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Mfischhoff · Joined: 14 Sep 2009 Posts: 51

Please respond to this thread with two ideas you gained from our seminar discussion about the question you discussed (By the 1800s, what were the USA's greatest strengths and greatest issues?). Also write about two ideas you had about the seminar itself -- how did it go? What could we do better in the future?

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Maddy.King · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 23

During the seminar, there were strengths and weaknesses that were brought up that i never even thought of. Division of classes was a major one I didn't consider. It it similar to the division of north and south, and westward expansion. Many people agreed that slavery was both a strength and a weakness for the US and that westward expansion caused many problems, including class division.

The seminar went really well. We decided to try not raising our hands and just speaking in turn. That worked well except there were a few people who really controlled the conversation and spoke more frequently then others. I think the hand raising system works better because you can see who has something to say. Also, there were not many pauses for silence which made it hard for others to speak up, I think hand raising could solve that issue. But overall i think it went very well.

zatkinsweltman · Joined: 09 May 2010 Posts: 27

I think that the seminar went really well overall. Before the discussion I came in thinking that certain aspects were the "greatest" but when we started talking about how Strenth being weaknesses I thought that was a really excellent and important point to focus on. I thought the major parts to this topic were division of clsses and slavery. I had never thought about the strengths and weaknesses this way and it really gave me a new way to think about it.

For what I think could go better:
I think the seminar went really well but i agree with maddy when she says that people dominated the discussion. I actually feel that it wasz a certain side of the table, I don't know if it had something to do with where people sat and who they sat next to but one side completely controlled the other. I thought going around in two circles helped people get their opinions out and allowed everybody to talk, but I also agree with maddy that we should raise our hands because of the silence issue and so people don't continue to dominate the discussion.
I thought we did really well.

Zachary Atkins-Weltman

Annie C · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 20

The two new ideas that I got from our seminar discussion, I would say
1) "the enthusiasm of a new nation" as a strength to America in the 1800
is a new idea for me, because what I thought before the discussion was just about since constitution ratified, America would be more in organized. I haven't think about the enthusiasm from the citizens might also be the important strengh to the whole nation.

2)"Slavery" as a strength and a weakness, because what I thought about slavery before discussion was just a weakness of America because which led to the civil war. I never think from the other side of slavery that could also be the trigger that united the nation and be looked as a strength.

Idea

The ideas about the seminar itself.
The seminar discussion went pretty well on Friday, there were no arguing, everyone was being respectful and participaed the discussion. Everything was just went peacefully. There was only a problem that we can see from the map, the unbalanced of talking people. It's hard to think a solution out. The below are my ideas:
- break in groups in first 5-10 minutes so people can generalize the ideas.
- people have to raise hands over two times beside the speak one by one one.
It's a hard question!!! Rolling Eyes

lstrickman · Joined: 06 May 2010 Posts: 20

One idea that was brought up at the seminar that I hadn't really considered before was how many of the US's weaknesses started as strengths. Class devisions and geographical separations turned people against each other on issues like expansion that could have greatly benefited the US.
I'm still wondering how issues other than slavery affected the US at the time, because we didn't talk about those issues a lot.

I think the seminar went well, and I liked that we were able to keep the conversation moving and we talked about different topics. But I agree with maddy, I think we should try raising hands next time so that we can hear from people who didn't speak up as much the way we did it. We did hear from everyone a little, but a couple people ended up controlling the conversation, and I think raising hands would allow people who aren't as good at speaking over people to talk more.

mswartz · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 43

I found it interesting that at one point during the socratic seminar Eli said that regional issues divided the nation. I hadn't really thought about that but now that I have, I completely agree! For example, how the economy of the south developed vs. the north, class divisions, etc. Also I learned that the nation's strengths were also their weakness and how they were interconnected.

I thought the socratic seminar went fine. The conversation flowed which was good. Although I felt that the conversation was somewhat repetitive and not many new ideas were brought to the table. I agree with many people in that the conversation at times was dominated by one side of the table. I think Annie's idea of "breaking in groups the first 5-10 minutes so people can generalize the ideas" was a great idea! That way everyone's voice can be heard and it's not as intimidating to speak. Adding onto that, maybe each group could come up with a fresh and new idea or question to bring to the seminar.

malexander · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 20

Two ideas that I had during the seminar were that the weaknesses and strengths are more mixed than I had previously thought. To me, the division of classes seemed like one of the larger issues, and when I began to connect the division of the North and the South also to class, this became more evident. I also thought it was interesting how intertwined each topic was with the next. They all seemed to play a part, and one couldn't work without each other. The argument that it was all about power seemed to wrap it all nicely.

Two things about the seminar: I thought it went really well. We seemed able to handle the discussion without having too much structure, which was nice. We also had people who were willing to take control for a brief moment and tell the group that we were getting off topic. We seemed to all be on a similar page about what exactly our answer might be to this question.

Jessica.Santos · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 21

During the seminar i felt that I had a lot to say. Towards the end of the seminar I had soaked in everything that was said and i couldn't keep my thoughts collected. I agree with Michaela and Eli about how the regions were a large part of what divided the United States alone. That idea went to the top of my list. Another idea (question) that i held back from saying so i could listen, was that could the Civil War been prevented? And if so how? I believe Mei had said that and others liked the question. I came out of class clinging onto those two major ideas.

