One of my favorite ways to teach is by using Socratic seminars. If done well, an effective Socratic lesson can not only take me (the teacher) off the stage, but invest my students in their own learning by creating an environment of academic discourse, improvisational questioning and answering, critical analysis, and free-flowing exploration of content.

Of course, for all of these wonderful things to happen, class sizes must be manageable; instructors must design compelling questions that are specific enough to narrow focus, but also broad enough to elicit multiple answers; and, most importantly, students must bring a competent level of prior knowledge to the seminar so they can intelligently participate in the discussions. Over the years, I have found that prior knowledge is the biggest challenge in conducting an effective Socratic seminar. How do I get the kids to connect with the material before I ask them to discuss it?
Traditionally, I provide prior knowledge through brief lectures, homework assignments, and readings in the text. This year, I added primary sources to student preparation and I saw a dramatic difference in how my students connected with the material. Here is how I set up the lesson for two separate Socratic seminars; the first was on slavery and the second was on the 1920s.

I chose the slavery unit for my first Socratic seminar of the year because every student knows what slavery is and brings with them a basic understanding of the topic and its place in American history. My hope was that this prior knowledge would allow a certain degree of comfort and thus more participation by the students.

In order to make sure all of my students had a similar grasp of the topic, I asked the students to read the chapter on slavery in our text and identify the most significant points and ideas (I used a reading guide to do this). Secondly, I assigned each student a primary source from David Kennedy and Thomas Bailey’s collection of primary sources called The American Spirit. Each student was asked to read his or her document and connect it to the material from their textbook. Both of these assignments were due on the day of the Socratic seminar.

On the day of the seminar, I started the class by having each person quickly introduce their primary source and tell the class how it applied to the content from this chapter. (We have 90-minute block periods, so we were able to fit all of this into one day. You may want to break it up if your classes are shorter.) Each student was allowed 30 seconds to a minute to present their material and upon starting the seminar, I asked each student to incorporate their source into the free-flowing discussion. In essence, this forced participation while also allowing each student the freedom to chime in whenever they felt comfortable.

I found that by using this method, the focus of the seminar became grounded in primary resources and not just the secondary material that the text provided. I found that the depth of discussion improved and students were excited to incorporate their documents into the course of discussion because they had become personally tied to them. More students actively participated, the discussions were rooted in facts and not conjecture, and for the most part, the students really seemed to enjoy the process.

One more note: The documents dealing with slavery elicited a powerful reaction from my students. Content areas like slavery, the Great Depression, and World War II can offer a treasure trove of primary sources that will engage students in this process. The sources related to these topics are often easy to connect to and allow students to invest personally in each document.

For years, I found myself struggling to communicate to my students the depth and vibrancy of the post-World War I period. From the intolerance of the KKK, the Red Scare, and the Sacco-Vanzetti case to the cultural revolutions involving flappers, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Lost Generation writers, to the long-ranging ramifications of the automobile, the radio, and the advertising boom, I struggled to develop a focused timeline or lesson that connected these diverse topics in a coherent manner.

By using a Socratic seminar, I found that I didn't have to worry about connecting the topics—the kids did it for themselves! This might sound like a cop-out, and to some degree it was, but what I found was that by letting the students dictate the direction of the discussions after they completed a search for and chose a relevant primary source, it became more clear to all of us how many of these seemingly unrelated topics combined to tell a more complete story of the 1920s. Here's how I did it.

Prior to the seminar, I gave each student two assignments. The first was a chapter-wide review that touched on most of the items any teacher might want a student to get from this period. Second, I assigned each of the students one of the major topics from the period (examples of these included the Sacco Vanzetti Case, the Red Scare, flappers, Al Capone, Prohibition, the Scopes Monkey trial, the 19th Amendment, the Advertising Boom, and many more—see "For More Information" below for the complete list.) I asked them to research their topic more deeply and be prepared to share what they discovered. In addition, they were to find an applicable primary source directly connected to their assigned topic. This would also have to be presented. I recommended numerous research sites, but I always try to steer them to Teachinghistory.org.

