How might we structure Socratic seminars so they are powerful for students and ask them to dig into the big ideas of our courses? Teachers with 10 or fewer years of experience discussed this question at a recent gathering, and we want to tap into the expertise of our staff to answer it.
Over the next few weeks, I will share tidbits from Socratic seminar trainings and teachers’ experiences about how we might create engaging and mind-opening discussions for our students. More importantly, I ask each of you to share your insights, exemplars, and questions about each stage of the Socratic seminar process.
This week, we hope to learn more about the preparation for a Socratic seminar. Here are the essentials we have heard from teachers so far:
- Teachers should clarify the purpose of a Socratic seminar versus other discussions. A Socratic seminar’s purpose is to hear other perspectives.
- A Socratic discussion typically has at least one common text at its core. That text might be a primary document, a piece of art, music, an article, a fictional work, a video, or another source. (Dense texts might require time to unpack prior to a discussion–in small groups or partners.)
- Many teachers use an entrance ticket for participation in a Socratic seminar. These tickets might be graphic organizers, answers to questions, or written reflections based on a text that connects to the question for the seminar. Students who have the entrance ticket sit in the inner circle and have a discussion. Those who don’t have their ticket take notes on the discussion (i.e., What were the questions that were posed? How did students respond to the different kinds of questions?) and write a reflection about their discoveries.
- When you are writing a question for a Socratic seminar, consider drafting with a partner. There will be many revisions in this process.
- A good Socratic question connects to the world; has a universal idea; avoids yes/no constructs; avoids judgments of right or wrong; seeks diverse opinions; might ask students to role play; is not too specific.
What insights can you share about preparing for Socratic seminars? Which texts have you used with students as a basis for their discussion? Do you believe in entrance tickets–why? How have the questions you have posed to students changed over time?
Many students are so shy that they absolutely won’t participate. I think it’s important to think about what to do for these students. Should they receive an alternate assignment? Should the seminar be a choice for students rather than required? Should they receive some kind of support to raise their confidence before the seminar takes place?
Also, I’ve thought about the idea of holding a socratic seminar through social media such as a blog, Twitter, or Ning. This can sometimes provide a format for those who are shy to participate with confidence. I know some teachers at KHS have used this kind of technology, but I don’t know if it’s ever been used for something as in-depth as a formal socratic seminar.
I’ve used twitter in this manner. Comments were great- but you need to be clear on the type of comments- for example there can be no social tweeting. Tweets must be about the topic. I laid clear parameters- for example students could either pose a question, respond to a question, or post a picture or video, or link concerning the text. I was generally very pleased with the level of discussion.
Love this idea. I wonder, did you have the Twitter conversation happening simultaneously to the Socratic in the classroom, or did the Twitter discussion replace the FTF discussion? What did you notice about your quiet students when you introduced another way for them to be heard?
These are great questions, Tami. I think part of that depends on your learning goals for the Socratic seminar. If part of your goal is for students to improve their interpersonal speaking skills somehow, then I wonder what kind of alternative might be appropriate that would also help students improve that skill set. Reza’s ideas of shorter time periods and modeling seem like good scaffolding to put in place at the beginning of a semester with kids and then slowly build their confidence and competence. I also like the idea of using tech; I wonder about using it during a discussion vs. before or after and how students might attend to the oral and written conversations. What do you think?
I have found that you need to build into a seminar situation over the course of a semester. Students need to be educated on what a seminar looks like, what roles they should play, and how to conduct themselves. Simply telling students they need to seminar today is a situation where the same kids speak and the remaining students chime in to get their points. By building into a class seminar over months, the students who are terrified of the process will be able to acclimatize and build confidence in themselves. The methods that have helped me- I do not score (pointless in all aspects). I start with 15 min sessions and build their endurance by adding more time and challenging texts as the semester goes on. I model what a seminar looks like. I am firm in stoping students from “side barring” or making personal statements about someone’s comment. it is a great tool, but students need to be educated on the process to make it worthwhile for all students.
I love the idea of helping build students’ endurance in these discussions. I think the modeling piece is also an important one, and finding the right time to participate as a teacher/facilitator can be difficult at first. Do you find that students need more support in questioning, connecting to each other, or some other skill?
I let the students discuss before hand what they wanted to talk about, how they would go about encouraging participation, and what they thought a good participation sounded like. Additionally, I provided them a number of items that I thought would/should be included and they were able to come up with a plan for doing a socratic seminar in Spanish 2. This, I thought, is something that would not be possible at a low level of foreign language, but it happened and it was amazing!
I would love to see your list of items that should be included in a discussion. I am also intrigued to hear what the students said they would like to discuss. Did you give them topics that would encourage the use of certain vocab and they narrowed from a list, or did they generate the topic on their own? How did they formulate a question to discuss?
As the students hold their discussion, I keep track visually on the activeboard. I make a seating hart, write each student’s name in his or her respective box, then use the pen to both draw lines between students as they speak, and to track what order they speak in. Thus, students can see if the conversation is unbalanced, who dominates, and who still needs to discuss. The group usually does their collective best to draw out responses from those who are reticent to speak in public. I also put a small star next to each time a student makes a particularly provocative or insightful comment or response.
Like Crowell, I’d give the students a list of possible topics but also give them time in their groups to generate their own discussion topics. Students may also bring in refreshments to further lighten the atmosphere. I also have a moderator for each group who’s in charge of starting the conversation and pushing it forward should their be lulls or over-dwellings on a specific topic.
Sometimes it works, and sometimes it’s a bunch of awkward turtles…
I would love to see what this looks like and hear from the kids how they use the information during and after the discussion to help the conversation grow. I would love to observe when you are hosting your next discussion to learn from you and your students.