My Socratic Seminar Experience

  I used to think that speaking during a Socratic Seminar was difficult and frightening. I was worried that if I speak up, my points wouldn’t be related to the topic and that if it wasn’t related to the topic I would be the reason the Socratic Seminar group gets a lower grade than supposed to. It feels like a game where you are passing a ball to everyone in the group and if one of them drops it, EVERYONE loses. That’s what I used to think when I was doing a Socratic Seminar, like I might be the person dropping the ball, somehow making everyone fail. I also thought that it would be hard to come up with certain points to talk about, especially if you are trying to make it up on the spot.

  Now I think that it really doesn’t matter if I say a wrong point during Socratic Seminars, because if I do say something wrong or irrelevant, other members from the Socratic Seminar would help correct me and in a way get me back on track on the conversation, or in a way take my point and add to it. In addition, while correcting me they would get extra marks, as well as me because I will have tried to converse. Furthermore, now I think that when brainstorming for points, it isn’t that hard, because I just have to write down my points as I go along with the conversation or make bullet points, to shorten the sentences.

  I wonder if I knew what I have recently learnt, if I actually would have spoken during the Socratics. I also wonder if the topics were something I was more interested in, if I would have talked or added more points and ideas.

My reading life

  Hi there! I’m Anan and I’m fifteen years old. This is my first year in AIS-R and I’m currently in the ninth grade. To be totally honest, two years ago, I wasn’t that interested in reading ANY book, I would see a book and turn the other way. Until a friend of mine introduced me to the books of an author called Rainbow Rowell. If I were to sum up what I think about her books in one word it would be, Addictive. Her books are definitely a page-turner! Once you open the book it gets you so hooked that you would forget about all of your surroundings, and when you finish the book you would immediately want to read it all over again, that’s how amazing her books are. She makes you fall in love with ALL of the characters, their roles don’t matter.

  My preferred genre is Romance. I really don’t believe in all that Lovey-Dovey stuff in real life, but when I read Romantic books, it just makes you want to believe. Believe that it really does exist. That’s why I love reading books, you feel like you’ve been sucked into this whole other world, where nothing in the real world matters.

  I am currently reading Fangirl, one of Rainbow Rowell’s addictive books. So far, every time I pick it up and start reading, I can’t put it down, but when I do, I just make up plots for the characters in my head.

  So far, Fangirl is about a teenage girl named Cath (Cather), who has just started college but is already stressed out for many reasons. Ever since her mom left her and her twin sister Wren, she has been writing a Simon Snow fanfiction, which she can’t seem to let go of, even though reality is catching up with her. Her sister doesn’t want to share a dormitory with her, so she is forced out of her comfort zone, sharing a room with a girl named Reagan and her boyfriend Levi, who is always around. Cath is struggling to keep up with everything that is going on in her life and doesn’t know if she can do it without her sister.