Transcript SOCRATIC SEMINARS - Future Website of unm

SOCRATIC SEMINARS
Teaching Using Inquiry Based
Learning
Who wrote a book about this
idea?
• Michael Strong
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.