Socratic Seminar: a collaborative, intellectual dialogue facilitated with open-ended questions about a text.
Every Friday one person will randomly be chosen to present their article and lead an open-ended question based discussion.
*Each student will need to come prepared with their article and questions as well as, come prepared to participate in class discussion regardless if they are the group leader.
Articles to use: The following are the only sources you may use for your article-questions:
The Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/
The Atlantic www.theatlantic.com
The New Yorker www.newyorker.com
NPR: National Public Radio www.npr.org
*If you would like to use any other sources please check with me first
*Your article must be a news article, not a review of a movie, book, etc.
Guidelines:
The learning in Socratic Seminars occurs as a result of the questions asked. You need to ask open ended questions in order to get a lively discussion going!
First, you must read your article and answer the following questions. They should be typed and printed out along with your article or emailed to me in googledocs or Microsoft Word doc prior to the start of class.
See student sample to make sure you have met my expectations!
Questions to answer for your article (must be 5+ sentence paragraphs for each):
1. What is the topic of the article and why is this topic currently significant? Why is it important to us?
2. Give a brief summary of the article. Why do you think the author organized his or her article this way?
3. What is the author’s opinion on the topic? Is he or she in favor of it or against it? Can you identify any kind of bias? (Ex. Do they show favoritism to a certain group of people?)
4. Do you agree or disagree with the author? Explain your stance.
5. What do you think will happen in the future in regards to this topic? Give your opinion if this future outcome will be favorable for our society.
6. What vocabulary terms or references did you need to look up to understand the article? List them and include their definitions.
Examples of questions to prepare for your discussion:
You will need to include your questions for discussion. If you are the leader you must first share your article summary then have an opening question prepared. You will have a series of about 7-10 questions to move the discussion and a closing question/wrap up. You can choose from any of the following or create your own. Remember, choose questions to spark discussion, not debate!
Allow yourself to guide the discussion with your questioning but to go with the discussion as well (feel free to improvise if you are able to). Listed below are examples of the types of questions you may want to develop and have ready as the leader of a Socratic Seminar. Use these questions to assist you. Make sure to make your questions specific to your article. Also be prepared to answer student questions—they may need some clarification about certain aspects of your article.
Is this article significant to us (teens)? Or does it not affect us? Who does it affect?
Does anyone have any personal experience with this topic or someone who is close to them?
What is a viewpoint someone that someone would like to share about this?
Can anyone predict the outcome of this situation or what the far reaching effects may be?
Pull a quote from the article and have students say whether they agree or disagree with it and why.
Tell students what bias you think is evident and if they think the author of the article is reputable/can be trusted.
Does this article have a connection to our community? What would be the effects on our community?
Students will need to turn in or email me their article, article questions, and discussion questions every Friday! Typed, Font: TimesNR, 12 pt.
Your grade will also be based on your participation in class discussion!