A Thousand Splendid Suns Socratic Seminar Reflection

Remember, this reflection is a component of your grade. Your work should be specific and detailed.
Use your notes to complete this reflection.

Acknowledge what someone (NOT in your group) said by writing down his/her comment. Record the
speaker’s name. React to his/her statement.
Chelsea and Jacob’s points about not being able to rank the importance of different powers changed
my perspective on the question a lot. Each situation in the book has different powers that are
interconnected and relative to each other. For example, when Laila is pregnant, she has a commodity
that Rasheed wants (a child) which could be seen as wealth, or it could be seen as her being able to
bring him the honor of a perfect family. 

Explain how the seminar influenced your thinking about the topics discussed or the text as a whole.
Be specific.
There was a lot of discussion on different types of power and what the best type of power is. My
thoughts on this were greatly influenced, because at first, I only considered power in personal
relationships. Originally, I would’ve answered that rich men had the most power over others in
personal relationships. However, there are more factors that influence this, such as a person’s
reputation or what they can bring to give a person honor. An example of this is Laila being pregnant,
which gave her power over Mariam and even Rasheed in some context. Mariam and Laila connecting
and becoming closer also hurt Rasheed’s power over them, which illustrates that isolation will
decrease a person’s power. I also didn’t think of societal influence and power, whether this is through
gender, money, looks, reputation, or occupation. There was also discussion on how many of these
sources of power were interconnected, and some existed at the same time as others. Therefore, you
cannot classify which type of power is best because of how connected each source of power is.

Self-assess by score your performance in today’s seminar using the following criteria:
4 = Excellent 3 = Good 2 = Showing Progress 1 = Needs Improvement

Please note: You will be assessed based on your honest self-reflection and self-awareness. Scoring
yourself low will not lower your grade.

Criterion Your score

I came prepared with higher level questions related to the text. 4
I took a position on a question. 4
I contributed several relevant comments. 4
I cited specific evidence from the text to support an idea. 4
I asked at least one thoughtful, probing question. 4
I built on another person’s idea by restating, paraphrasing, or synthesizing. 3
I questioned or asked someone to clarify their comment. 1
I encouraged other participants to enter the conversation. 1
I treated all other participants with dignity and respect. 4
Overall score 4
What did you specifically contribute to the discussion?
My group was the last group, and people were a bit quieter and lost their train of thought a few
times. I added onto people’s answers and connected ideas back to the overall question if we had
strayed from the topic. A more specific example of something I contributed was during the question
about how Nana impacted Mariam’s life, I brought up new ideas regarding how Mariam’s actions
when with Rasheed were subconsciously influenced by Nana’s treatment of Jalil. Nana is vocal about
her hatred of Jalil in front of Mariam, but is relatively submissive around Jalil, which is paralleled by
Mariam’s fear of Rasheed, yet not standing up to him. This contrasts Laila, whose mother had a lot of
power in her household, and her ability to stand up to Rasheed. I also found text evidence that
supported ideas that Emma had brought up about Nana believing that a women’s role is to endure.

In retrospect, what do you wish you had said in the discussion? (Record what you wish you’d said
exactly as you wished you had said it.)
Regarding the question about how Nana impacted Mariam’s life, I wish that I had brought up how her
suicide also impacted Mariam. We talked a lot about how Nana’s treatment of Mariam influenced her
views, but we did not touch on how her death impacted her. I would have spoken about how Nana’s
death placed a lot of guilt on Mariam for not being a worthy daughter in either of her parent’s eyes.
This could have contributed to her desperate need to please Rasheed and start a new family,
especially when she has lost her own family.

Based on your observations, who (from any group) were the top three contributors to the discussion?
Jacob, Chelsea, and McKenzie all stood out as people who contributed a lot of interesting and
complex ideas to their seminar.

Identify a personal goal for the next seminar:

I want to make sure I let everyone participate and encourage others to add their ideas if they haven’t
yet.

Please provide feedback on the seminar format.

I really enjoyed this seminar format! Asking questions on the outside was a fun spin on how seminars
usually go, and it felt much more laid back than when you feel pressure to speak a certain number of
times for a grade. Also, I appreciate that you were very open about your expectations and grading, as
well as the reflections. Some teachers can be very vague or not tell students what they need to do to
receive a good grade, and your clarity alleviated a lot of stress! 😊