{"id":56,"date":"2011-10-23T00:25:46","date_gmt":"2011-10-23T00:25:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otacharter.org\/fifthgrade\/?p=56"},"modified":"2013-08-16T13:30:45","modified_gmt":"2013-08-16T20:30:45","slug":"seminar-introduction-and-hints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joyofteaching.lwn-stg.194-164-93-166.plesk.page\/fifthgrade\/2011\/10\/23\/seminar-introduction-and-hints\/","title":{"rendered":"Seminar Introduction \u2022 Seminar Hints"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEMINAR isn’t like other classes. First of all, the teachers are some of the most famous authors, thinkers, leaders, painters, scientists, musicians, and mathematicians who ever lived; second, they are usually dead. And since they aren’t there to tell us, no one<\/em> has the final, or right, answer to questions about their books or paintings or songs or ideas. So it’s up to all of us to work together<\/em> to discover <\/strong>things we might never discover on our own; and so gain a very deep and multifaceted<\/em> understanding of each author’s or creator’s ideas<\/strong><\/span>. The works we will study in Seminar are interesting, difficult, and often profound; they have changed the world. They are worth reading more than once!<\/p>\n

Seminar Hints<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Before & During Your Reading<\/em><\/span>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Look over the Active Reading Checklist<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. Talk Back to the Author as you read!<\/li>\n
  3. Ask Questions, Look for Proof, Demand Evidence, Question Assumptions!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    During Seminar<\/span><\/em>:<\/p>\n

      \n
        \n
      1. Don’t raise hands; take turns.<\/li>\n
      2. Talk to each other, not just to the teacher (or teachers).<\/em><\/li>\n
      3. Listen respectively and actively<\/em> to what others say. No side conversations!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n

        <\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Support your answers with EVIDENCE (a quotation<\/strong><\/span>) from the text \u2014 but not from your own life because the rest of us haven\u2019t shared your experience. A great way to start off is: \u201cWell, on page 10, in the second paragraph [then wait for class to catch up<\/em>], the author says… \u201d<\/li>\n
        2. A good question is as helpful as a good answer. Ask a question<\/em> if you do not understand something.<\/li>\n
        3. Expect disagreement and do not take offense. When someone disagrees with you they are attacking your opinion<\/em>, not you.<\/li>\n
        4. When you<\/em> disagree with something someone else said, try to express your problem with what was said in the form of a question: “<\/strong>Don’t you think that…?”<\/span> or “But doesn’t the author say…<\/span>?”\u00a0 Rather than: “No, that’s wrong!<\/span>\u201d<\/li>\n
        5. Silence is OK<\/span><\/strong>. When you aren’t talking you get a chance to listen. Every Seminar we will appoint one student (or teacher!) to be the “Silent One,” who is allowed to listen as hard as s\/he likes but may not speak. Many students say they learned the most the day they were the Silent One.<\/li>\n
        6. When in doubt, reread the text. Reread the text. Reread the tex<\/span>t<\/span><\/strong>! And: \u201cAt least pretend to think to think for a few seconds before answering!<\/em>\u201d*<\/span><\/a><\/span>
          \n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
          \n
          \n

          *<\/a> from Ishmael<\/em>, by Daniel Quinn (Great novel about a gorilla who learns to talk to, and teach, humans using Socratic method. Read it when you’re older!)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          SEMINAR isn’t like other classes. First of all, the teachers are some of the most famous authors, thinkers, leaders, painters, scientists, musicians, and mathematicians who ever lived; second, they are usually dead. And since they aren’t there to tell us, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyofteaching.lwn-stg.194-164-93-166.plesk.page\/fifthgrade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyofteaching.lwn-stg.194-164-93-166.plesk.page\/fifthgrade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyofteaching.lwn-stg.194-164-93-166.plesk.page\/fifthgrade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyofteaching.lwn-stg.194-164-93-166.plesk.page\/fifthgrade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyofteaching.lwn-stg.194-164-93-166.plesk.page\/fifthgrade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/joyofteaching.lwn-stg.194-164-93-166.plesk.page\/fifthgrade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1889,"href":"https:\/\/joyofteaching.lwn-stg.194-164-93-166.plesk.page\/fifthgrade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions\/1889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyofteaching.lwn-stg.194-164-93-166.plesk.page\/fifthgrade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyofteaching.lwn-stg.194-164-93-166.plesk.page\/fifthgrade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyofteaching.lwn-stg.194-164-93-166.plesk.page\/fifthgrade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}