WWI Preview: Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms
Socratic Seminar Lesson
Overview
This lesson features a Socratic seminar analysis of an excerpt from Ernest Hemingway’s A
Farewell to Arms in order to introduce students to the WWI unit.
Grade/Class: 7th grade US History II
Length 80 minute block class
Topic The lesson offers an introduction to WWI through the lens of excerpts from Ernest
Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. The issues raised in the text will likely lead students to ask
questions about the United State’s involvement in the war, which will be covered in the next
lesson. The lesson will also touch on the disillusionment felt by many in Hemingway’s
generation as a result of the war.
Instructional Model
The Socratic seminar is a discussion-based lesson format designed to “provoke student thought,
dialogue, and ownership of learning” (Canady and Rettig, 2003). Students are arranged in a
circle so that they may look at each other and make eye contact over the course of the discussion.
The teacher structures the seminar dialogue by asking open ended questions to inspire discussion
and debate. The subject of the seminar is usually a shared reading that raises multiple questions
about the content of the lesson. Other seminar subjects may include artwork, photographs, or
music. By answering these questions in a discussion format, students are able to better evaluate
the ideas and issues surrounding the content.
Background Information
“The United States’ involvement in World War I ended a long isolationist tradition of avoiding
involvement in European conflicts and set the stage for the United States to emerge as a global
superpower later in the twentieth century” (USII.5c). The war and the involvement of the United
States were fraught with disagreement about the extent to which it United States should
participate in world affairs. WWI was the most causality-laden war that the world had ever seen,
with over 9 million dying over the course of the conflict. New weapons technologies (gas, tanks,
etc.) made the war especially destructive, and trench-centered fighting resulted in a long and
bloody stalemate.
Rationale
On a broad level, the incorporation of Hemingway’s work into a US History II class comprises a
multifaceted, interdisciplinary approach to the WWI unit. This particular passage from A
Farewell to Arms is a good fit for the Socratic seminar format in a 7 th grade setting, as the text is
short but filled with meaningful themes including war and what defines glory and sacrifice.
Hemingway’s strong voice in the text contrasts with the fact that some points and interpretations
made by the author are debatable, allowing the students to explore the values considered therein.
The text naturally raises questions about why the United States chose to enter such a war, and
what would start it in the first place.
Objectives
SOL
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By the end of the lesson, the student will begin to evaluate the “reasons for the United
States’ becoming involved in World War I” by “analyzing and interpreting primary and
secondary source documents” in discussion and writing that represent “ideas and events
from different perspectives.” (USII.5c) (USII.1a) (USII.1d).
Students will demonstrate mastery of the discussion skills presented in the seminar lesson
by evaluating and debating these issues orally and in writing (USII.1e). These skills
include using evidence from the text to support points, listening carefully to others and
basing comments on other people’s responses, being respectful of other’s turns to speak
and addressing each other by name, and modeling respectful disagreement.
NCSS
 “Social Studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of how
people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance so that the
learner can explain and apply concepts such as power, role, status, justice, and influence
to the examination of persistent social issues and social problems.” (VI.e)
Assessment
Formative:
 Students will complete a seminar “ticket” during after the WWI overview that will aid in
a careful reading of the text and ultimately support the discussion piece of the lesson.
This will be monitored for completion. The ticket will provide each student with a basis
for participating at least once over the course of the seminar. This will be collected at the
end and will comprise half of the participation grade.
Summative:
 A more summative assessment will occur later in the unit when students are quizzed and
tested on the WWI unit. Additionally, students will designate a page in their interactive
notebook to take notes over the course of the discussion. This will be graded during the
notebook check in order to gauge participation in the seminar and will count for ¼ of the
participation grade for the seminar.
 Students will be evaluated based upon the number of times they speak and demonstrate
the discussion skills presented at the beginning of the lessons. Each student will be
expected to contribute at least once to discussion. This is worth ¼ of the participation
grade for the seminar, which will count as a homework grade for the class.
