Self+Reflection

Kyle's Self Reflection: I think I deserve an A+ on my socratic seminar because there is no grade higher than that. I feel it is indisputable that the excellence of my seminar participation was matched only by the excellence of everything else I did so excellently. I kept the conversation boat afloat when it started to sink, and the entire class is indebted to me for my outstanding contribution.

Taylor Barrera’s Socratic Seminar I deserve an A-. My participation was well enough to the point of me being able to say everything I wanted or needed to say. If I had an opinion I made sure I said my part. There were some parts I was more interested in listening to the views of my peers instead of talking. But I made sure i was very open minded. My attendance was exquisite. I really enjoyed this project because sitting in school all day you never get the chance to talk. Finally we got a grade for not necessarily talking but a grade for communicating. I think we all benefited from it and definitely learned a lot.

Andrew Lenec All in all, i believe the socratic seminars were a great help to the entire class. There was little to no debating or disagreement and the air in the room was anything but tense or hostile. It was a free flowing discussion and really challenged all participants to think critically and offer insight into the world we're living in today. It was something new for us because for once we weren't sitting in a classroom being talked at, we were talking together and being given the opportunity to express our own opinions. Personally, I was there every day and I think I participated greatly.

Scott's Reflecton on Socratic Seminars I though that the project work very well and went pretty smooth for the most part. Considering that, for the most of us in the class, it was the first time we had got to ask the questions and address important issues to the class. Which is great because it sort of sparked a different perspective that we all had to take in order to create discussion and clearly represnt the topics that deserve major discussion. In all, I feel confident in saying I learned something from all the groups that I saw.

Meghan Participating in the Socratic seminar process helped me to pick up on many skills. I was able to **listen** to my peers and pay attention to the points they each made. I listened carefully to each person who spoke and found that the conversation was easy to follow and stay involved in. I **understood** each of the points made by my classmates on the different topics we discussed as they made themselves clear and had very thoughtful insights. Also the seminar should me that I am able to **make choices** for myself a lot easier then I once thought. Hearing each side with the different perspectives of others involved help me to form my own opinions each day on the various topics. I learned that when partaking in a discussion there is no right or wrong answer. People speak, you listen, and you don't necessarily need to come to an agreement. Each person is allowed to have their own thoughts and feelings on the subject. You can voice how your feeling and it's accepted by your peers or members in the group. I also saw that with the different topics comes different rules and barriers. Each state has rules and regulations set up with their beliefs on how to run community. Depending on where you are and what you are doing law can be different and so can the outlook of the people living there. With the difference in changes, barriers, laws, etc. some topics and discussions can be very offensive to others. Discussion can escalate to higher ranges of anger if someone becomes offended by the the topic of discussion or decisions being made by others in the group. Leading a discussion is far from easy. It takes a lot of preparation and can be very time consuming. The information that is being given out must be factorial and interesting to keep your audience entertained. Points need to be made clear for all members to understand. Equal time must be given to everyone so that they can speak their minds on the topic as well without feeling left out or unheard. When working with a group it's important to make sure everyone is on the same page working to complete the task. Everyone should be working to their greatest abilities as well as coming together as a team. My classmates I found to be very respectful of one another and their topics of choice. They listened and responded to each one in an acceptable manner. The environment was controlled and no one was angry with anyone for the comments they made. Each person was allowed to speak their minds and be heard without being judge. It was for everyone a positive environment. No one person felt singled out or unheard and most people had the same thoughts and feelings on the daily topics discussed. For my own grade I think anywhere in the "b" range would be acceptable. I was there present in class for all seminars except the first because I was over at Dutchess handle college preparations but I did write a two paragraph response to the topic of children and their innocence. I thought I was very open-minded. I didn't get angry at anyone comments, I sat back and listened to each one considering their points of views. In a discussion it's very important to be able to put yourself in other peoples shoes to understand where they are coming from which is something I do on a daily basis. For my group presentation we were well prepared. We struggled finding quotes and political cartoons but everything came together in the end and our hand out was eye catching and interesting. The group I worked did well together, we listened to each other and took each persons feelings into conceration on the our topic of discussion which was the media's influence on society. Our group was organized and kept our discussion going. The effort was put in from each person. I participated but I know I could of done better. I am pretty outspoken. Any thought or idea I had someone always beat me to saying it and then other topics I didn't really have feelings on or understood complete enough to make comment on. I don't think I did too bad during these seminars.

Tiff's reflection I’m actually really happy that as students we were able to get things like our opinions across. I do believe we were all slightly apprehensive at first though. After years of no one really caring or just brushing ideas aside, we were finally given our voices back and it did catch some of us off guard. I think everyone should take some time and discuss the issues of the world to make those around them more aware. Although it took everyone a few moments to get involved, the students did have great ideas and thought provoking statements. Once the ball got rolling. Almost everyone had an idea or something to say on issues that have only been somewhat ignored. As far as participation, mostly everyone was involved. I enjoyed the maturity everyone had and the respect that we all gave each other even when they were argued against. My group wasn’t completely prepared but we did pull it off and we managed to get a serious conversation going among the rest of the group. Personally, it was one of my favorite activities in class and I would certainly want to do it again. As far as participation, mostly everyone was involved. I enjoyed the maturity everyone had and the respect that we all gave each other even when they were argued against. My group wasn’t completely prepared but we did pull it off and we managed to get a serious conversation going among the rest of the group. Personally, it was one of my favorite activities in class and I would certainly want to do it again.