-Preparing for Socratic Discussion-



The Socratic Seminar:

Exploring a text through collaborative dialogue with peers

Introduction:

A Socratic Seminar is a disciplined conversation based on the great philosopher’s “Theory of Knowledge.” Socrates believed that the surest way for people to attain reliable knowledge was to clarify ideas through rigorous question and answer. Today, it is still considered a great learning tool when reading a text because it requires you to form opinions based on what you find to be the “essential questions” of a text.

This organized discussion encourages you to practice listening in order to comprehend different opinions, and speaking in order to submit personal views and follow-up reactions. It teaches you how to absorb a variety of ideas you may not have considered. During a Socratic discussion, you will find opportunities to 1) counteract an opinion, and 2) support another person’s point. Instead of leaving the session with the right answer, you will have opened your mind to various perspectives and approaches to the text.

Procedures:

You are expected to come prepared for seminar by having read and highlighted the text. You should bring any questions you may have had about the reading (things you didn’t understand, things you are curious to know how others felt) and ask those questions to one another during seminar. As you go into the seminar, keep the following guidelines in mind:

§ Refer to the text when needed during the discussion. Your goal is to understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected in the text. To that end, it is important to refer to the text directly.

§ It’s OK to “pass” when asked to contribute, but your participation is required.

§ Participation includes listening and talking. Build on the ideas of others.

§ Simple agreement or disagreement is not substantive participation. Your comments should lead the class into new thinking.

§ Ask for clarification if you don’t understand something in the text or something one of your peers is saying.

§ Stick to the point currently under discussion. Make notes if you have an idea you want to come back to.

§ Take turns speaking. Allow others a chance to participate. Try not to dominate the conversation.

§ Listen carefully.

§ Address the group when you are speaking, not the teacher or facilitator. § In the seminar, we agree to disagree. It is a discussion, not a debate.

Preparation & Grading:

□ Write 3 CRITIAL QUESTIONS that you find “essential” to the text.

Here are some guidelines for the questions you construct:

o No true/false or yes/no questions

o Questions should require deep contemplation and stretch the

boundaries of a simple answer

o Questions should generate multiple answers and perspectives

o Questions can relate to significant quotations

o Questions can be controversial or “heated”

o Questions should arouse deep interest and reaction from others

o Questions should be well-written, using brushstrokes of writing

*See backside for Costa’s levels of questioning reference sheet*

□ Write brief notes for each question in order to help you express your personal

opinion.

□ You will be graded based on your verbal participation and listening skills. You must pose at least 2 of your questions and provide 3 thoughtful comments during our discussion (I will tally your remarks). You may lose points if you are not demonstrating active listening skills.

Reference: Costa’s Levels of Questioning

Examples of Costa’s Levels of Questioning:

A Helpful Guide for Socratic Seminars

• Level One questions cause you to recall information. This level of question causes you to put the information into short-term memory, but if you don’t use it in some meaningful way, you may soon forget.

• Level Two questions enable you to process information. They expect you to make sense of information you have gathered and retrieved from long- and short-term memory.

• Level Three questions require you to go beyond the concepts or principles you have learned and to use these in critical thinking situations. They open your mind to perspectives you would otherwise not consider.

|SUBJECTS |LEVEL ONE |LEVEL TWO |LEVEL THREE |

| |(complete, count, match, name, define, |(analyze, categorize, explain, classify, |(imagine, plan, evaluate, judge, predict, |

| |observe, recite, describe, list, identify, |compare, contrast, infer, organize, |extrapolate, invent, speculate, apply |

| |recall) |sequence) |generalize) |

|Reading /Writing |List 3 people who have let down Derrius |Compare and contrast your challenges and |How does Derrius’s story apply to the words|

| |Quarles in his lifetime? |achievements to the low and high points |of President Obama in his speech to |

| | |Derrius’ inspirational story. |America’s students? |

|Science |What is a gene? |Compare and contrast genes and chromosomes.|Use what you know about genes and |

| |What is a chromosome? | |chromosomes to predict a trait in a child. |

|Spanish |Conjugate the Spanish verb “ser” in the |Elaborate on the similarities and |“Invent” a new Spanish regular “ar” ending |

| |present tense. |differences of the preterit and past tenses|verb. Use it in 6 sentences, using |

| | |in the Spanish language. |different tenses and persons. |

|Math |Define tangent. |Compare the square root of 49 to the |Apply the principle of 3.14 to a |

| | |square root of 64. Which is greater? |mathematical equation. |

|History |Which amendment in the Constitution gives |Compare and contract societal conditions in|If there were a Constitutional amendment |

| |citizens the right to bear arms? |the US that impacted the inclusion of the |that prohibited ownership of weapons by |

| | |second amendment in the US Constitution |citizens, how might American society be |

| | |with conditions today. |affected? |

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Socratic Seminars work best with level 2 and 3 questions!

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