Grade Level/Subject: This lesson is appropriate for 3-8 grade Language Arts. This lesson will introduce students to the Socratic Seminar.
EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE: SPEAKING CONTENT STANDARD: The student speaks effectively for different audiences and purposes (e.g., to describe, narrate, express, explain, persuade, and analyze) using
appropriate speaking strategies and conventions.
BENCHMARK: The student develops and demonstrates proficiency and competence in speaking strategies and in appropriate speaking conventions to describe, narrate, express, explain, persuade, and analyze for a variety of purposes and audiences.
PERFORMANCE STANDARDS
Speaking Strategies
Speaking Conventions
Speaking Applications
RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE: LISTENING AND VIEWING CONTENT STANDARD: The student demonstrates,
analyzes, evaluates, and reflects upon the skills and processes used to communicate by listening to and
viewing a variety of auditory and visual works.
BENCHMARK: The student comprehends, analyzes, and interprets formal and informal auditory and visual works, including multimedia presentations
PERFORMANCE STANDARDS
Listening/Viewing Strategies
Listening/Viewing Applications
EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE: WRITING CONTENT STANDARD: The student writes effectively for
different audiences and purposes (e.g., to describe, narrate, express, explain, persuade, and analyze) using appropriate
writing strategies and conventions.
BENCHMARK: The student develops and uses writing strategies and conventions across content areas to describe, narrate, express, explain, persuade, and analyze for a variety of purposes and audiences.
PERFORMANCE STANDARDS
Writing Strategies
Writing Applications
Materials Needed:
1) Multi-genre textsets
2) Socratic Seminar guidelines overhead (to be put up for every seminar)
3) Socratic Seminar Rubric
4) Evaluation index cards
5) Pair-up partner cards
Lesson Objective: Through a Socratic Seminar, students will be able to gain a deeper understanding of an article through discussion in a student-run/student-based method of instruction. Students will answer both interpretive and evaluative questions concerning important issues in the article.
Hook: Tell students that we’ll be participating in a new kind of method used in many colleges (the word “college” often gets the attention of students!) J
Procedures:
1) Tell students that this method is known as the Socratic Seminar, named for the famous Socrates. Ask students if any of them know anything about Socrates. Listen to several responses before sharing the following:
Socrates was a famous Greek philosopher. His method of teaching encouraged students to question everything. The Greek government became uneasy with this method, for when people begin to question everything, they are no longer blinded by what they are told. Instead, they look at everything with a critical eye. Because Socrates’ methods made the Greek government nervous, they sentenced him to death. His death sentence was to drink a poisoned drink (hemlock). One of his students was so inspired by Socrates, that he dedicated his life to writing down everything Socrates ever said – that student was Plato. Today, thousands of years later, we realize how brilliant his methods were. What we’re going to do today is the Socratic Seminar.
2) Put the guidelines up on the overhead. Go over each one with the students. Put up rubrics and have them fill out index card with their name and the four categories with space for word to be filled out by their partner. Explain their jobs to them; speaking, reasoning, listening and reading. Tell them that the job of the teacher is merely to facilitate – to bring the discussion back to the focused question if it starts to head into left field. The teacher is also responsible for making sure the guidelines are met. Tell students, too, that they shouldn’t be afraid if there are some long silences – that’s to be expected as people collect their thoughts and take turns speaking.
3) Tell students that to prepare for the Socratic Seminar, they must pair-up, they MUST do the reading and respond to the pre-seminar question. Go over the question with them: Can Indians claim Italy?
4) Tell students that they must make notes on points that they find interesting, support an opinion, raises a question. Students should ask questions when needing clarification. One of the most important things needed for a seminar to be successful is prepared participants.
5) Pair-up students by finding their word partner. Teacher has index cards ready with word pairs like up/down or left/right, according to how many students are present. Students read together quietly and write notes and questions together. They decide amongst themselves who will go first. Students prepare index card with personal information, rubric scale and space for score, and then exchange cards with their partner for scoring at the end of seminar.
6) Have students arrange even number of chairs in a small centered circle and a wider outer circle.
7) Tell students that one chair will be left open in the inner circle, if they cannot wait for second session to begin to make their comment or ask their burning question, they may join in. Have first partner sit in the inner circle and their partner sit directly facing them in the outer circle in order to see facial expressions.
8) Begin with Socratic Seminar by asking the opening question. If Christopher Columbus was able to ”claim“ America by right of discovery, can Indians claim Italy?
9) Students have learned to be passive, and this activity can be risky for some students, so it may take time for some groups to catch on. The conversation is likely to have stops and starts, but it is crucial that the teacher not step in and try to rescue the conversation. If the conversation goes dead, wait. Students will find the silence unbearable before the teacher does. Your silence also indicates your level of commitment to the activity. If students ask you a question, throw it out to the group or ask the questioner what his/her opinion is. Answer factual questions only if there is no way around it.
Teacher Behavior
* Keep students from having side conversations.
* Ask students to cite support from the text of the conversation begins to wander.
