SOCRATIC%20SEMINARS

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SOCRATIC SEMINARS

• An Inquiry Strategy

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Socratic Seminar Vision

• Socrates believed that enabling students to think
  for themselves was more important than filling
  their heads with right answers.
• Participants seek deeper understanding on complex
  ideas through rigorously thoughtful dialogue than
  by memorizing bits of information

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What are Socratic Seminars?

• Highly motivated form of intellectual and
  scholarly discourse
• Usually range from 30-50 minutes
• An effective Socratic Seminar creates dialogue as
  opposed to debate

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Four Elements

• An effective Socratic Seminar consists of four
  interdependent elements
• The text(s) being considered
• The questions raised
• The seminar leader, and
• The participants

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The Text

• The seminar text can be drawn from readings in
  literature, history, science, math, health,
  philosophy, current events, or from works of art
  or music
• Texts are usually chosen for their richness in
  ideas, issues, values, and their ability to
  stimulate extended, thoughtful dialogue.

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The Question

• An opening questions has no right answer
• It leads participants back to the text as they
  speculate, evaluate, define, and clarify the
  issues involved
• Responses to the opening question generate new
  questions
• The line of inquiry evolves on the spot

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The Leader

• Plays a dual role as leader and participant
• Leads thought exploration of the ideas in the
  text
• Actively engages in the group in the groups
  exploration of the text
• Helps participants clarify their positions when
  arguments happen
• Involves reluctant participants w/their more
  vocal peers
• Must be patient enough to allow participants
  understandings to evolve
• Must be willing to help participants explore
  nontraditional insights and unexpected
  interpretation

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The Participants

• Share responsibility for the quality of the
  seminar.
• Most effective when participants
• Study the text closely
• Listen actively
• Share ideas and questions in response to others
• Search for evidence in the text to support their
  ideas

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Benefits

• Time to engage in in-depth discussions, problem
  solving, and clarification of ideas
• Building a strong, collaborative work culture
• Enhanced knowledge and research base
• Increased success for all students
• Teaching respect for diverse ideas, people, and
  practices
• Creating a positive learning environment for all
  students

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Conducting a 3-4 Person Team

• Strategy to use when you have a LARGE class (over
  25 students)
• Divide the class into Inner and Outer circles
• Inner Circle active participants/speakers
• Outer Circle- students observe 2-3 active
  participants for
• New ideas, more questions (what about ?), and
  hand notes to their speaker using the text to
  further the conversation

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Tips for the Seminar

• Before the seminar
• Read the text CAREFULLY (provocative questions,
  short passages, identify tough vocabulary)
• Highlight key facts and details that support key
  ideas/concepts raised in the text
• Choose some questions in advance (broad,
  open-ended, to engage conversation

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Tips for Teachers

• During the seminar
• Begin with an opening question that has NO right
  answer
• what is meant by
• what is your own interpretation of the reading?
• Listen HARD, follow each answer with another
  question if necessary
• Keep students focused (clarification, paraphrase,
  insist on standards of rigor, etc.)
• Allow for pauses
• Take notes

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Tips for Teachers

• After the seminar
• Conduct a debriefing
• Have students write a reflection
• Debrief the topic
• Debrief the process
• Assess students
• Assign a grade for performance
• Many prefer to assign a culminating written
  assignment or essay

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Happy Reading!