Socratic SeminarENGAGING STUDENTS

IN INTELLECTUAL,

OPEN-ENDED

DISCOURSE

They all think they know things, whereas I am aware that I know nothing.

If I really am the wisest person in the world, as the Delphic oracle suggests, then it is because of the difference between me and the others –

As students develop their linguistic skills, they hone

the quality of their thinking and become intellectually and socially empowered.

Ernest L. BoyerCarnegie Foundation

To succeed in life, students

should be able to write and speak with clarity and

to read and listen with

comprehension.

Language and thought

are inextricably connected.

Making a Selections for Seminars

Needs to

•Address complex issues and ideas

•Connect to curriculum

•Be ambiguous and challenging

•Lead to enduring understandings

Possibilities

• Short Stories or picture books

• Poetry or song lyrics• Art prints• Historical documents• Plays• News articles – content-

related or student-interest

Three Parts to Socratic Seminars

Preparation• Building

background knowledge

• Preliminary conversations

• Preparation Packet• Response• Vocabulary• Open-ended

questions

Seminar Discussion• In a circle• Use etiquette • Student roles• Gradual release

of responsibility• Goals for

participation and dynamics –individual and group

Seminar Follow-Up• Processes

discussion and possible changes in thinking

• Not a project –be creative to keep product choices fresh

Assessment for 21st

Century Learner

Open-ended

Performance-based

Multi-part

Engaging

Relevant

Multiple Skills

Assessment

should be

deliberately

designed to

improve and

educate

student

performance,

not merely to

audit it.

-Grant Wiggins

A Mini-lesson I Anticipate My Class Might Need in Preparing for Seminar is…

A Cooperative Structurethat I Might Use to Make this Interactive is…

I liked getting deeper meanings from the stories by discussing them.

I learned things from other people’s ideas that I may not have thought of without these discussions.

What the Students Say. . .

I got to think about a lot of different points of view.

I like the freedom we have to express our opinions.

I really like how everybody gets the chance to speak their mind and they don’t get cut off in interrupted.

I like the wave of intelligence that flowed across the room.

I like voicing my opinion about things and I like having people listen to me without them cut me off.