Unit Three Lesson Two (90 minutes)
Homework review: Ask students to share some of the discussions that they
have had with their families.
• How and why they celebrate certain holidays?
• The foods they eat and the way they’ve been taught to eat them?
• What is the polite thing to do?
• The traditions in their family?
• What is important to them?
• What influences and shapes the way they think and act?
These types of influences on our lives is what we call “culture”. Everyone has a
culture. It shapes how we see the world, ourselves and others.
How to do a Socratic Seminar.
Adapted from the following website:
https://www.facinghistory.org/for-educators/educator-resources/teachingstrategy/socratic-seminar
The purpose of a Socratic seminar is not to debate but to understand what the
author was trying to express in the text.
Step one:
Teacher: The idea of a Socratic seminar is to choose a text that can be easily
read that can be interpreted and discussed. You may choose a paragraph or a
page but nothing much longer than this, at least for the first few attempts.
Step
two:
The students receive the text and need time to prepare. They need to jot
down ideas, highlight parts of the text that they feel is important and that they
would like to discuss.
Step
three:
Understanding the rules. Here is a list of general rules that are used in a
Socratic
seminar.
1. Students should talk to each other not just to the leader of the discussion.
2.
Students should use the text to back up their ideas.
3. If you do not understand what another student has said you may ask
questions
to
clarify.
4) You may speak as often as you want but be careful not to take over the
conversation.
5.
Do
not
disturb
when
someone
else
is
talking.
6) Do not judge what another has said. You are allowed to give an alternative
opinion.
7) Here is a list of common statements or questions used during a Socratic
seminar:
Where does that idea come from in the text?
What does this word or phrase mean?
Can you say that in another way?
Is this what you mean to say…?
What do you think the author is trying to say?
What else could that mean?
Who was the audience for this text?
How does that shape our interpretation of these words?
Who was the author of this text?
What do we know about him/her?
How does that shape our understanding of these words?
Step
four:
Have four students on the inner circle and four on the outer circle. The inner
circle is involved in the discussion and the outer circle are observers. The
seminar often begins with an open-ended question. For example: What do you
think this text means? For the first time assign 15 minutes. Use minimal
teacher intervention.
Step five:
It is good practice to evaluate the seminar generally and evaluate their own
performance. This can be done in class or as a homework assignment in their
reflection journals. This helps students reflect on their performance and it
improves their ability to take part in future seminars. Use the following
questions to help you.
1. At any point did the seminar revert into a debate/discussion rather than
dialogue? If so, how did the group handle this?
2. What evidence did you see of people actively listening and building on
others' ideas?
3. How has your understanding of this text been affected by the ideas
explored in this seminar?
4. What would you like to do differently as a participant the next time you
are in a seminar?
The Iceberg Metaphor
The Iceberg Metaphor
Just as an iceberg has a visible section above the waterline and a larger,
invisible section below the waterline, so culture has some aspects that are
observable and others that can not be seen. Also like an iceberg, the part of
culture that is visible (observable behavior) is only a small part of a much
bigger whole. The main part of the culture is hidden from view and is
represented by deeper elements of culture.
Activity - Creating a Cultural Iceberg
Materials: Large Poster board paper, scissors, markers, scotch tape, stapler or
glue stick.
1. Group students into teams of 4
2. Pass out the attached worksheet #1 - ask students to cut out the phrases
3. Ask the students to draw a large iceberg on the posterboard, and to
glue, staple or stick the phrases into the appropriate place on the
iceberg.
4. Each team member should sign their work, and the teacher can ask if
any of the students wants to present their work.
WORKSHEET #1
Cut out the following EXPRESSIONS OF CULTURE and attach them in their
appropriate place on your ICEBERG.
facial expressions
importance of time
gestures
food
concept of fairness
holiday customs
eating habits
notion of modesty
concept of personal space
rules of social etiquette
religious rituals
importance of individual vs, group
music
literature
ideas about governance
gender roles
nature and expression of friendship
understanding the natural world
concepts of beauty
importance of personal freedom
costume and dress
paintings and other graphic art
You may also add your own in the two empty places
Adapted from:http://www2.pacific.edu/sis/culture/
After the presentation of the posters (and hopefully the display of some of
them in the classroom) you can introduce the idea of cultural “context.” Generally speaking, context means the circumstances in which a particular
event or action occurs. In reference to culture, context refers to the often
unwritten rules or norms that have evolved and become a part of a group’s
expected behavior in various situations.
The Socratic Seminar - What is culture?
1. The students should be divided into 8 in a group. (or however many
needed for 4 groups)
2. Choose one person from each group to be the speaker in the Socratic
Seminar.
3. Choose one or two people from the group to be the observer of their
speaker.
4. Choose a coach to coach the speaker.
Before the seminar:
1. Hand out all four cards to each group. (see below).
2. Ask the students to read all the definitions and make sure they
understand each one.
3. They should jot down ideas and note things they would like to discuss.
(review the instructions given above)
4. Ask the speakers to sit in the inner circle and the observers to sit in the
outer circle.
5. For the first (demonstrative) Socratic Seminar the teacher as facilitator
will begin by asking the following questions:
What do these metaphors have in common?
How are these metaphors different?
The Onion Metaphor
(adapted from Building Cultural Competence - Innovative Activities and Models, page 62)
Like an onion, people are shaped by many layers of culture: national culture, regional
culture, organizational culture, and many other types of culture (gender, religion, family,
etc.) Often we may catch ourselves thinking about someone as only one layer, for
example a French person or a woman. We then typically get stuck in language that
divides us: us and them. When we think or or see only one layer of an individual, we are
not seeing that person for the complex individual he or she is and what he or she brings to
a situation. We want to be recognized as being complex individuals shaped by a number
of layers, and we need to do the same for others.
The Fish out of Water Metaphor
(adapted from Building Cultural Competence - Innovative Activities and Models, page 62)
Like water to a fish, the influence of our own culture is often invisible to us. It is simply
what we know and what we depend on for survival. It is not until we become a fish out of
water that we may realize our dependency on our own cultural environments or be able
to see clearly what the water was that we lived in. Often the first step in working across
cultures is to discover your own ocean and understand your own cultural influence.
The Lenses Metaphor
(adapted from Building Cultural Competence - Innovative Activities and Models, page 62)
The French-Cuban writer Anais Nin once said, “We don’t see things as they are; we see
them as we are.” Culture is a system for making meaning of things, and, as a result, we all
wear cultural lenses or filters that we use to interpret a situation. This may lead to
different concepts about everything from what makes a good meeting to the role of a
good teacher, leader, boss. It is important when trying to understand other cultures that
we recognize our own lenses or cultural filter we are wearing in any situation and learn to
put on the lenses of someone from a different background.
The Software Metaphor
(adapted from: http://www.culture-at-work.com/concept2.html)
Hofstede's uses the software metaphor to look at the border between between what is
human and what is machine. Hofstede says that this is getting harder to maintain. He
says that the brain is like the computer's CPU (=nature, hardwiring) and the mind that
contains the culture or knowledge is like software. Software is based on algorithms which
are like recipes - that are designed by humans for our own purposes. These algorithms
are then changed, edited and elaborated on by future users and programmers.