David Jazo

Mrs. Storer
English 3 Honors Block 4
9/20/19
Socratic Circle Reflection on The Crucible
The playwright, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller served as the basis of discussion for this
Socratic seminar. This is our first Socratic seminar of the year and I am going to give my
thoughts on it as far as how I did individually, how I think we did as a class, and how good I
think the content of the circle was.
If I am being 100% honest with myself, I did not perform to the best of my abilities this
time around. I would rate my preparation for this Socratic circle a 4/10. Although I had answered
the questions for the seminar, I did not rehearse what the answers were so that I could answer
questions off the top of my head, and I did not practice how I was going to explain my answers. I
did not speak much during the Socratic circle so I would rate my contribution towards the
conversation of the inner circle a 1/10. Although I there were a couple times, I wanted to answer
the question at hand, I did not. For some reason, I could not bring myself to say what I was
thinking; i.e. my passive mindset led to my downfall when it came to my contributions towards
the discussion. Again, because I did not speak this time around, I did not display any teamwork
whatsoever. So, I feel safe rating myself a 1/10 when it comes to teamwork. The one time I did
shine was when I was in the outer circle. I gave my undivided attention to what everybody had to
say regarding the topic being discussed, but I payed extra attention to my partner Louis. I made
sure to listen to exactly what he was saying when he spoke and made an effort to decipher what
he was trying to explain, even if it meant I did not necessarily agree with his viewpoint or
understand it at first. I gave him good feedback regarding how he could improve (only needed to
do so in one area). Personally, I could have improved what transpired during the Socratic circle
by actually saying something and/or piggy backing off what somebody said and elaborating upon
it. I also could have agreed with somebody’s viewpoint and said why. The two goals I have set
for myself for the next Socratic circle are to be more prepared and actually speak up when a light
bulb goes off inside my head.
I would say that as a class, we performed ok. There were some bright spots here and there
but the overall conversation did not flow as well as say, an outside conversation would. The
quality of my inner circle’s discussion was worthy of a 6/10. This is mainly due to the fact that
the conversation sputtered at times and seemed quite repetitive with all the agreements being
made and no disagreements being made. It could be that we all just had the right answer, but
there had to be somebody who disagreed at some point; they just kept it to themselves. The
teamwork was great when it came to the circle because everybody was agreeing with each other
and simply building upon what was already proven, thus making the answer each person gave
that much stronger. I would rate the quality of feedback my group gave while in the outer circle
good because we each told our partners what they were doing right and wrong. We were blunt
when it came down to it,
This play by Miller was quite compelling. It was interesting in particular because of the
message it was trying to convey. Arthur Miller, through everybody’s wrongdoings, is trying to
say that one’s morals go out the window when it comes to being under high stress situations.
Miller tries to portray that the “moral hero” does not exist under heavy predicaments.
Especially if those predicaments lead to serious punishment. Nobody likes to get punished, as
evidenced when the girls in the play lie about not using witchcraft. They are accused without
remorse which led to them pleading not guilty to any charges because it they pleaded guilty, it
could mean serious drawbacks or even death. Also, fear of accusations caused changes in
characters. We see this when Abigail scorns Mary, telling her not to speak on what they have
done, or it will mean the end of her. This does not seem normal coming from a 15-year-old
young woman, which leads us to believe she’s acting out of fear, or anxiety from the guilt she is
most likely feeling.
In my experience, Arthur Miller’s message carries over beautifully to the real world.
Well… more like it carries over perfectly to the real world, because there is nothing beautiful
about what he tries to get across to his audience. When under high pressure situations, people act
out of instinct and forget about their morals and upbringings. I’ve experienced this myself,
because I am guilty of letting the same thing consume me. When I was younger, I wanted to be
cool, so I hung out with the troublemakers at the Boys and Girls Club of National City. One day,
those kids decided to pick on my little brother of one year. For some reason, my morals of family
sticking together through thick and thin sailed to the abyss as I too shoved my brother. Although
it was a long time ago, that situation sticks with me until this day, and I couldn’t help it coming
to mind when I think of Miller’s message. r