Content and Instructional Strategies
Hook
There will not be a traditional “hook” for this lesson, as the class that I am teaching it for has a
quiz during the first 15 minutes. When they finish, they will be given a WWI fact sheet that they
can refer to during the seminar. This sheet will include necessary background information on
WWI and Hemingway. We will go over this sheet briefly (2-3 minutes), with the understanding
that greater clarification will occur during the “ticket” review and the seminar itself. Were there
time, I would likely have the students watch Brainpop!’s WWI episode.
Preparation and Procedures for Seminar
Background information de-brief (5 minutes)- Here we will discuss some key parts of the WWI
fact sheet (attached). I will also give students some background on Ernest Hemingway and his
WWI experiences. This will consist of a brief explanation of his time spent in Milan and injuries
as a result of the war along with relevant photographs.
Ticket Completion (15 minutes)- Some parts of the “ticket” will be done individually by students
and others collectively as a class. Because much of the vocabulary in the passage will likely
prove intimidating and unfamiliar to many, the “ticket” exercise will focus largely on defining
and explaining the words used in the passage in order to provide a strong foundation for the
discussion questions in the seminar piece. Students will be given a few open ended questions on
the ticket to provide them with material for discussion. Finally, students will designate space in
their notebooks to take notes on the seminar. Ticket completion will be monitored by my
walking around and giving assistance during the individual completion phase. Students will be
reminded that ticket completion will comprise their participation grade for the seminar, which
will count as a homework grade for the class.
Discussion Skills De-brief (10 minutes)
We will practice how we are to discuss by modeling discussion techniques that explain some
“do’s” and “don’ts.” My CT and I will demonstrate these guidelines to students. They will
primarily be a review of the classroom rules, with extra tips thrown in. Additionally, we will
practice our system for deciding who will talk when by analyzing a “practice” text about a
review topic.
Skills to be modeled:
(these will be projected on the screen throughout the seminar and will be referred to as needed)
(we will try conducting the seminar without hand-raising. If this becomes a problem we will
utilize a more structured participation system, where students signal to me that they wish to
speak by placing their hand on the desk. I will write down a list of people in “line” and call on
them in that order.)
-using evidence from the text to support what you are saying
-listening carefully to each other and basing comments on other people’s responses.
-being respectful of other’s turns to speak and addressing each other by name
-respectful disagreement
Expectations during the seminar
-Each student should be prepared to speak at least once (the “ticket” will help with that)
-Each student will complete the ticket (we will do some parts individually and other parts as a
class, but the expectation is that each person completes the “ticket” so that they will have
something to say during discussion)
Text Reading
Students will read the text silently to themselves before completing the individual portion of the
ticket. I will read the text aloud before we begin discussing the ticket.
Questions
Students will be given their copy of the discussion questions during the “prep” for the seminar.
They may reference them during the ticket activity if they so choose.
Seminar Text
This excerpt from A Farewell to Arms is worthy of a seminar becomes it incorporates all of the
qualities of a good seminar text. While the length and overall difficulty of the text are age and
grade level appropriate for the students, the excerpt is still able to offer a strong, valuable
perspective that examines the themes of war, dignity, and sacrifice. Because some of these
points are debatable, students are able to explore these values through a discussion of the text
and how it relates to WWI.
Opening Question:
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What sorts of things are most embarrassing to people?
Why does the narrator begin by saying that he is embarrassed?
Core Questions:
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How do these words and phrases relate to what Hemingway is saying about the
war?
What does it mean to say that some things are “abstract”?
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What have we learned about “the Stockyards at Chicago” that might help us
figure out what Hemingway is saying about war?
What is dignity? What makes something dignified or not?
Potential Follow-up Questions (generic or specific to text)
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Can some parts of war be dignified? Why or why not?
Why does Hemingway feel that only “concrete” things about war have dignity?
What might Hemingway be saying about this war in particular?
Room Arrangement
The room will be arranged so that sixteen desks are placed in a semi-circle facing the screen. I
will sit at the top of the semi-circle facing the students. Students will be asked to create a name
card for themselves to place on their desk.
Post-Seminar and Debrief: The discussion from the seminar should lead us to questions
regarding why the United States chose to enter WWI, despite its initial isolationist foreign policy
position. This will serve as an excellent segue to the WWI unit.
