Workshop: Introduction to Socratic Teaching GREATER ESSEX COUNTY DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD Essex Civic Center, Ontario, Canada
“As civilized human beings, we are the inheritors, neither of an inquiry about ourselves and the world, nor of an accumulating body of information, but of a conversation, begun in the primeval forests and extended and made more articulate in the course of centuries. It is a conversation which goes on both in public and within each of ourselves.” ― Michael Oakeshott, “The Voice of Poetry in the Conversation of Mankind”
WHEN HAVE YOU HAD A GREAT CONVERSATION? Take one minute write about a memorable conversation in which you felt very engaged… What was the context? (Where were you? What time of day was it? Who were you with?) What was engaging about the conversation? (How did you feel? Why?) Did the conversation impact you in any way? (Did you learn anything? Did it help you understand something better?) You will have two minutes , in pairs, to describe the conversation to a partner.
SOCRATIC SEMINARS A Socratic Seminar begins with a question, students must have the assigned text in their minds and on the table in front of them, address is polite and responsive, all participants should participate and support their opinions with argument—when that has been said, all has been said. There is no further method. The rest develops as living conversation. A paraphrase of a seminar description by Eva Brann, former dean of St. Johns College, Annapolis
SOCRATIC PRACTICE Regular practice of habits of mind & interaction necessary to learn by means of Socratic Dialogue (1) 1. Close textual analysis (of a short piece of text) 2. Group dynamics 3. Habit of taking ideas seriously (2) (1) Socratic Practice as a Means of Cultivating Critical Thinking Skills and Classroom Community, by Mike Strong, American Secondary Education, Vol. 23, No. 1 (1994), pp. 10-16 (2) Case Study: Socratic Practice, by MICHAEL STRONG, SEPTEMBER 11, 2012, BHL
The child should make [ideas] his own, and should understand their application here and now in the circumstances of his actual life. From the very beginning of his education, the child should experience the joy of discovery. The discovery which he has to make, is that general ideas give an understanding of that stream of events which pulse through his life, which is his life. ― Alfred North Whitehead, “The Aims of Education and Other Essays”
WHY SHOULD I USE THESE SOCRATIC TECHNIQUES? 1. Improves Student Learning 2. Student Personal Growth 3. Fosters Positive Community Culture
STUDENT LEARNING Takes students up the hierarchy from Understanding through Evaluating
STUDENT LEARNING 3000 children, 9 to 10 years old, in 48 primary schools all around England. Participated in a year-long series of philosophy-oriented lessons The reading skills of those who took the classes improved by 4 months, and math skills by 3 months.
STUDENT LEARNING Independence/Ability to make sense of information Reasoning/Abstraction/Math Self-awareness Classroom becomes a more effective learning team Interest & Personal connection to ideas
STUDENT PERSONAL GROWTH Socratic Practice is the daily practice of learning how to learn, learning how to work in a group, and learning how to apply ideas to one’s life ~Michael Strong, The Habit of Thought
COMMUNITY CULTURE • Teamwork • Respectful interpersonal engagement • Peer pressure and approval based on helpfulness in dialogue • Bridge between academics and life
HOW: ROLE OF THE GUIDE Justify the Activity “Learning to lead seminars Prepare the environment is an ongoing process; there are not a specific set Select the Text of techniques to Coach the intellectual and memorize…” social environment -Michael Strong, The Habit of Thought For more information see handout
4 MODELS FOR CLASSROOM USE 1. Supplement to Conventional Content Transmission 2. Deep Concept Development + Conventional Content Transmission 3. Content Transmission = Concept Development 4. Content Transmission = Development of Thinking and Language Skills
The broader hope about Socratic Practice is not only that students will be able to read , understand, learn, and communicate better , but that we develop a more thoughtful, dialogical, humane, and peaceful world culture.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Yes, Eliza, it's all misery, misery, misery! My life is bitter as wormwood; the very life is burning out of me. I'm a poor, miserable, forlorn drudge; I shall only drag you down with me, that's all. What's the use of our trying to do anything, trying to know anything, trying to be anything? What's the use of living? I wish I was dead!" "O, now, dear George, that is really wicked! I know how you feel about losing your place in the factory, and you have a hard master; but pray be patient, and perhaps something—" "Patient!" said he, interrupting her; "haven't I been patient? Did I say a word when he came and took me away, for no earthly reason, from the place where everybody was kind to me? I'd paid him truly every cent of my earnings,—and they all say I worked well." "Well, it is dreadful," said Eliza; "but, after all, he is your master, you know." "My master! and who made him my master? That's what I think of—what right has he to me? I'm a man as much as he is. I'm a better man than he is. I know more about business than he does; I am a better manager than he is; I can read better than he can; I can write a better hand,—and I've learned it all myself, and no thanks to him,—I've learned it in spite of him; and now what right has he to make a dray-horse of me?—to take me from things I can do, and do better than he can, and put me to work that any horse can do? He tries to do it; he says he'll bring me down and humble me, and he puts me to just the ha Uncle Tom's Cabin , CHAPTER III., THE HUSBAND AND FATHER.
DIFFERENT MODELS IN THE CLASSROOM Question Pre-preparation Small Group Discussion Inner-Circle/Outer-Circle Popcorn (3 students in the circle)
TROUBLE-SHOOTING THE DIALOGUE Kids aren’t talking Their questions aren’t meaningful They aren’t being respectful The kids aren’t interested.
CHOOSING TEXTS Ideal Text: Each word is clear, paragraph is opaque Big philosophical ideas, meaningful to students (Love, Honesty, Trust, Friendship, Excellence) Provide Scaffolding to Help Understanding: Vocabulary work Come prepared with interpretive, factual, and evaluative questions.
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