/Socratic Seminar #: High School at the Movies?“Good morning! Welcome to another day of higher education!”

-Duckie

This Socratic Seminar is your time; you are the expert - everyday you walk under fluorescent lights along mold-infested halls, backpacks slung over your shoulder, a sense of injustice or fear or rage pulsing in your veins. Right? Or am I wrong? For this Socratic seminar, we will explore three high school movies and consider how accurately they portray the awkward and fleeting years of high school.

Between now and the end of class Monday/Tuesday (6th/7th), respond to 3 of the following prompts in your journals, prepare at least 3 higher level questions to ask the circle, and find at least three related quotes from reviews or critical essays WITH the name and source of the quote. These are due on February 6th/7th.

Which character from Blackboard Jungle, Pretty in Pink, or Me and Earl and the Dying Girl seems most like you? What aspects of this character’s personality strike you as familiar? Do you think your friends would also see this similarity? Why or Why not?

Which of the three high schools seems most like Anderson? Referencing specific details, connect AHS to this school in at least three aspects.

Ask someone who has a few decades on you about Blackboard, Pretty in Pink or even Earl. Do they find these movies more or less realistic in their portrayal of HS than you do? If so, why do you think this is?

Compare these movies in terms of their portrayal of parents, teachers/coaches and other adults. To what degree do these filmmakers provide detail in their characterization of adults? To what effect? Do you find the portrayal of students or adults more realistic in these movies?

Consider the cultural trappings of these films: Blackboard is from the 50s, Pink the 80s and Earl was released in 2015. What elements of the high school experience seem largely the same as portrayed in each film? Which element changes the most drastically among the three?

It seems that high school movies almost always contain some sort of commentary on what it takes to belong, to be cool, to be accepted in high school. What did these movies seem to say about that? Did you find any of these themes to be didactic or condescending or where they more complex and fair?

As always with Socratic seminars, the value of inquiry presides; the process of asking questions and posing responses that lead to deeper questions and further consideration of the topic is the foremost goal.

Primary Sources: Blackboard Jungle, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Pretty in Pink.

Secondary Sources: *Independent Web Research (Google key word searches, Wikipedia,

imdb.com, Rotten Tomatoes)*Reference to earlier films such as All-American High Revisited, Marwencol,

Beauty Knows No Pain.

GRADES:On the day of your Socratic seminar have your three journal responses, questions, and quotes. Socratic oral contributions earning the highest grades will show a deep familiarity with the primary sources and reference secondary films and sources. Socratic written components earning the highest grades will comprise of typed notes that include appropriate questions, annotated journals or notes derived from journals, and any other notes you compile in preparation; secondarily, these students will provide specific and apt details on the Socratic observation form.

*This assignment will constitute three grades: one double grade related to your verbal contribution on your inner circle day, and one related to your observations while in the outer circle and one grade for your typed notes and questions.