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EDUC581 Socratic Seminaring Using Discussion
Summer 2011
Helen Sitler
Socratic Seminar for "Haunted House" by Virginia Woolf
to be used in ENGL121 Humanities Lit
level:
college students in a required Liberal Studies course--includes
students in all majors except English
Goal/Purpose:
love, relationships, attachment to place
Pre-Seminar (split into 2 days):
1. background on Virginia Woolf from this website, particularly to show the homes
she lived in; also to help date the story:
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941): A Short Biography on website of the Virginia Woolf
Society of Great Britain
http://www.virginiawoolfsociety.co.uk/vw_res.biography.htm
2. tea party exercise in small groups; debrief of that exercise
Procedure: students form groups of 10-12 (in Humanities Lit, this means 4 groups).
Each student draws a slip of paper that includes a teacher-selected line from the
short story. Within groups, they share the slips of paper and collaboratively
speculate about what they will be reading. The goal here is focused pre-reading that
will make the text more accessible because students have worked together to
predict what's to come. (source: Beers, Kylene. When Kids Can't Read: What
Teachers Can Do. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003. 94-101.)
3. Students read the story as a take-home assignment.
4. At the next class meeting students re-read and annotate/highlight the short story
while listening to the text read aloud, either by the teacher or by a professional
reader. Source for professional reading:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2JuMk4rsVg&feature=feedf_more
Read by Beth Richmond for poetictouch.com. June 7, 2010
5. Short discussion to establish facts: how many characters, who are they?
NOTE: This would not be the first Socratic seminar for this class. For their first
seminar, I plan to meet with 1/2 of the group (22 students) one day and the other 1/2
the next. Another possibility would be to split the 75-minute class into two segments,
with only 1/2 the students reporting to class at a time. If I decide to allow students to
miss a whole class day, they would be responsible for another assignment.
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The Socratic Seminar
Because this class has 45 students, we will use an inner/outer circle configuration for
the seminar.
FOR THE INNER CIRCLE (23 students)
Allow for 3-4 open seats for outer circle members to sit in. Given the configuration of
this classroom, 3-4 seats will be needed so that students may shift to the inner circle
from various places in the room
Intro questions:
• What word best describes the mood of the short story? (round robin)
• When you heard the title "Haunted House," what were your expectations and were
those expectations met? (open to whole group)
Core questions:
• How would you describe the relationship between the ghostly couple? Find some lines
that support your description.
• What role does the house play in the story?
• How does the sound of the language contribute to an overall effect?
• What is the treasure?
Extra question (just in case): How do you interpret line 21: "Death was the glass."
Closing questions:
• What else that we've read can you connect this story with? Explain.
• Can you describe a strong emotional attachment you have to some particular place?
Post-discussion teacher notes for the group: One biographer of Virginia Woolf
(Hermione Lee) notes that Woolf had strong feeling for the history of the homes where
she lived. Thus it is not surprising that the house itself plays a central role in "Haunted
House." The story also offers an eerie prescience. Woolf and her husband Leonard
were very much in love. It might seem strange, then, that Woolf committed suicide. She
did so because several previous bouts of mental illness (probably manic depression or
bipolar disorder) had been very difficult not only on her but on her husband. When she
realized her illness was returning again, she determined that she would not ask him to
go through this with her another time. She filled her coat pockets with stones and
drowned herself, at least in part, as an act of love.
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Post-Seminar Activity - Choose one:



do a quick sketch of one important scene from the story. In a sentence or two,
write about why you selected that scene. OR
write the next page of the story OR
short writing: If you were to return to a favorite place in 100 years, where would it
be? What and/or whom would you hope to see/do there?
FOR THE OUTER CIRCLE (22 students)
Assign one of 5 tasks by handing out, at random, the instructions below. Use a different
colored page for each task so I can see quickly who needs to report out each time.
Some tasks will help us with the debriefing process. Some will add further layers to the
discussion. These tasks will set the outer circle up as speakers in the post-discussion
time.
assignments that help debrief
group 1 (5 students) : Write down each question I ask. Under each, quickly log who
spoke during discussion. Also note whether each speaker named the person s/he was
responding to.
In debriefing ask if these students note any patterns: lots of input, small input, use of
names, no use of names, response from one area of the room and not from another,
etc. How might we make adjustments so that every voice is heard from? So that no
voice overpowers others? Afterward, collect these pages to verify participation.
group 2 (4 students) : Write down each question I ask. Take brief notes of the answers
that surface.
In debriefing ask these students: Do you notice any patterns? For instance did any
questions seem to get more thoughtful or more vigorous responses than others? Why
might that have happened?
group 3 (4 students): Write down the EXACT words of the speaker each time one
student disagrees with or questions another.
In debriefing ask these students to give us some words (possibly on the board) for
respectfully telling a peer that there is another way to consider something.
assignments that add further layers to the discussion
group 4 (5 students): Write down any statements from the discussion that surprise or
intrigue you. Beside the statement make a quick note about what was being discussed
and why.
In debriefing ask these students: What statements surprised or intrigued you? Why?
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group 5 (4 students): Highlight any lines from the text that someone referred to during
discussion.
Allow this group a few minutes after discussion to create a found poem. Share each
with the class. This activity fulfills the post-seminar task for these students.
While group 5 is composing a found poem, the rest of the class is completing the postseminar activity. The lesson closes with group 5's reading of their found poem.
Note: While outer circle students are speaking, inner circle students are taking notes.
After class, each student will post an online comment to address 1) one thing I learned
about the short story today; or 2) one commendation or one concern about the process
of seminar.
Resources and their uses
Beers, Kylene. When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann, 2003. 94-101.
Source for the pre-seminar tea party idea.
"The Mind and Times of Virginia Woolf," parts 1, 2, 3. YouTube, 23 Aug. 2009. Web. 21
June 2011.
Background material for Woolf's life, her writing style, homes lived in, and happy
marriage comes from these 3 videos. Some seminar core questions are derived
from this material.
O'Keefe, Virginia. Speaking to Think/Thinking to Speak. Portsmouth, NH:
Boynton/Cook, 1995. 59-71.
Outer circle tasks are inspired by O'Keefe's reminders that students need to
develop leadership skills. The skills that the outer circle tasks in this seminar
develop are listening, analyzing patterns, noticing links between questions and
responses, providing respectful feedback to peers.
Richmond, Beth, performer. "Virginia Woolf A Haunted House." YouTube. Web. 7 June
2010.
Professional read aloud of “Haunted House,” to be used in pre-seminar.
Woolf, Virginia. "A Haunted House." World-English. Web. 26 June 2011.
<http://www.world-english.org/woolf_haunted_house.htm>.
Original printed text of the story comes from this website.
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Appendix B
Prompts for pre-seminar exercise (Tea Party)
From room to room they went, hand in hand
But it wasn't that you woke us.
the house all empty, the doors standing open
The apples were in the loft
the garden as still as ever
They moved in the drawing room
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Not that one could ever see them
"Safe, safe, safe" the pulse of the house beat
softly.
Oh, was that the buried treasure?
death was between us, coming to the woman
first
the rooms were darkened. He left it, left her,
went North, went East, saw the stars turned
in the Southern sky
"Safe, safe, safe," the pulse of the house beat
gladly.
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the ghostly couple seek their joy
"Here we slept," she says.
And he adds, "Kisses without number."
"Sound asleep. Love upon their lips."
the faces that search the sleepers and seek
their hidden joy
"Safe, safe, safe," the heart of the house
beats proudly.
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"Here we left our treasure--"
"Oh, is this your buried treasure? The light in
the heart."