Socratic

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Socratic Seminars
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The Vision

• Socrates believed that enabling students to think
  for themselves was more important than filling
  their heads with
  right answers.

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The Vision

• Participants seek deeper understanding of complex
  ideas through rigorously thoughtful dialogue,
  rather than by memorizing bits of information.

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What are Socratic Seminars?

• Usually range from 30-50 minutes
• An effective
  Socratic Seminar
  creates dialogue
  as opposed to
  debate.

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Discussion Dialogue

• Discussion in the dictionary is "a close
  examination of a subject with interchange of
  opinions, sometimes using argument, in an effort
  to reach an agreement.

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Discussion Dialogue

• Dialogue is "an interchange of ideas especially
  when open and frank and seeking mutual
  understanding."
• It is a collective inquiry in which we suspend
  opinions, share openly, and think creatively
  about difficult issues.

Effective groups need to use both dialogue and
discussion
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Dialogue is NOT Debate!
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Debate vs. dialogue

• Debate...
• defends thinking to show that it is right
• calls for investing in ones beliefs
• searches for weaknesses
• rebuts contrary positions and may devalue others
• assumes a single right answer
• demands a conclusion
• Dialogue...
• expects others reflections will improve their
  own thinking
• is temporarily suspending ones beliefs
• searches for strengths
• respects others and seeks not to alienate
• assumes that cooperation can lead to greater
  understanding
• remains open-ended

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Four Elements

• An effective seminar consists of four
  interdependent elements
• 1. the text being considered
• 2. the questions raised
• 3. the seminar leader, and
• 4. the participants

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The TEXT

• Our text for today is Myths Truths about Rigor
  by Robyn Jackson
• Number the paragraphs (We often is 1)
• Stop after page 4 (There is no absolute is
  14)
• Read pages 1-4 of the article, including the
  intros on each page
• Circle important vocabulary
• Underline main ideas
• Use ! by A-Ha statements and a ? by statements
  you would like to learn more about

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The Participants

• Share responsibility for the quality of the
  seminar.

• Most effective when participants
• study the text closely
  in advance
• listen actively

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The Participants

• Most effective when participants

• share their ideas and
  questions in response
  to others
• search for evidence
  in the text to support
  their ideas

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Wingman Formation
Inner Circle are speakers, referring to the text
in their dialogue. This seat is rotated so that
everyone gets a chance to speak.
Thoughtful dialogue
Outer Circle are wingmen, supporting their
speaker with ideas passed up on stickies or index
cards. OC does not speak.
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The Question

• An opening question has no right answer
• For this initial seminar, we will begin with the
  leaders question.

Question How does rigor align with the goals of
LEAD 2021? (differentiation, learning platform,
best practices, etc.)
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Tips

• Respond to the opening question
• Examine the text to support your answer
• I agree with but would like to add
• I disagree withbecause
• I am confused by

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Debrief

• Debrief the topic
• If you have changed your mind about a particular
  point or issue, what made you change it????
• Debrief the PROCESS
• What seminar guidelines observed
• What social skills did the group exhibit
• What might the group goal be for the NEXT seminar