Title: Socrates before court

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Topic:

Socrates before court.

Target group:

1st‑grade students of a high school.

Core curriculum

Core curriculum (old)

I. Receipt of statements and use of information contained.

1. Reading and listening. Student:

1) reads the meaning of the whole text (and in it the meanings of words, phraseological relationships, sentences, groups of sentences ordered in a paragraph, distinguishes real and etymological significance) and fragments separated by it; can explain their meaning and function on the background of the whole;

II. Analysis and interpretation of cultural texts.

1. Initial recognition. Student:

1) presents his own experiences resulting from contact with a work of art;

2. Analysis. Student:

5) compares literary works or their fragments (it recognizes common and different features);

3) recognises literary allusions and cultural symbols (eg biblical, romantic) as well as their ideological and compositional function, as well as signs of tradition, eg ancient, Judaic, Christian, Old Polish; ZR

3. Interpretation. Student:

3) compares the functioning of the same motifs in various literary works;

4) reads the allegorical and symbolic content of the work;

2) performs comparative interpretation of literary works; ZR

2) confronts the literary text with other cultural texts, eg art, theater, film; ZR

4. Values and evaluation. Student:

2) sees national and universal values present in literary works and other cultural texts;

III. Creating statements.

1\. Speaking and writing. Student:

3) creates an independent argumentative statement according to the basic principles of logic and rhetoric (puts forward a thesis or hypothesis, selects arguments, organizes them, hierarchizes them, makes them selection in terms of usefulness in statements, summarizes, selects examples illustrating the reasoning, makes correct inferences).

Core curriculum (new)

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary works. Student:

5) interprets the allegorical and symbolic content of a literary work;

6) recognises in the literary texts: irony and self‑irony, comedy, tragedy, humor, pathos; defines their functions in the text and understands the value of character;

9) recognises the subject and issues of the texts learned and its relation to the programs of the literary era, social, historical, existential and aesthetic phenomena; he reflects on it;

13) compares literary works or their fragments, sees continuations and references in the compared works, defines common and different features;

14) presents a proposal for interpretation of the work, indicates in the text places that may constitute arguments in support of its interpretation proposal;

15) uses in the interpretation of literary works the necessary contexts, especially the historical, literary, historical, political, cultural, philosophical, biographical, mythological, biblical and existential context.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

4) compares cultural texts, taking into account various contexts; ZR

5) characterises the main philosophical trends and determines their influence on the culture of the era;

6) read philosophical views contained in various works; ZR

III. Creating statements.

1. Elements of rhetoric. Pupil:

1) formulates theses and arguments in oral and written speech using appropriate syntax structures;

7) distinguishes the discussion from the dispute and quarrels;

2. Speaking and writing. Pupil:

1) agrees with other people's views or polemicizes with them, substantively justifying their own opinion;

2) build a statement in a conscious manner, with the knowledge of its language function, taking into account the purpose and the addressee, keeping the principles of rhetoric;

10) in the interpretation presents a proposal to read the text, formulates arguments based on the text and known contexts, including personal experience, and performs a logical argument for the validation of formulated judgments;

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1. develops the ability of independent work, among others, by preparing various forms of presenting their own position.

General aim of education

Students learn about the philosophy of Socrates.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• explains the basic assumptions of the philosophy of Socrates;

• considers the advantages and disadvantages of the Socratic method of teaching;

• puts the interpretation thesis;

• compares how the event is presented in the text and the image.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

• exposing

  • exposition.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. The student selected by the teacher prepares information about Socrates, his school, methods, students and his legacy.

Introduction

1. The teacher states the subject of the lesson, explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

2. The teacher asks: what do you do when you want to lead someone to a specific way of thinking or the right answer? He asks students to give examples of such situations from their own experience.

Realization

1. The student selected before the lesson presents the figure of Socrates. The teacher pays particular attention to discussing the „Socratic method” (heureza). If necessary, he or she supplements the student's statement..

2. The students read a fragment of the „Sophie's World” in the abstract. Then in pairs, they write out the pros and cons of the Socrates method (Ex 2).

3. Socratic method in practice. Students in pairs prepare scenes illustrating exemplary situations from everyday life in which the method of guidance used by a Greek philosopher can be applied. Presentation of scenes in the class..

4. As a summary of this part of the lesson, students do exercise 3 in the abstract.

5. Work in groups with the text „Defense of Socrates.” After reading the fragment in abstract, the students are divided into groups and do tasks:
   Group I - develops fragment 1.
   Questions:
   - Why in the first sentence the word god was written with a small letter?
   - For what purpose did Socrates refer to god?
   - Discuss the main goal of Socrates' activities.
   - Explain the meaning of the last sentence from the cited fragment of the Defense of Socrates.
   Group II - fragment 2.
   Questions:
   - Socrates used in this part of the comparison. Point them out.
   - Explain the function of this stylistic measure in the quoted text.
   - What assignment does Socrates assign to you?
   - What argument confirming his innocence was presented by Socrates?
   Group III - fragment 3.
   Questions:
   - How does Socrates justify his accusers?
   - Explain why Socrates agreed to his own death.
   - What are the words dedicated to the sons of Socrates?
   - Interpret the last sentence from the text.
   After the appointed time, the results of group work are discussed.

Summary

1. As a summary of the lesson, students perform an exercise combined with image analysis in abstract.

2. The teacher asks the students questions:

   • What did you find important and interesting in class?

   • What was easy and what was difficult?

   • How can you use the knowledge and skills you have gained today?

   Willing/selected students summarize the lesson

Homework

1. Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

2. Write a dialogue in which you will use the heurease method.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Socrates Before Court

Philosophers of nature were first of all preoccupied with the universe and its composition. Socrates (5th century B.C.) brought philosophy back on earth. He focused on learning the human nature and helping people to know themselves.

Sophists were teachers and philosophers from different provinces of Greece. Initially, this name by which they were known meant scholars, but it soon became pejorative. This was partly due to Socrates', Plato' and Aristotle's criticism of them. They spread negative opinions about them for two reasons:

• charging fees for teaching,

• their rejection of the belief that truths are absolute and indisputable.

One of the Sophists, Protagoras, claimed: „Man is the measure of all things”. It means that there is no one objective truth, so that you can argue in favour of any claim and the next moment prove something completely opposite. The only thing that matters is the technique used for transmitting „knowledge”. Socrates disagreed with the Sophists.

Heuristic or heuristic technique is a teaching method consisting in leading students (mainly by asking questions) through a train of thought allowing them to solve a problem by themselves. The heuristic technique is believed to have been introduced by Socrates. Having noticed that his interlocutors were wrong in believing to have a certain knowledge, Socrates distanced himself from them claiming: „I know that I know nothing”. Knowing nothing is also a kind of knowledge! In addition, it is an attitude encouraging one to search and study, instead of being content with one's wisdom.

Socrates was brought before a court and sentenced to death for not worshipping the official gods of the state and for depriving youth. The three speeches delivered by Socrates during his trial in 399 B.C. are quoted by Plato in the dialogue Socrates' Defence.