Leading the Socratic SeminarPresented by Martha LambCatawba County SchoolsAugust 13, 2009

ObjectivesYou will . . . • be able to write effective seminar

questions• learn how to prepare students to

interact effectively during a seminar• develop basic skills for leading a

Socratic Seminar• be familiar with strategies for

evaluating student participation in seminars

What is the Socratic Seminar?

A Socratic seminar is a structured discussion of a specific text based upon the questioning techniques used by Socrates in his teaching.

Benefits of the Socratic Seminar• Promotes close and critical reading of

texts • Teaches respect for diverse ideas • Creates a positive learning

environment for all students. • Provides a forum for students to

practice taking and supporting a stance

Benefits of the Socratic Seminar (continued)

• Creates a community of inquiry• Affords quality time to engage in in-

depth discussion, problem-solving, and clarification of one’s ideas

• Builds a strong, collaborative work culture.

• Places the student in the center of learning as an active and engaged participant

Dialogue, Not DebateDialogue Debate

•Collaborative•Listen to find common ground•Reveals assumptions for evaluation•Creates open-minded attitude•Respects all participants•Assumes that many people have pieces of answers•Remains open-ended

•Oppositional•Listen to find flaws in argument•Defends assumptions as truth•Creates closed-minded attitude•May belittle other participants•Assumes a single right answer•Demands a conclusion

Taxonomies of Questions

Great Books Foundation Levels of Questions:

Factual

Interpretive

Evaluative

Costa’s Levels of Inquiry:

Level 3 - apply, evaluate, hypothesize, judge, predict, speculate

Level 2 - analyze, compare, contrast, group, infer, sequence, synthesize

Level 1 - define, describe, identify, list, name, observe, recite, scan

Use to buildcomprehension

of a difficulttext

Use to interpret

a perplexingtext

Crafting Questions for Seminar

• Utilize a taxonomy (Costa’s works well)• Prepare questions from each level• Focus on the higher-level questions in

your seminar• Try to remove bias from your

questions that might lead the discussion in a particular direction

• Write questions that require close examination of the text in order to answer

Practice Writing Questions• With a partner, write two questions at

each of Costa’s three levels for The Gettysburg Address.

• Be prepared to share your questions with the group.

1st Seminar: Gettysburg AddressRules for Participation –

– Be a good listener. The purpose of the seminar is to learn from each other by listening and discussing your ideas.

– You do not have to be called on to speak. but only one person may speak at a time.

– Refer to the text often to support your points or to raise additional questions.

– Speak to each other, not to the leader. This is your discussion.

– Do not use examples from other stories, books, movies, etc. to support your interpretation because all of the seminar members may not be familiar with those texts. Only use examples from the text.

Seminar Leader Behaviors• Ask questions in which you have a genuine

interest• Refrain from offering your own opinion• Keep the discussion focused on the text• Ask follow-up questions • Ask participants to clarify their points• Seek to involve reluctant participants &

restrain those who tend to monopolize the discussion

• LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN!!!

Follow-Up Questions• What in the text leads you to that

conclusion?• What do you mean by ___________?• If what you say is so, then why did

the author write ____________?• Where in the text did you find that? • Do you agree or disagree with the

point that ___________ made?• How does that example support your

point?

Marking the Text as Preparation Always have students read the text two

times before discussion:

1st time - to get the main idea; the gist

2nd time – to annotate the text

Marking the Text as Preparation

-Underline important or perplexing text-Use codes: ! to mark surprising things

? to mark confusing things* to mark important things

-Write comments & observations in the margins

**If students can’t mark up their text, give them sticky notes to use for their annotations

2nd Seminar: My Spanish Standoff

• Read the text through two times• On your second reading, mark the text with

your thoughts; this will help you in discussion

Inner Circle/Outer Circle• Use to make a large group smaller & more

manageable for a seminar• Assign students to outer circle if they have

been absent or are otherwise unprepared for discussion

• Always have outer circle share notes

How should seminar participation be assessed?

• Self-assessment tool• Holistic Rubric• Analytic Rubric• Writing assignment as follow-up• Reflections posted on wiki• Others?

Prepare to Lead• Mother to Son

– Read twice & mark text– Work with a partner to prepare questions– Who will lead?

Third Seminar

Revisit ObjectivesYou will . . . • be able to write effective seminar

questions• learn how to prepare students to

interact effectively during a seminar• develop basic skills for leading a

Socratic Seminar• be familiar with strategies for

evaluating student participation in seminars

Don’t forget to evaluate this workshop in SchoolLink.