SOCRATIC SEMINARS

Teaching Using Inquiry Based Learning

Who wrote a book about this idea?

• Michael Strong• Michael Strong is Director of

Education Programs. He joined the organization in 2004.

• Michael has been the founding Director of Moreno Valley Charter School of Angel Fire, NM; the founding Director of Middle School Programs for the Early Learning Institute of Palo Alto, CA; founding Director of The Winston Academy of Ft. Lauderdale, FL (now closed); Director of Socratic Practice at The Judson Montessori School in San Antonio, TX; and Paideia Teacher Trainer for School Districts in Homer and Anchorage, AK.

The Habit of Thought

• Michael has provided educational consulting to hundreds of schools on Socratic Seminars, Socratic Practice, Paideia education, and Montessori secondary education. He is the author of "The Habit of Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice." He is currently completing a manuscript, "Whole Lives: The Creation of Conscious Culture Through Educational Innovation" based on his experience as the founder of innovative, humane schools to show why we need educational freedom in order to create a better world.

A Little Bit More About Michael

• Prior to entering the field of education, Michael received a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John's College (Santa Fe) and an M.A. from the University of Chicago in the Committee on Social Thought. He began a dissertation on "Ideas and Culture as Human Capital" under the economist Gary Becker before concluding that the expected value of a career in academia was less than the expected value of a career as an educational innovator.

What are Socratic seminars?• A way to get students focused

on questions, not answers.• Students are likely to retain

knowledge, understanding, and ethical attitudes and behaviors when they are actively engaged in learning as a collaborative effort.

• Seminars contribute to the development of critical thinking.

• We model an inquiring, probing mind by continually probing into the subject with questions.

What are Socratic seminars?Students are more likely to retain

"knowledge, understanding, and ethical attitudes and behaviors" when they are actively engaged in learning as a collaborative effort.

Contribute to the development of vocabulary, listening skills, interpretive and comparative reading, textual analysis, synthesis, and evaluation - predominantly higher level thinking skills.

Reinforces the formation of the classroom as a learning community.

What’s so good about discussion?

• Discussion is essentially a series of interruptions. If all in the group are involved, none need be left behind.

• Discussion intrinsically guarantees understanding.• It allows students to share interpretations, insight, and vision.• Discussion can lead to critical thinking.

Dialogue or Debate? In dialogue, one submits one's best thinking, expecting that other

people's reflections will help improve it rather than threaten it. In debate, one submits one's best thinking and defends it against

challenge to show that it is right. Dialogue calls for temporarily suspending one's beliefs.

• Debate calls for investing wholeheartedly in one's beliefs.

• In dialogue, one searches for strengths in all positions.

• In debate, one searches for weaknesses in the other position.

• Dialogue respects all the other participants and seeks not to alienate or offend.

• Debate rebuts contrary positions and may belittle or deprecate other participants.

• Dialogue assumes that many people have pieces of answers and that cooperation can lead to a greater understanding.

• Debate assumes a single right answer that somebody already has.

• Dialogue remains open-ended.

• Debate demands a conclusion.

Here’s the Bottom Line Difference!

• Dialogue is collaborative: multiple sides work toward shared understanding.

• Debate is oppositional: two opposing sides try to prove each other wrong.

• In dialogue, one listens to understand, to make meaning, and to find common ground.

• In debate, one listens to find flaws, to spot differences, and to counter arguments.

• Dialogue enlarges and possibly changes a participant's point of view.

• Debate defends assumptions as truth. • Dialogue creates an open-minded attitude: an openness to

being wrong and an openness to change. • Debate creates a close-minded attitude, a determination to be

right.

The Key• Allow the students to discuss a topic

openly and freely. • Teacher is simply the facilitator,

nothing more. • Teacher should give no response,

negative or positive, to the students‘ discussion.

• Facilitator's sole responsibility is to ask well thought-out, open-ended questions.

• Goal: to create open-ended questions that create discussion that follows discussion.

The Socratic Questioner• Acts as the logical equivalent of the inner

critical voice which the mind develops when it develops critical thinking abilities.

• Contributions from the members of the class are like so many thoughts in the mind. All of the thoughts must be dealt with and they must be dealt with carefully and fairly.

• By following up all answers with further questions, and by selecting questions which advance the discussion, the Socratic questioner forces the class to think in a disciplined, intellectually responsible manner, while yet continually aiding the students by posing facilitating questions.

The Socratic Questioner

• A Socratic questioner should:

– keep the discussion focused

– keep the discussion intellectually responsible

– stimulate the discussion with probing questions

– periodically summarize what has and what has not been dealt with and/or resolved

– draw as many students as possible into the discussion.

Guidelines for Participants• Refer to the text when needed during the discussion. A seminar is not a test

of memory. You are not "learning a subject"; your goal is to understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected in the text.

• It's OK to "pass" when asked to contribute.

• Do not participate if you are not prepared. A seminar should not be a bull session.

• Do not stay confused; ask for clarification.

• Stick to the point currently under discussion; make notes about ideas you want to come back to.

• Don't raise hands; take turns speaking.

• Listen carefully.

• Speak up so that all can hear you.

• Talk to each other, not just to the leader or teacher.

• Discuss ideas rather than each other's opinions.

• You are responsible for the seminar, even if you don't know it or admit it.

Socratic Seminar Guidelines• The group must sit in a circle that allows all of the participates to make eye

contact.

• Not reading the material before the seminar is not an option. A student may not participate in the discussion if they have not thoroughly read the material.

• The outside circle is responsible for taking notes on the inner groups discussion.

• Quiet is not bad, allow students adequate time to formulate their thoughts.

• One of the greatest skills being developed in a Socratic Seminar is critical thinking.

• Allow the discussion to flow on its own. You want discussion to follow discussion. Even if the topic derails a little, this can often provide valuable insist for the students.

• To keep students on task with the discussion as the facilitator you may need to remind them to connect their discussion to the text.

• A Socratic Seminar is not a two-way debate. If two students dominate the discussion, you as the facilitator may need to ask another open-ended question and directly ask other students to answer the question.

General Rules• Respect is another essential skill that the Socratic

Seminar builds. You may want to consider a discussion or a short story that illustrates the concept of respect that you can use as pre-seminar material.

• One students speaking at a time, and the other students actively listening in order to respond is the apex of a Socratic Seminar.

• If students are still discussing items the following day or have additional questions that have risen overnight, then you will experience the fruit of a Socratic Seminar.

Responsibility of Participants

• Being prepared for the seminar.

• The flow of the discussion within the seminar.

• Determining the meaning of the seminar

• Constructing their own analysis of the seminar.

• Utilizing critical thinking,listening, and communicating skills.

My Previous Experience with Socratic Seminars

• It’s crucial to model Socratic seminars, start off small.

• Not all students were built to seminar. With some students you will need to draw them in.

• Lay down the rules and address them often.

• Don’t give up. The rewards are too valuable.

• Remember with this process you are also teaching concrete communication skills.

• It is well worth the time you take.