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American Revolution Socratic Seminar

The Basics • Grade Levels: 8-12 • Time Required: 1 standard class period • Subject Area: American History • Skills: Close reading, interpretation. Analysis, discussion

Introduction Students will conduct a Socratic Seminar, using the Revolution Era T4 document packet, and will be assessed using the Socratic Seminar Analytic Rubric (see Appendix B). “T4” stands for ‘talk to the text,’ and is a model I borrowed from a great English teacher, who required her students to make extensive margin notes as they read anything, in order that they become more active readers, write down thoughts about texts (which help them retain the information), and enables classes to have more active discussions, since everyone has notes. Guiding Questions

• What were the stated and accepted reasons behind the American Revolution? • What reasoning and evidence were used to support the move for independence?

Learning Objectives Students will demonstrate understanding of the key ideas that fueled the American Revolution, in particular republicanism, consent of the governed, natural rights, and limited government. Background This would be the last in-class lesson before the formal unit exam over the era of the War for Independence. Students will have already studied and done various assignments about the causes of, ideas related to, and events and people that made up the American Revolution. This seminar would make up part of the summative assessment of the whole unit, with the exam focused more on the traditional history test items – dates, people, events, and the like – while the seminar’s focus would be the ideas behind the Revolution. The formal exam and this seminar together would make up their unit final grade. Additionally, in my American History classes I’d pair a Socratic Seminar with each of the unit exams throughout the year, with this being the 2nd – that way I had several primary source documents at work in every unit, and students would be able to improve their discussion and thinking skills throughout the whole year using this model.

Preparation Instructions Materials Needed:

• Students: One copy each of Revolution Era T4 document packet (see Appendix A) and the Socratic Seminar Analytic Rubric

• Teacher: Copy of Revolution Era TA packet for reference; roster of students for notes during seminar (see Appendix C); plastic poker chips – enough to provide each student in the seminar with two (in other words, equal to the number of students in the class)

Lesson Activities The class will be separated into two equal-sized groups and will conduct two Socratic Seminars, in order that all students have an opportunity to participate in the discussion and review the efforts of others. In preparation for this seminar, give the students the Revolution Era T4 packet a few days in advance of the date of the seminar. How much time you provide will depend on your students; however, I recommend 3-4 days, with daily reminders and perhaps a short discussion of the passages in the packet, in order that your students are well prepared. I also recommend doing the seminar on the class day before the formal exam, since the two function as a matched pair. Students are to fill out the T4 packet by reading each passage, writing a one-paragraph summary of the passage’s key points where indicated, and in each empty cell to the right of the segments of the passage write at least one clarifying point (something that stands out to them), and one Level 2 (how or why) question. These points and questions will enable each student to take part in the discussion immediately. Students must have their packets in order to take part in the seminar – if you don’t bring your facts & reasons, you don’t get to participate. Day 1 Bellwork: Post on the board the names of those students who will take part in the first seminar so that they will know to form a circle on the floor upon entering the room. It’s also helpful to arrange the room in advance, creating a circle of desks or tables large enough to seat just over half the class, giving those students in the gallery a vantage point from which to observe the discussion. Those students who will take part in the first discussion are to sit on the floor and get out their T4 packets to review. Direct the rest of the class to sit in the desks surrounding the circle of students on the floor. While the students are getting settled, give two poker chips to each student in the inner circle. Once the whole class is settled, remind them that each time they ask what they believe is a good question, or make a comment that they believe is insightful, they are to toss one of their chips into the center. This serves two functions: first, it serves as signal to those in the gallery that – hopefully – something worthwhile is about to be said and that they should take notice; and second, it reminds each student taking part in the discussion that they must participate. Also emphasize that students in the discussion may only speak when asking a question, or responding directly to one in play. To put it lightly, this is a tremendous challenge to students – to most anyone, really – because it disallows people from simply chattering on about what they

think they know. Asking others and listening, then responding with comments or more questions, is far more challenging and requires a great deal more self-discipline, both of the intellectual and behavioral sorts. Remind the students in the gallery – those seated in the desks – that they are to take notes on the ebb and flow of the discussion, using the backside of their T4 packet’s pages for notes so that they can refer to the document passages themselves as needed. Classwork: Once everyone is settled, display the following prompt on the board, and start the timer for the first discussion. “What were the core beliefs of America’s founders during the Revolution, and why did these people rebel against Great Britain?” Give the first group about 1/3 to 40% of the total class period to conduct their discussion, and then take about 5-7 minutes afterward to hear specific feedback from those in the gallery. I usually required that each student in the gallery give one specific comment, and then we’d move to the next student – be concise and be specific, I’d ask. Then have the whole class switch sides and repeat. Sit off in a corner and stay as out of the way as you can during both discussions – this forces the students to carry the weight of thinking and talking through the work, instead of unconsciously seeking the support of the teacher. Assessment Grade them on the quality of their T4 packets, which you should not collect until after the exam the next day (let them use it for review), and on their performance according to the rubric. Resources • American Revolution T4 Packet • Socratic Seminar Rubric • Suggested Teacher Roster

Appendix A: Revolution Era T4 Packet

Patrick Henry, Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech, 1775 …There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free—if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending—if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained—we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength but irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extentuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Summary:

Thomas Paine: Common Sense (1776) Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness Positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer! Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience Wear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.

Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with snow, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right.

I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and the easier repaired when disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks on the so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble for the dark and slavish times in which it was erected is granted. When the world was overrun with tyranny the least therefrom was a glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, and incapable of producing what it seems to promise, is easily demonstrated.

Absolute governments (tho' the disgrace of human nature) have this advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, they know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise the remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the nation may suffer for years together without being able to discover in which part the fault lies, some will say in one and some in another, and every political physician will advise a different medicine.

There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of

monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and useless. Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation, the equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance; the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be accounted for, and that without having recourse to the harsh, ill-sounding names of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches; and though avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy.

But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.

In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion. Holland without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last century than any of the monarchial governments in Europe. Antiquity favors the same remark; for the quiet and rural lives of the first patriarchs hath a happy something in them, which vanishes away when we come to the history of Jewish royalty.

Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honors to their deceased kings, and the christian world hath improved on the plan by doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust.

Summary:

Declaration of Independence, 1776 When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world

Summary:

Articles of Confederation, 1781 TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WE THE DELEGATES OF THE STATES AFFIXED TO OUR NAMES SEND GREETING.

WHEREAS, the Delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled did on the fifteenth day of November in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-seven, and in the Second Year of the Independence of America agree to certain articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia in the Words following, viz.

"Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia."

ARTICLE I

The stile of this confederacy shall be "The United States of America."

ARTICLE II

Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.

Summary:

Appendix B: Socratic Seminar Analytic Rubric

Socratic Seminar Analytic Rubric

Excellent Good Fair Unsatisfactory

Conduct Demonstrates respect for

the learning process; has

patience with different

opinions and complexity;

shows initiative by asking

others for clarification:

brings others into the

conversation, moves the

conversation forward;

speaks to all of the

participants; avoids talking

too much.

Generally shows

composure but may

display impatience

with contradictory or

confusing ideas;

comments, but does

not necessarily

encourage others to

participate; may tend

to address only the

teacher or get into

debates.

Participates and expresses a

belief that his/her ideas are

important in understanding

the text; may make insightful

comments but is either too

forceful or too shy and does

not contribute to the progress

of the conversation; tends to

debate, not dialogue.

Displays little

respect for the

learning process;

argumentative; takes

advantage of minor

distractions; uses

inappropriate

language; speaks to

individuals rather

than ideas; arrives

unprepared without

notes, pencil/pen or

perhaps even without

the text.

Speaking

&

Reasoning

Understands question

before answering; cites

evidence from text;

expresses thoughts in

complete sentences; move

conversation forward;

makes connections between

ideas; resolves apparent

contradictory ideas;

considers others’

viewpoints, not only his/her

own; avoids bad logic.

Responds to questions

voluntarily; comments

show an appreciation

for the text but not an

appreciation for the

subtler points within

it; comments are

logical but not

connected to other

speakers; ideas

interesting enough

that others respond to

them.

Responds to questions but

may have to be called upon

by others; has read the text

but not put much effort into

preparing questions and ideas

for the seminar; comments

take details into account but

may not flow logically in

conversation.

Extremely reluctant

to participate even

when called upon;

comments illogical

and meaningless;

may mumble or

express incomplete

ideas; little or no

account taken of

previous comments

or important ideas in

the text.

Listening Pays attention to details;

writes down questions;

responses take into account

all participants;

demonstrates that he/she

has kept up; points out

faulty logic respectfully;

overcomes distractions.

Generally pays

attention and responds

thoughtfully to ideas

and questions of other

participants and the

leader; absorption in

own ideas may

distract the participant

from the ideas of

others.

Appears to find some ideas

unimportant while responding

to others; may have to have

questions or confusions

repeated due to inattention;

takes few notes during the

seminar in response to ideas

and comments.

Appears uninvolved

in the seminar;

comments display

complete

misinterpretation of

questions or

comments of other

participants.

Reading Thoroughly familiar with

the text; has notations and

questions in the margins;

key words, phrases, and

ideas are highlighted;

possible contradictions

identified; pronounces

words correctly.

Has read the text and

comes with some

ideas from it but these

may not be written out

in advance; good

understanding of the

vocabulary but may

mispronounce some

new or foreign words.

Appears to have read or

skimmed the text but has not

marked the text or made

meaningful notes or

questions; shows difficulty

with vocabulary;

mispronounces important

words; key concepts

misunderstood; little evidence

of serious reflection prior to

the seminar.

Student is

unprepared for the

seminar; important

words, phrases, ideas

in the text are

unfamiliar; no notes

or questions marked

in the text; no

attempt made to get

help with difficult

material.

(Adapted with permission from Paul Raider)

Appendix C: Suggested Student Roster

Student Name # Q # C Notes I recommend printing this in landscape format so that the Notes section is as large as possible. Make a separate roster for each discussion group to keep things orderly, and use E, G, F, or U to record the questions and comments each student makes during their discussion, according to where you would place that question or comment on the rubric. This will make scoring each student later much easier. Record notes about those questions or comments that were particularly good or bad in the notes section. When it comes to points, I’ve typically broken it into 25/25/50, with 25% from the number of questions asked, 25% from the number of comments made, and the remaining 50% based on the quality of their overall participation. Again, use the rubric and make it available to the students in advance so that they know what is expected of them.