Resources
16 copies of text
computer/projector/internet connection
white board and dry erase markers
Differentiation
*See other strategies outlined in the reflection portion
Content: Students will be given a supplementary vocabulary sheet that may be referred to during
the seminar (we will also go over these words as a class when reviewing the ticket).
Process: Students needing extra time with the “fact sheets” due to an extended quiz time will be
“caught-up” by my CT. We will go over our “rules of the game” for the discussion and have
these displayed on the board as a reminder throughout the seminar.
Product: While there is a minimum amount of work required to successfully complete the ticket,
students are welcome to extend their responses in this exercise in order to prepare more
comments for the seminar piece. Additionally, while it is recommended that students share at
least one idea related to our questions, they are certainly welcome to participate more.
Adaptation
While there are no IEPs or 504s in this section, students will be given several supports over the
course of the lesson. These include a WWI background information sheet and a “cheat sheet”
with definitions of more difficult vocabulary words from the text. We will go over the content of
these supports when completing the ticket exercise, but they may be referred to by students over
the course of the seminar. Another adaptation could be to give the students the text and
questions ahead of time so that they can complete the individual part of the ticket before class.
Reflection
Before Teaching
My biggest concern going into teaching this lesson is the vocabulary in the passage and the time
constraints of this particular class session since my CT is giving a quiz. I have attempted to
provide adequate scaffolding and supports for the discussion. I hope that the ticket’s vocabulary
review piece will be especially helpful.
After Teaching
While I feel that the lesson is a solid one, it suffered during implementation because it
was not grounded in a strong assessment strategy to structure and induce participation. The
Socratic seminar format is most successful when students are able to practice their discussion
skills over time and when students are given the seminar materials ahead of time. Neither of
these were the case for this lesson, and it showed. Because this lesson was only taught with one
section of 16 students, I was not able to adapt it over the course of other sections. Key
adaptations that I would make include giving the materials ahead of time, reviewing discussion
norms ahead of time over the course of a few weeks, implementing a more organized assessment
strategy, and numbering the sentences in the text.
Although the content of the lesson was rich, not every student participated to the fullest
extent. Those who did enjoyed the lesson a great deal and were especially excited to connect
what they had learned about meatpacking in Chicago and the growth of cities to what
Hemingway was saying in the text. Other students seemed overwhelmed by the new format and
expectations and did not participate. The vocabulary proved to not be the daunting obstacle I
thought it might be, as students seemed to gain a great deal from our discussion of these words
and were able to successfully connect their meaning to the text. Were I to teach this again, I
would likely have students break into small, differentiated groups for the ticket completion
portion and work with each groups for 5-7 minutes before we began the questions. Additionally,
if teaching a larger class I would likely have to split the class into two groups and have one
group discuss while the other prepared for discussion. This could serve as an additional
differentiation strategy. Overall this was an interesting and compelling lesson that suffered from
a lack of preparation and organization that could easily be remedied in future classes.
PASS
1. Higher Order Thinking- This lesson receives a score of 4 as the seminar format and ticket
activity engages students in manipulating information and ideas in ways that transform their
meanings and implications.
2. Deep Knowledge – This lesson receives a score of 4 as both I and the students provided
information, arguments, and reasoning that illustrates the complexity of WWI and its impact
upon Hemingway’s writing.
3. Substantive Conversation – This lesson receives a score of 2, which is unfortunate as the
seminar format is especially conducive to scoring highly in this category. Due to the lack of
organization and preparation in addition to time constraints, ideas were shared briefly and
contributed to coherent dialogue for a few interchanges with each question.
4. Connections to the World Beyond the Classroom- This lesson receives a score of 2, as the
issues contained in the passage could be connected to the students’ experiences or contemporary
situations beyond the classroom, but the discussion largely focused upon connections between
passages in the text, vocabulary, and historical themes.
5. Ethical Valuing – This lesson receives a 3 as the value-based issue of war was presented to
students and was discussed within the context of the United State’s involvement acting as a
value-laden issue. Students presented their positions on this issue, though only a few were
actively engaged in the discussion.
6. Integration – This lesson receives a 4, as the idea of WWI was connected to Hemingway’s
subsequent experiences, and Hemingway’s arguments were connected to students own lives.
