The Socratic Circle Seminars

1. The Socratic Circle Seminars Mr. Cleon M. McLean Ontario High School Advanced Placement English Literature & Composition

2. Too Much Teacher Talk In one study of 1,151 classroom discussions occurring in over 200 eighth and ninth grade classrooms: • 93.31% (1074 discussions) were completely monologic (teacher-centered) in nature • of the 6.69% (77) that included “dialogic episodes” (moments when students directed the conversation), those episodes lasted for an average of 15 seconds (Nystrand et al., 2003)

3. “The unexamined life is not worth living” --Socrates

4. Who Was Socrates? Classical Greek philosopher 470(?)—399 B.C. “Socrates was the first to call philosophy down from the heavens and to place it in cities, and even to introduce it into homes and compel it to enquire about life and standards and good and ill.” -- Cicero

5. Socrates and the Theory of Knowledge Socrates believed the answers to all human questions reside within us and that through disciplined conversation we can discover ultimate truth. “Socrates declared that he knew nothing, except the fact of his ignorance.” --Diogenes Laertius

6. What Is a Socratic Circle? A constructivist strategy in which participants engage in a conversation to collectively seek a deeper understanding of complex ideas.

7. A Socratic Circle in Action “Wisdom begins in wonder.” --Socrates

8. Benefits of Socratic Circles • Advances critical reading • Spurs critical thinking • Improves discussion and listening skills • Increases vocabulary • Provides student ownership, voice, and empowerment • Allows students to synthesize both the knowledge-base and the skills-base of the curriculum

9. Drawbacks of Socratic Circles • Time consuming • Discussion is often left without complete “closure” • Discussion may arrive at a conclusion with which the teacher is unfamiliar • Appears “unstructured” to the uninformed observer

10. Collaborative Listening to find agreement and meaning Enlarges and possibly changes point of view Complicates positions and issues Oppositional Listening to find flaws and weaknesses Affirms one’s own point of view Simplifies positions and issues Dialogue versus Debate DialogueDebate

11. Guiding the Inner Circle • Strive to interrupt the conversation as infrequently as possible • An interruption is warranted only to clarify basic information or refocus the discussion • Practice the art of Socratic questioning • Guide with love, intellect, imagination, patience and flexibility

12. Directing the Outer Circle • The value of instantaneous feedback • Following the cycle of critical reflection • Using the feedback form (sparingly) • Rating the inner circle from 1 to 10 • Establishing goals for future discussions

13. The Socratic Seminar The text- A seminar text can be drawn from readings in literature, history, science, math, health, and philosophy or from works of art or music. Criteria: • Insightful • Thought provoking • Allows multiple perspectives and a diversity of opinion • Generates questions • Aligned with the curriculum

14. The Socratic Seminar • The Question- An opening question has no right answer. Instead, it reflects a genuine curiosity on the part of the leader. An effective opening question leads participants back to the text as they speculate, evaluate, define, and clarify the issues involved. Responses to the opening question generate new questions from the leader and participants, leading to new responses.

15. The Socratic Seminar • The Leader- This person plays a dual role as leader and participant. The seminar leader consciously demonstrates habits of the mind that lead to a thoughtful exploration of the ideas in the text. As a seminar participant, the leader actively engages in the group’s exploration of the text.

16. The Socratic Seminar • The Participants- These individuals share with the leader the responsibilities for the quality of the seminar. Effective seminars occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas.

17. The Socratic Seminar In the seminar, we… • Criticize ideas, but not people • Give opinions, and give clear reasons for them • Give examples when possible • Ask questions about what we read, hear, or see for clarification • Remain focused on the text

18. The Socratic Seminar Also, in the seminar, we… • Are willing to change our opinions with the addition of more information • Speak freely---there is no need to raise hands, but we... • Are polite and don’t interrupt others • Have a responsibility to participate

19. Seminar Reflection • What ideas were generated through conversation that you had not previously considered? • How did the interactions of the group help to expand your thinking? • How did the feedback of the outer circle help to improve the quality of the conversation and spur further ideas?

