Socratic Seminars

So I was watching a video of a Socratic seminar over on the UbD course website, and just ... feeling really disheartened. As everyone came in and got seated around the table, one of the students said something like, "man, the reading last night took like forever!" or something. They were studying Romeo and Juliet and got into a discussion of Friar Laurence's opening soliloquy (one of the students confused 'morn' with 'mourn' - there's another homonym for ya, mrs chili!) and the extended metaphor in it. And I'm ready to give up on this idea before I'm even started.

How do I create the kind of culture of self-discipline? These students did their assigned reading - Shakespeare, no less! original language! - on their own. I could see it happening with... maybe a third of the class, IF I didn't have the other 2/3 dragging the morale down.

I just have this horrific vision of them all sitting in a circle, staring down at their knees.

More on this in the morning. I think mebbe it's time to tuck in.