Socratic Seminar

Socratic Seminars are based upon the teaching methods of Socrates...where ideas and conversations are prompted by a series of questions that make people think deeply about a topic. In order to increase the academic discussion in the classroom, students participate in Socratic Seminars. The rules are simple. Students read a common text and come prepared with questions that are on a higher level or ones that will really get the conversation going. Of course, this takes some preparation and teacher modeling. Our first lesson focused on how to annotate text, paraphrase, draw conclusions, and truly comprehend what we read. After, we had a lesson on question writing. What makes one question better than another? How can we promote discussion in our group, get people to think differently, or even debate different topics? Our first Socratic Seminar this year was about Socrates himself! The students were prepared, respectful, and insightful! We are excited to make these seminars are regular part of our classroom activities.

Assessments: Socratic Seminars serve as a valuable assessment for both speaking and reading. Students were given a rubric a few days before the seminar began. They were very familiar with the criteria for which they would be graded. Similarly, they kept track of their own questions, insights, and frequency of adding to the discussion on their own form. As students discussed the content, I had my own checklist where I would take anecdotal records.

For copies of the rubric and assessment forms, please click the links below: