Socratic Seminar

Courtney Hayes
ENG297-Socratic Seminar Assignment
1. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences- Gardner. “The invention of various technological aids, may, paradoxically, leave an individual less well prepared to rely on his own abilities. And the sequence witnessed in the Western world is certainly not the only conceivable one and, quite possible, not the optimal one.” (p.365) I think that this passage is an important one because it rings true in our society today. Although technological advances have been made and put into use in many schools throughout the Western world, perhaps technology has begun to take over the thinking process. The easier things become for students to do with the help of technology, it is less likely they are going to do them on their own without the help of a computer or some other technological device.
2. Pedagogy of the Oppressed-Freire. “Narration (with the teacher as narrator) leads the students to memorize mechanically the narrated content. Worse yet, it turns them into “containers”, into “receptacles” to be “filled” by the teacher. The more completely she fills the receptacles, the better a teacher she is.” (Ch. 2, p.53) I think that this passage is extremely important because it shows an interesting relationship between the student and teacher, an unacceptable one at best. The teacher should not be a narrator; a teacher needs to get involved completely in the world of the classroom, not treating students as containers that need to be filled to the brim. Overloading the student with too much information will lesson the amount they actually learn. Also, simply memorizing facts and not knowing what it is that they are actually memorizing or learning is eliminating the thinking process all together.
3. The School and Society and The Child and the Curriculum-Dewey. “To learn the lesson is more interesting than to take a scolding, be held up to general ridicule, stay after school, receive degradingly low marks, or fail to be promoted.” (p.207) This is an important idea because Dewey is saying that students would rather just learn the lesson than get into trouble or risk getting a bad grade. He is ultimately saying that education and lessons need to be made interesting so that the student actually wants to engage in the classroom and learn the activity or lesson for that day. Without the interest of the teacher, why would any student want to be interested in the lesson or what they are being taught/told to learn?
4. Either/Or Distinctions: The Flight from Complexity-Denham. “The source for my first freshman essay was an experience that had been quite painful to me-the death of my father… At the time I thought this piece of writing was much more important than the freshman paper I wrote for my Western Civilization class...In retrospect, however, I’m not so sure. While my freshman essay was student-centered and came directly from my own experience, an experience from which I was trying to construct a meaning, I now recognize the experience of writing that freshman essay as extraordinarily limited and as simply another version of the late Romantic cult of the ego.” (p.195) I think this is an important idea because I can relate to it. In freshman writing courses, students are often told to write about what they know, thus a personal narrative. These pieces of writing are basic and minimal in content. Teachers need to give more complex and in depth assignments that really encourage the student to “construct” their own meaning and not simply re-tell a personal story or memory.
5. The Dangers of Softness-Elbow. “Thus, when participants used a term like child-centered, they meant something substantive, concrete and pragmatic: that learning must connect inward personally and focus outward socially-as opposed to only being organized conceptually.” (p.207) I think that this is an interesting idea because Elbow is saying that the term child-centered has new meaning, he believes that you cannot give every student the same material in the very same order. People are beginning to see that students should not only be able to but want to connect with the material they are learning on a more personal level.
Questions for Discussion:
Elbow believes that you shouldn’t give every student the same information in the very same order if you want them to connect with the material personally, how does he suggest you direct an entire classroom of students using this pedagogy?
Why is memorization still such a key element in most schools, Western included?
How can we get students more involved in the thinking process without limiting the technological advances we have at our disposal?
Is there a way to integrate technology in the classroom in a productive but non-limiting way?
Is there any way that lessons can be moved off-site to encourage a more open and unique learning atmosphere?