On how the seminar ran I thought that it went really well for a first run. I think that more people could have spoken up. When we went in a circle the people who hadn't spoke shared their ideas, and some passed because they did not have any. So I think that we should go round in a circle a few times during the seminar so we can get people more active. The only other thing I was unsure about was how we spoke (raising hands, calling out....). Maybe next time we could experiment on how we take turns speaking.

edalven · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 37

I walked away from our first seminar feeling pretty good. On the subject of how we ran the discussion, my opinion echoes what has been said. Perhaps we should try different methods of speaking next time, like raising hands to ensure that everyone has a voice. Personally, I am very talkative in class. One of the goals that I set for myself was one of restraint, to contemplate the ideas of others before responding. Although it was hard sometimes, I tried to allow for silence and to include other people in the conversation. I am quite pleased with the way that it came out.

TheHappiestSnowman · Joined: 10 May 2010 Posts: 9

First off i wanted to say that i thought the seminar went really well. I felt that there were many more good ideas brought up then we had time for. I think if we could write down those ideas to come back to later that would be great. One thing i thought of after looking over the "map" of the discussion was that the discussion was really confined to the right side. Instead of involving the entire square the discussion seemed to travel in a triangle without the left side of the room.
As for the ideas that the seminar sparked for me, I was wondering if there was ever another time in the early 1800s where there was a conflict that almost started a civil war, and i was also thinking that if the slave trade was banned then how would states gained in westward expansion have slaves? If they couldn't buy them. And on the issue of slavery i also wanted to know a bit more about the power system among slaves for example who would be the most influential in organizing a revolt.
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dokim · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 23

The original idea that i had was the slavery became a strength and weakness of the United States. The slaves made ennormous interest for white people but ethnically, the black people were treated like animals.
I can say that it's from racism. The new idea that i got from seminar discussion was the strength of US was democracy and the weakness was the greedy minds.

The seminar went okay; however, many students hesitated a lot include me because it's our first seminar discussion and this kind of discussion is rare thing for me. If we do this discussion a lot, then it will become as usual conversation to us which means it will be comfortable and flow very well.

BChangy · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 33

After the seminar I lingered on the ideas: 1 that the civil war could have been pervented, 2 the secede of the South from the union ( I wished we talked about that more Confused

)

I love that Eli came up with a thesis as a result of the seminar. However, to my knowledge a thesis is a statment that can be argued to be true or not. Derived from the seminar I would have to say that it is impossible to have a thesis on this topic. We all agreeded that slavery was the biggest issue of the 1800s as it dominated our discussion. In the seminar we limited the possibility of a thesis as a response. The seminar could have gone a different way if there were three different readings proving a different topic to be the greatest issue of USA 1800's and we disscuss it that way. It would open up a variety of topics for us to discuss instead of repeating/agreeing with one another. This structure would create the oppurtunity for the list to be effective in the rule: I seek to advance the group". Each of us learning two different views would be a great advancement.
I also think to solve the issue of not hearing everyones voice that we should have the seminar is smaller groups. We could possibly split each class in half and each of the halfs come together to make a whole and we all come back together to present our ideas to everyone (a brief summary). This would be effective beacuse I believe that in a larger group people who dont speak are over looked and feel that they dont have to share their ideas because someone else is more eager to speak. Having smaller groups will make it more apparent who speaks and who doesnt, leaving room for encoragment from the group to speak. Each individual going around saying their ideas was an attempt to solve this but it only took up time.

ohg2012 · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 15

America was brand-new country. Americans had numerous affairs to manage, such as legislating new policy, setting financial system, and land problem. ‘Starting all over’ made Americans enthusiastic, and I consider this energetic status as the greatest strength. Among the affairs, conflict between South and North was formidable issue. Such as abolishing slavery, misunderstanding and lack of compromise between South and North obstructed America from further development, and ultimately, caused Civil War.

The seminar itself was awesome. Everyone got chance to speak their ideas. Discussion was full with respect and I couldn’t find even a trace of argument. We choose to speak up instead of raising hand and call their names, which I praise much as a fine result of compromising among students. The problem was unbalance among speakers. Few students dominated the discussion, and so many students didn’t have opportunity to speak up. Pause the discussion for few minutes, keeping silence, think further, and reconcile each student’s idea might be able to solve this problem.

Hey_look_its_EVAN · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 20

Some ideas i had were
Going back to my couch table analogy..... the slave owners were probably "selectively taught" as well and what is the obsession with Independence in regards to westward expansion?

georgia.indigo · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 15

One new idea that was brought up in our seminar that stood out to me was of the individual being a weakness. I think it’s worth looking at the slave culture and how strong it was, how it developed and how the white people ended up being divided by class and region and therefore weakening them. Another new idea that was brought up was strength: that the strength of peoples disagreements weakened the country as a whole.

I think, given the fact that it was the first seminar, it went extremely well. I think it’s really hard to get quiet people to talk and not have other people put themselves in places of control. I don’t know how much raising hands would help because sometimes a person has something really important to say at the moment but if they're not called on they never get to express or fully complete the thought. I think next time we should work on not overstating a point.

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