him a question about what he thought about the topic. Open-ended questions helped to draw out other topics or conversations of interest from strangers, slavery, taking away a culture, Indians, and Christopher Columbus. The moderator of the group also asked about main ideas from the passage in the book. She had indicated that the main idea was “be careful what’s going on.” The students agreed that the story was being told through a Native American boy’s Point of View regarding Christopher Columbus arrival to America. As the discussion continued, I observed that some students were still not talking and some of the other students tried to encourage their participation by doing the following: asking questions or opinions to “adding on” or “agreeing/disagreeing” with other student comments. • Students enjoyed the Socratic Seminar and wanted to do it again. My next steps would be to do the following: 1) tokens (to encourage participation), 2) Discussion on being more specific about pronouns or descriptions about who “he” or “they” are referring to in their comments, 3) Using complete sentences in their discussions, 4) Referring back to the text to support their thinking, 5) Making connections, and 6) Higher-level reading and/or language arts lessons on metaphors and symbolism in stories.

11. Teacher Observations – 5th GradeMr. Dobbs • The students were keenly interested in the format of the Socratic Seminar. I think they genuinely enjoyed the interaction for its “adult” manner. They seemed to relish the responsibility of working in a group in a mature manner. The idea that they were responsible for the productivity of the discussion was not lost on them. I explained the rules in the beginning then simply said: “You may begin.” After a few seconds of sitting awkwardly, the first person began to speak. Then the ice was broken and they respectfully carried the conversations on their own. What I noticed was that they often looked at each other to determine when they were finished talking before beginning their own comments. Furthermore, they would often build on each other’s comments. Even if they had nothing to add, they would at least acknowledge what the other person had said before continuing with their own thoughts. It was very polite and respectful as well as informative (due to the content of the topic).

12. Teacher Observations – 5th GradeMrs. Jimenez Positives • The group was incredibly dynamic and worked very well together. • They brought with them great questions and comments about the text. • There were lots of thoughts being brought forth throughout the seminar. • The participants were prepared. • Everybody spoke at least once. • When the conversation went “off topic”, several participants brought them back. • Overall, very focused group. Areas for Improvement • Towards the end they were not taking turns. • Some “domination” or “taking over” occurring. • Next time I will give each participant 5 tokens and they will only be “allowed” to speak if they put in a token. • Maybe set the timer…

13. Student Testimonials – 3rd GradeMrs. Law’s Class • I think the story is interesting because it has many adjectives. I like the story because it has many details. I think the lesson you can learn in the story is don’t kidnap people or steal stuff. The part I liked the best in the story is when the birds were shaped like the boats. In many stories you can learn a lesson. • I thought it was fun and I was kind of shy because it felt like I was talking in front of 100, 000, 000 people. That’s why I didn’t want to give up my tokens, so I was always last to talk. There were about twelve people at the rug and I felt like 100,000,000 PEOPLE WERE THERE! I felt embarrassed. • I liked sharing what I thought about the story. But some lines, I didn’t really understand. And that’s what I liked and didn’t like. • What I think about this Socratic Seminar for the book Encounter is it makes you think, write, it’s interesting, and it makes you smarter by learning about this book. My favorite part was learning new things like seeing a serpent smile. • I liked it. It was very fun. I liked all the questions and comments. Everybody got a turn. It was very fun. • I don’t like it. It is weird. The strangers do not look like parrots. Why would a boy use a clay ball as an eyeball for the zemis? • I think it’s a good story because it is very sad for the boy. It is a story about a different culture. I love the part when he got jewelry from the strangers. • I felt kind of bored doing Socratic seminar and I wonder why we have to do it. Maybe it will show up on our report card??? • The best thing about it was hearing about other ideas. The most things I hate about it are two boys who were very disruptive! But I’ll definitely do it again.

14. Student Testimonials – 3rd GradeMrs. Zamosc’s Class • Today I learned about talking in front of the class. We had to talk about a book named Encounter. I learned that the Indians were being nice to the Europeans, but the Europeans were mean to the Indians. They just wanted the Indians gold. I also learned about the Encounter is that the Europeans should have treated the Indians the same way they treated their own people, the Europeans. That is what I learned from Encounter by Jane Yolen. • I am going to talk about this activity that we did today? The activity is called Socratic Seminar. We had to talk about this book called Encounter by Jane Yolen. I learned that you should be treated the way you want to be treated. So we had to take turns to say something about the book. We all had 3 turns, but we only took 2 turns because we ran out of time, since it was time to go home. The Gate students were talking and the teacher and the other students were taking notes about what we were saying. That’s all! • The Europeans shouldn’t have taken the land from the Native American because they had it before them. The Europeans took their children and their culture. I think they shouldn’t have done it because it’s their children and their culture. The Native Americans stopped believing in their God and started believing in the European’s God. I think that the Native Americans should still believe their God and spread what they believe. When the Europeans took the Native American’s land, the Native American had to speak their language and had forgotten their own. The Europeans made the Native Americans change their ways of thinking and living.

15. Student Sample – 4th Grade, Ms. Nall Student Work 1 What is the author trying to say? Answer: We have dreams for a reason and sometimes it’s telling us the future. What does it make you wonder? Answer: Just because some people are kids, we might be more smarter than adults.

16. Student Response to Text Student Feedback – 4th Grade They were welcome and now the strangers own the lands. So it was we lost our lands to the strangers from the sky. Our sons and daughters became their sons and daughters, no longer true humans, no longer ours. Not only their lands, but now their children. I think the Indians are poor and sad. This supports the theme and sometimes we have dreams for a reason. May it be a Warning to all The children and all the People in every land. Theme: Dreams can teach a lesson or (be a) warning.

17. Student Testimonials – 5th GradeMr. Dobb’s Class • In a sense I think … • I want to talk about … • I wonder why … • Personally, I didn’t agree with … I think the concept of what they did was horrible because … • On line … it said … • I was kinda wondering why it said … • I think what they were saying was … • I would like to discuss … • I want to reply to Jestoni about … I think that means … • I don’t have an answer for Jestoni, but … • In the book it said … • I want to go back to what Stephanie said …

18. Student Testimonials 5th GradeMrs. Jimenez’ Class • I thought this was a very good activity to get to know the story and get into it and we were able to see the story better. • I thought it was good. We were still a little wiggly on some places or parts. • I think it went well because you got to hear everyone’s opinion on Encounter. • I thought that they worked together very well because they weren’t nervous to say anything and they worked as a team. • The important thing they have to work on is to not speak all at once. • I was a little bored, kinda just because I just had to sit there and not interact… • I felt like at times they were getting off the subject like one second they were head-on subject and then the next second they are talking about vampires and declaring land to the moon. • I think everyone that is not in the seminar circle should get the seminar paper too. • We should let everybody in the class do the Socratic seminar at least one time. • I loved this, I wish we did this 2 times a week.

19. Closing… The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers and students really enjoyed doing the Socratic seminar on Encounter by Jane Yolen. We will continue to implement this GATE strategy in our classrooms, and throughout the year. It is a wonderful tool to get students actively involved in evaluating and questioning text, specifically when they play the role as the leaders.