Here at the Literary League, we’re a group of English teachers who truly love literature (we bet you already figured that part out). Given free time, we can all agree that there’s nothing better than leaping into a good book. But, even as avid readers, we have to admit that those spare minutes tend to be few and far between, especially during the school year, and there are times that we just have to …
- leap into a book recommended by a friend, a colleague, or especially a student, who is anxiously awaiting our review
- leap into a new novel we’re teaching, whether or not we’ve had time to fully prepare a complete unit
- leap into a classic, maybe not one of our favorites, but something we know students need to sit with in order to grow as a reader
For those instances, the Literary League is teaming up to share some of our favorite resources to help you Leap into Literature. These are resources that are not tied to a particular book, but ones that can be used over and over again, both with your favorite novels, as well as with new texts or classic pieces you’re trying to breathe new life into.
A favorite resource I use to engage my students in literature is my Socratic Seminar for any Text resource. This resource is great because it can easily be adapted for any fictional text and it includes everything that you will need to do to run a Socratic Seminar in your classroom.
A Socratic Seminar is an organized, formal discussion in class. Students prepare for the discussion by preparing questions about the text for other students to answer. The Socratic Seminar values inquiry and discussion.
From the teacher instructions, to the student instructions, to the final reflection, this resource has it all. I like to use this resource in my classroom as we read novels together, especially after very symbolic or climatic events in the story. The Socratic Seminar is an engaging activity that gives the students some responsibility and freedom. They love this activity too!
You can read about other engaging literature resources from the other Literary Leaguers linked up below and also enter in the rafflecopter below for a chance to win them all.
7 Comments
I have always loved a good Socratic Seminar! Thanks for putting something together that makes it easier for me to teach! 🙂
-Lisa
You are welcome, Lisa. Socratic Seminars are great for student interaction.
Where can I get the Socratic Seminar packet?
You are AMAZING! I love that you have taken something that can be a challenging idea for teachers to implement and made it so simple to implement! Seriously, you have thought of everything!
Thank you so much, Stephanie. Socratic Seminars can be challenging for teachers, especially their first time conducting one. My goal was to make something so ready to use and easy to implement.
I can't wait to get this. I haven't used Socratic Seminars very often, but I love to watch them unfold. This will give me the push I need to use one in class. Thank you!
I got this resource as part of your amazing bundle, The Novel: A Unit for Any Novel, and it was so helpful as I planned my Socratic Seminars this year. Thank you!