Students were also able to practice relevant discussion skills in learning the new content.
Seminar Text
A Farewell to Arms (Hemingway, 1929)
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“I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice
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and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in
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the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came
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through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by
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billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen
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nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the
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sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with
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the meat except to bury it. There were many words that you could not
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stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. Certain
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numbers were the same way and certain dates and these with the names
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of the places were all you could say and have them mean anything.
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Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene
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beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names
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of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates” (185)
Seminar Ticket
TO DO:
___Underline what you think is the most important sentence or phrase in the text.
___Circle what you think are the four most important words in the text.
___Use a colored marker to underline any words that you do not understand. We will
go over these as a group.
BRAINSTORM
1. Think about what we have just learned about Ernest Hemingway. What might he be
trying to explain about his experiences in WWI?
2. Why do you think that Hemingway says “there were many words you could not stand
to hear”? Why would some words be more difficult than others to hear?
Will will discuss the meaning of these words as a group. Be sure to take notes on this
review, as it will come in handy during our discussion
 concrete vs. abstract
 sacred, glorious, sacrifice, hallow, obscene
WWI Fact Sheet
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1914-1918 (Also known as “The Great War” or “War of Wars”)
While there were many reasons for the war, it was largely a fight among
European powers for territory and dominance.
The war began in Europe with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of
Austria.
By the end of the war, four major European powers had been defeated and two
no longer existed.
U.S. entered war April 6, 1917 after Germany had sunk several American ships
The United States’ eventual involvement in World War I ended a long isolationist
tradition of avoiding involvement in European conflicts and set the stage for the
United States to emerge as a global superpower later in the twentieth century.
Nearly 10 million soldiers died and about 21 million were wounded. U.S. deaths
totaled 116,516.
The first picture shows what used to be a woodland forest that was destroyed in
the war. Large blank spaces of land like this were called “no man’s land.” Notice
the tank buried in the mud.
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WWI saw the use of new weapons technologies combined with old ways of
fighting. This led to many deaths on both sides and made trench warfare a
popular style of fighting. Each side would dig in and many would die over a few
yards of ground. This resulted in a stalemate, where neither side was able to
win. Some new weapons of this war include poison gas and tanks. Notice that
even the horses had to wear masks to protect them from the gas.
Vocab Sheet
(definitions adapted from merriam-webster.com)
abstract: a word that describes an idea or notion that exists in only in the imagination or
mind
concrete: a word that describes a real or specific thing that exists outside of the
imagination or mind
dignity: a right to respect or honor
glorious: magnificent, wonderful, great
hallow: holy; respected greatly
obscene: disgusting, offensive
sacred: holy, worthy of spiritual respect
sacrifice: selfless good deeds for others or a short term loss in return for a greater gain;
doing without something, giving something up
“in vain”: without cause or reason
Discussion Questions
1. What sorts of things are most embarrassing to people?
2. Why does the narrator begin by saying that he is embarrassed?
3. How do these words and phrases relate to what Hemingway is
saying about the war?
4. What does it mean to say that some things are “abstract”?
5. What have we learned about “the Stockyards at Chicago” that
might help us figure out what Hemingway is saying about war?
6. What is dignity? What makes something dignified or not?
7. Can some parts of war be dignified? Why or why not?
8. Why does Hemingway feel that only “concrete” things about war
have dignity?
9. What might Hemingway be saying about this war in particular?
10.
What questions do YOU have after reading this passage and
learning about WWI?
Bibliography
Hakim, J. (2005). A History of US: War, Peace, and All that Jazz. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Hemingway, E. (1929). A Farewell to Arms. New York: Scribner.
PBS. (2010). Primary Sources. Retrieved November 17, 2010, from The Great War:
http://videoindex.pbs.org/resources/greatwar/primary/ph_18.html
Unversity of Houston. (2010, November 18). Learn About WWI. Retrieved November 18, 2010,
from Digital History: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/ww1/index.cfm
VDOE. (2008). Testing and Standards of Learning. Retrieved April 1, 2010, from Virginia
Department of Education:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/history_socialscience/review.shtml