Getting middle school kids really discussing a given topic is an art. I’ve tried at least a hundred different strategies from dozens of books — well, that might be a bit hyperbolic, but I’ve tried so many things I can’t even remember them all. Some are flops; others are moderate success. But nothing prepared me for today’s success, a highly modified version of the Socratic Seminar engagement: kids actively engaged in discussing — of all topics — the degree to which a given story’s conflict is dependent on the story’s setting.

Tonight’s homework:

Answer the following question about today’s Socratic Seminar by leaving a comment on this post. What did you think of today’s discussion activity? What were two things you thought were effective about it? What was one thing you would like to have changed?

Selected responses:

• I thought today’s activity was somewhat challenging, but it was very enjoyable.
• I think today’s activity was really fun.
• I thought today’s discussion activity was a new, different way to make us think.
• Today’s activity was fun and very helpful.
• Wow, good stuff; arguments are always fun, aren’t they?
• I love our activity and I would love to do it again sometime.
• Overall I loved class today and I hope we get to do more things like that in the future.
• What we did in class really helped me get closer to being able to analyze the context easily.
• This activity was very exiting.

Needless to say, I will be using this activity again.