Today the 6th graders learned all about the Socratic method. They started the day by reviewing the wisdom article they close read two weeks ago and then got a second article about wisdom to close read as well. We then watched a Ted-ED video that talked about Socrates' antics and how the Socratic method got its start. This lead us into an activity where the students learned how to distinguish factual, evaluative, and interpretive questions. Factual questions have one answer, evaluative questions rely on feelings and personal opinions to answer, and interpretive don't have a clear answer but can be discussed using textual and sometimes anecdotal evidence. The students looked at the students looked at their KWL chart from the first week and identified which types of questions they asked in the Wonder column of the chart. 

There is a lot of frontloading needed for a Socratic seminar, so we then set up the classroom in two concentric rings of chairs and and went over the rules of decorum for a seminar. We created a circle chart based on the information from the Socrates video that showed a seminar is based on interpretive questions, requires close listening, leads to deeper thinking, and stays on topic.

Then, we got to discussing! The questions discussed were "What dies it mean to be wise?", "What is the most important element of wisdom for 6th graders to work on?", and "Does wisdom just happen or do you have to work at it?" I was incredibly impressed with the 6th graders' seminar skills today. I have led and observed over 100 middle-grade seminars, and this group did a phenomenal job at using textual evidence, showing decorum, and listening to each other. While the center circle discussed, the outer circle observed and filled out feedback forms for another student.

The crew seemed excited to try some more seminars in the future, and I can't wait to see what they discover about the world and themselves through this process!