When the students came to class on the day of the seminar, they presented their topics and primary sources in the same fashion as they did for the slavery seminar, and when they were done, we started the seminar.

After about 15–20 minutes of discussion (or when things stagnated), I asked all of the students to look at their topic cards. Each card had a number (1–10) on it that was associated with a theme or idea that I wanted the students to understand. I asked all of the students to find other students with the same number on their cards and sit together. (We all know how physical movement can positively affect a classroom environment. I found that doing it during a free-flowing Socratic seminar can help refocus the group and entice some of the quieter kids to start speaking up.)

Once in their groups, I asked each person to quickly remind each member of their topic and then, AS A GROUP, deduce the common theme that brought them together. They presented this finding to the class and proceeded with the seminar by focusing on some of the new themes discovered.

After about 15–20 minutes, I followed the same process, but this time, I combined multiple groups with common themes and then asked each to figure out what brought them all together. We presented the new findings and then spent the remainder of class wrapping up the seminar.

By combining primary sources and student critical thinking we were able to come to a much deeper and multi-tiered understanding of the 1920s. There was a stark difference between the superficial chronology that I had used in the past and this dynamic interaction that forced students to make connections and inferences about the diverse topics presented to them by the Roaring Twenties.

In both of these lessons, the use of primary sources allowed me to enrich the content areas and connect students to actual events, people, and time periods. As historians, I think it is our responsibility to incorporate these powerful tools into the fantastic lessons that we are already doing. Hopefully, this article will inspire another day of greatness in your classroom. And if it does, please share it with me!

Ron Gorr
Air Academy High School
ronald.gorr at asd20.org

My middle school students contain tremendous physical energy and can struggle with the transition into the adult world of sitting still. Meanwhile, real kinesthetic learning is one of the most difficult areas to incorporate effectively into your history classroom. Last year, to meet my goal of getting the students moving in a relevant and productive manner, I created Policy Pull-Out—a fun and interactive game related to the key concepts of American Expansion.

Picture students moving around, excited about history vocabulary, with all learning levels engaged. Welcome to Policy Pull-Out! As the winter months drag on, allowing the students to be active will be extra important to their moods and their excitement about learning. This game will also reinforce and add a dimension to ideas vital to American history class.

Policy Pull-Out was created to specifically support and review for DC's 8.5.2: Explain and identify on a map the territorial expansion during the terms of the first four presidents. The game has been played with 8th grade in American History but I feel could be age-appropriate from 4th through 10th depending on your students and your spin on it. Although a teacher hopes that students always picture history in 3-D, that concept seems especially important in this unit. The students should be able to reflect on what expansionism means, what Manifest Destiny looks like, and what isolationism feels like. Once the students have a deeper understanding of these political concepts, they can begin putting themselves in the position of 1800s decision makers imagining the benefits and foreshadowing the issues that will arise.

Policy Pull-Out stemmed from a game that I had played as an after-school coordinator, called “Huggie Bear.” In Huggie Bear, the students mingle around until the teacher calls out a number. Whether the number is seven or two, the students have to gather in a group of that number of students. If students do not find a group that size or cannot find a group fast enough, they are out.

In Policy Pull-Out, we use history-related calls demanding different numbers of people group together or do a specific action. The motions they use in these calls directly relate to understanding the meaning of the words.

As mentioned, the students mingle in place until they receive one of the following calls:

• “Diplomacy” – (ALL) Everyone continues moving around but has to shake hands with everyone.
• “Isolationism” – (one person) Stand in place alone and cover your eyes.
• “Negotiate” – (two people) Find a partner and shake hands.
• “Expansionism” – (three people) Three people need to hold hands (with the ends unbound and spread out as far as they can).

Once the students have those four calls, I then add on three more rules:

• “Manifest Destiny” – (ALL) Everyone runs out to the borders (basketball court lines) to show we are spreading our territory to the coasts.
• “Expansionism + number” – (Teacher picks) Same except the number expanding changes.
• “George Washington” – (Representing his farewell address – three people) One person shakes a finger at the other two who stand back to back.

First, you need to secure an adequate space. For teachers whose weather permits, I recommend trying this outside. For other teachers, a gym or large classroom would be appropriate. A basketball court is a useful playing field because it allows definite borders.

Before leaving the classroom, I recommend reviewing the first four calls and having a volunteer demonstrate each one. The students should have already been introduced to the key concepts and vocabulary but this would be a good time to discuss why certain words represent certain motions and allow them to make the connections for themselves. Perhaps they could even add to the game with their own ideas! You can give students the option of a cheat sheet depending on the situation.

After the class has arrived at the chosen location, the games can begin! The students love this game and are always very excited to be doing an activity out of the norm, but it is important to anticipate problems and set up ground rules about student-to-student contact, referee absolutes, and what to do when you are out. In the past, the students have been very invested in playing the game and are afraid to be taken out as long as you define clear borders. I limit the first round to four calls and then add as we go by gathering the group back together.

At the end of the game, debriefing is necessary in order to reinforce the purposefulness of the game: Did anyone feel safe when they were isolated? Did anyone prefer expansionism? How did you like running to the borders for Manifest Destiny? Do you think that our early presidents may have experienced some of these feelings? As the individuals within a class will form different opinions of their favorite motions, there are mixed opinions about the policies that would be best for our country.

This conversation should be a jumping-off point for more directly connected historical thinking activities. As the following step in scaffolding, I recommend using a collection of primary sources including documents that supported expansion and ones that warned against it. As another logical step, several research assignments could stem from this. For example, the students could compare George Washington to the later presidents that preferred expansionism, or research the motivations of different presidents who did expand (e.g., Thomas Jefferson’s motivations compared to James Monroe’s). Policy Pull-Out should be viewed as an early scaffold to more critical thinking about these concepts.

I hope that you and your students enjoy this game! It has been a highlight of my teaching. When spun correctly, Policy Pull-Out will reinforce the connection between human history and geography to help your students remember and understand why our 50 states exist today!

Ever tried teaching with technology? No, we don't mean Twitter, Facebook, iPods, cutting-edge interactive whiteboards, or even video and DVD players.

We mean patents.

The U.S. Patents and Trademark Office and Google Patents stockpile millions of patents, dating from 1790 to the present. In a July 2010 Organization for American Historians article, Chemical Heritage Foundation fellow Cai Guise-Richardson suggests ways to mine these historical document collections for classroom use.

Maybe you're studying Eli Whitney's cotton gin. What did the original patent look like? Can students decipher what the device does and how it works from the diagrams alone, or is it unclear? What sort of language does Whitney use to describe his invention, and how does he think it will help society?

Ask your students to think about the technology they encounter every day. Do laptops, MP3 players, cars, phones, household appliances—even toys—ever stop changing? No—there's always a new model or a different brand to buy. Inventions in the past developed in the same way. Try a Google Patent search for "cotton gin" to discover just how many variations and improvements on Whitney's invention eager inventors have developed since 1794, when Whitney first patented his design.

Try an advanced search using a word and a date. In 1901, were there any patents containing the word "genetics?" Probably not. What about in 1954, the year after scientists Watson, Crick, and Franklin discovered the structure of DNA? How about in 1990?

Think of other terms that might show up frequently in patents in different time periods. Is "bomb shelter" more frequent after World War II? How were radioactive substances used before they were proved dangerous? Consider this 1925 patent suggesting that rendering food and water radioactive will help prevent disease and preserve freshness. Do students think we're using any inventions today that we'll wish we hadn't in the future? What sorts of words and phrases do they think would show up frequently in patents today?

Pick a phrase or an invention and start exploring! Refer to Guise-Richardson's article for more suggestions if you have difficulty searching or run dry of ideas.