I believe that my first Socratic seminar was a complete failure. While I was preparing for the Socratic seminar, I had focused solely on the symbolism of “white”; that was my first mistake since it was a very narrow concept in the story. Then, during the actual seminar, when people were discussing about the various themes within the story, I couldn’t comment much due to my insufficient preparation. Moreover, when the topic of symbolism did come up into the discussion, I had failed to seek the chance to speak and was waiting for someone to pick me to speak. That was my second big mistake in this seminar, my failure in speaking during discussion.

To be better prepared for the summative Socratic seminar, I need to work on my preparation first. It should include a broader topic, such as themes, symbols, characterization, etc. Also, I think I should try to spend more times in reading the story, trying to understand the messages which the writer is trying to convey to the readers through the setting, plot, the conflict, the characters, and the symbols. Moreover, I think I need to do some search on the historical events during the time which the story was written to better understand the setting of the story and mood of the story.

My first goal for my next seminar is to seek any opportunity to speak about the story, from the analyzation of character to the significant symbols in the story, from different themes to author’s message to the readers. Secondly, I would like to use more quotes from the story to support my claims about the story. For example, quotes about the action or dialogue of certain character, analyzing the personality of such character, and why is it important for writer to create such person. Throughout the formative discussion, I noticed that no one mentioned or brought up the topic of the importance of a character or their personality; however, I believe that a character sometimes has a bigger impact on the story rather than a single line of quote.

Next time when I do the Socratic seminar, I will try to activity listen to others, take control of the discussion, and seek any possible opportunity to insert my thoughts into the discussion. Most importantly I want to be fully prepared, from the character analyzation, the setting, the symbols, to the themes.  Furthermore, I think I need to find enough quotes from the assigned chapters, so I can make my discussion more evidence supported.