20. The Socratic Seminar Participants Preparation– What do we all do before we come to a Socratic Seminar? • Re-read the text independently, considering preparatory questions that may have been raised • Brainstorm themes relevant to the text • Familiarize ourselves with the vocabulary of the text • Brainstorm character traits of key figures in the text • Create questions

21. The Socratic Seminar Another set of rules: • 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 okay to “pass” when asked to contribute • Do not participate if you are not prepared; a seminar is not a bull session

22. The Socratic Seminar • Do not stay confused; ask for clarification • Talk to the participants, not just the leader • Stick to the point currently under discussion; make notes about ideas to which you would like to return • Speak up so that everyone can hear you • Discuss ideas rather than each other’s opinions

23. Follow-Up Activities • Reflective Journaling (both on content and performance) • Creating thesis statements and/or outlining essays • Logging new vocabulary words and their use • Documenting strategies and techniques that helped to explore meaning (i.e., examining text structure, use of examples, use of punctuation, symbolism, parallelism, etc.)

24. Stories from the Trenches “Socrates was so orderly in his way of life that on several occasions when pestilence broke out in Athens he was the only man who escaped infection.” --Diogenes Laertius

25. Evidence in Support of a Discussion-Based Approach

26. “Socrates is a doer of evil, who corrupts the youth; and who does not believe in the gods of the state, but has other new divinities of his own.” --Socrates, summarizing the main charges against him at his trial

27. Socratic Circles and High-Stakes Testing “When asked how teachers can deal with the pressure of high-stakes testing, Heidi Hayes Jacobs, a national curriculum mapping expert, responded: “Schools can't lose when they help students become more discriminating and discerning readers; more critical responders in their writing; and more effective speakers, reflective listeners, and active note-takers.” (Perkins-Gough, 2003, p. 18)

28. Research Support for Socratic Circles There is “a strong and statistically significantassociation between student achievement and the extent to which classroom discourse moves away from recitation to genres of discourse that recruit and highlight student ideas and voices.” (Nystrand et al., 2003, p. 139)

29. Research Support for Socratic Circles “The reason that students achieve more as a result of teacher-learner dialogue is that it raises expectations for what students can do. Moreover, it clearly values thinking.” (Nystrand and Gamoran, 1991, p. 284)

30. Research Support for Socratic Circles “Students in classrooms with high academic demands and more emphasis on discussion-based approaches show higher end-of-year literacy performance.” (Applebee et al., 2003, p. 717)

31. Research Support for Socratic Circles “We are beginning to realize that the salvation of our republic hangs upon the ability of the ordinary man to think. And he must think more swiftly, deeply, and extensively than ever the forefathers thought. Moreover, what he thinks he must be able clearly to say.” (Cox, 1915, p. 310)

32. Research Support for Socratic Circles “Discussion and democracy are inseparable because both have the same root purpose—to nurture and promote human growth.” (Brookfield and Preskill, 1999, p. 3)

33. Research Support for Socratic Circles “Democracy and discussion imply a process of giving and taking, speaking and listening, describing and witnessing—all of which help expand horizons and foster mutual understanding […] In the process our democratic instincts are confirmed: by giving the floor to as many different participants as possible, a collective wisdom emerges that would have been impossible for any of the participants to achieve on their own.” (Brookfield and Preskill, 1999, p. 4)

34. Works Cited Applebee, Arthur N., Judith A. Langer, Martin Nystrand, and Adam Gamoran. “Discussion-Based Approaches to Developing Understanding: Classroom Instruction and Student Performance in Middle and High School English.” American Educational Research Journal 40.3 (2003): 685-730. Copeland, Matt. “Empowering Student-Centered Dialogue.” Kansas Department of Education. Cox, Sidney Hayes. “A Plea for a More Direct Method in Teaching English.” English Journal 4.5 (1915): 304-310. Garbis, Michelle.<http://www.teachnlearn.org/socratic_seminars.htm>

35. Works Cited, continued Nystrand, Martin and Adam Gamoran. “Instructional Discourse, Student Engagement and Literature Achievement.” Research in the Teaching of English 25.3 (1991): 261-290. Nystrand, Martin, Lawrence L. Wu, Adam Gamoran, Susie Zeisler, and Daniel A. Long. “Questions in Time: Investigating the Structure and Dynamics of Unfolding Classroom Discourse.” Discourse Processes 35.2 (2003): 135-196. Perkins-Gough, Deborah. “Creating a Timely Curriculum.” Educational Leadership 61.4 (2003): 12-18.

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