So when Barbara told us that Wednesday was going to be the most important class of the semester, I naturally hesitated and read the assigned text about three times to prepare. I will admit that when I looked over the course packet and the Nitty Gritty Grammar book, I was a little worried about what qualified as a transitive and intransitive verb sentence. I don’t think I was properly taught the parts of speech in elementary and middle school, either. I knew the basic verb, adverb, noun, adjective and adverb, but I felt like some of my teachers would just show the class “School House Rock,” and then call it a day. There was really no emphasis on that subject, so I feel like I’m re-learning everything that I should have already known from high school.
I was really happy that Barbara showed us some examples in class on what a transitive, intransitive, and linking verb sentence was, even if she did drop the word ‘fuck’ in a sentence. Did anyone else think that was funny? I couldn’t stop laughing! Anyway, once we split up into pairs and did the magnetic poetry assignment, it really helped make the transitive and intransitive verbs easier to identify. I was happy to see that we got to participate in a fun activity because when I do things like this, it’s easier for me to remember. I am a visual learner, so anything that is in front of me to look at, makes it a lot easier to memorize and comprehend.
I definitely have a stronger grasp on what we learned this week, than I did going into it, but hopefully this stuff will come up again, because I still find myself checking the book to make sure that what I am saying classifies as one of the three verb sentence patterns that we learned. I think that learning anything new takes time, and I feel like the parts of speech have more to them than just verbs, adverbs, adjectives, etc; there is a whole branch of elements per part of speech, and it’s a lot like learning a new language. I can already tell that I will be learning a lot in this class, that I didn’t already know. This is a really refreshing feeling, and I am glad that I get to take on a new challenge of learning how a sentence is formed, using the different ideas and parts of speech. I also want to add that I really liked the idea of a “Socratic Seminar.” However, I hope that when we use it in the future, it is for more than four pages of a text and that the observers are encouraged to speak up if something is said within the circle that interests them.
My question for the week is more of an opinion question using the “Socratic Seminars.” I want to know if people liked the idea of using this in the classroom. I liked that it was demonstrated on Monday, but I would have done a lot of things differently, and I felt like there was a lot said in the first group, but the second group (the one I was in) had to come up with their own ideas, basically. Do you like the idea of this in a classroom, or not?
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I think that Socratic Seminar in the classroom is a good option for doing a discussion. I feel that a lot of important things from the reading were covered and explained in great detail. I do agree that for the second group had a harder time discussing things. To solve this problem, in my opinion, it might be better to have to different groups discussing at the same time then come together as one group and talk about what the groups covered. Having two groups would allow everyone to participate but not feel like they didn't get to discuss what they wanted to discuss because someone else may have covered it. I hope that if we do this in class again Barbara will take some of these ideas into consideration. I know that a lot of people felt that it needs some revision. I hope that this answered the question.
ReplyDeletealex :)
I think the use of a socratic circle has both positives and negatives. When the people from the outside come into the inside it may be difficult to decide on what to talk about. I think it would help if what we were discussing was longer than four pages. Also, maybe the first group could come up with questions for the second group to answer. I do like the ideas behind a socratic circle and I like how it gets everyone to talk and put their thoughts out there. I would not eliminate it completely but rather adjust it to work with the group specifically. It seemed to be an effective tool on Monday and I know I certainly learned a lot more about the article than I had thought I would.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the second circle is always an issue. We'll talk about a few options on Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input!