* Invite students to participate.
* Keep conversations from becoming debate or debasement of others.
* Ask students to question their assumptions.
* Manipulate the amount of participation. For example, if only a few students are speaking, the teacher might say, "Everyone who has spoken so far, look at the clock, and don't jump in for five minutes." Or if one gender is dominating the conversation, ask for the other to speak for the next five minutes.
* Use the outer circle to your advantage if the conversation is truly dying out prematurely. Ask the students sitting there to summarize or comment on what they have heard. Ask them to re-introduce the points they thought were especially good or prematurely dropped. This strategy can often reignite the conversation.
10) After 3-5 more minutes or enough time to have all students in the inner circle participate, ask those on the outer circle to score their partner and write one comment on how they performed overall. Have them switch seats with their partners and continue in the conversation. Have students rap up conversations. Tell the whole class to return personal index cards to their owners. Then ask students the post questions: What are your thoughts on the seminar? Did you learn anything new? What was different for you in this discussion compared to other discussions?
Post-seminar questions:
What did you learn from this seminar?
How did you feel about this seminar?
Closure: I hope you all found the Socratic Seminar helpful in really digging into the article and examining, thoroughly, the issues.
Assessment: Assessment will be based on performance according to the rubrics, guidelines and score index cards. Are students participating according rubrics? Are students participating with accordance to evaluation index card scoring directions?
Socrates was a famous Greek philosopher. His method of teaching encouraged students to question everything. The Greek government became uneasy with this method, for when people begin to question everything, they are no longer blinded by what they are told. Instead, they look at everything with a critical eye. Because Socrates’s methods made the Greek government nervous, they sentenced him to death. His death sentence was to drink a poisoned drink (hemlock). One of his students was so inspired by Socrates, that he dedicated his life to writing down everything Socrates ever said – that student was Plato. Today, thousands of years later, we realize how brilliant his methods were. What we’re going to embark on today is based on Socrates’ method – the Socratic Seminar.
SEMINAR RUBRIC
Oral Presentation*Addresses the question using evidence from the text. Cites examples, passages, and characters from the text to support answers. Comments show that the student has read the text, understood it, and is making connections between the text and ideas generated by the seminar.
*Makes relevant comments during the seminar, which show response to the previous speaker's ideas. Helps to enlarge understanding of the text and ideas generated in the seminar.
*Takes the initiative in participating, does not have to be prompted.
*May ask questions to clarify and deepen the discussion of ideas.
Other Presentation
*Is on time for the seminar.
*Shows attentiveness through body language: sitting up straight, looking at the speaker, giving the speaker the floor.
*Does not belittle or criticize others' comments.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR SOCRATIC SEMINARS
Excellent / Good / Fair / UnsatisfactorySpeaking / Demonstrates respect for learning process, has patience with different opinions and complexity, shows initiative by asking others for clarification, brings others into the conversation, moves conversation forward, speaks to all participants, avoids talking too much. / Generally shows composure but may display impatience with contradictory or confusing ideas, comments but does not necessarily encourage others to participate, may tend to address only the teacher or get into debates. / Participates and expresses a belief that his ideas are important in understanding the text, may make insightful comments but is either too forceful or too shy and does not contribute to the progress of conversation, tends to debate not discuss. / Displays little respect for the learning process, argumentative, takes advantage of minor distractions, uses inappropriate language, speaks to individuals rather than ideas, arrives unprepared without notes, a pencil, and perhaps even the text.
Reasoning / Understands question before answering, cites evidence from text, expresses thoughts in complete sentences, logical and insightful, moves conversation forward, makes connections between ideas, resolves apparent contradictory ideas, considers others' viewpoints not only his/her own, avoids bad logic. / Responds to questions voluntarily, comments show an appreciation for the text but not an appreciation for the subtler points within it, comments logical but not connected to other speakers, ideas interesting enough that others respond to them. / Responds to questions but may have to be called upon, has read the text but not put much effort into preparing questions and ideas for the seminar, comments take details into account but may not flow logically in conversation. / Extremely reluctant to participate even when called upon, comments illogical and meaningless, may mumble or express incomplete ideas, little or no account taken of previous comments or important ideas in the text.
Listening / Pays attention to details, writes down questions, responses take into account all participants, demonstrates that s/he has kept up, points out bad logic, overcomes distractions. / Generally pays attention and responds thoughtfully to ideas and questions of other participants and the teacher, absorption in own ideas may distract the participant from the ideas of others. / Appears to find some ideas unimportant while responding to others, may have to have questions repeated while not having confusing comments restated, takes few notes during the seminar. / Appears uninvolved in the seminar, comments display complete misinterpretation of questions or comments of other participants.
Reading / Thoroughly familiar with text, has notations and questions in the margins, key words, phrases, and ideas are underlined, possible contradictions identified, pronounces words correctly. / Has read the text and comes with some ideas from it but these may not be written out in advance, good understanding of the vocabulary but may mispronounce some new or foreign words. / Appears to have read or skimmed the text but has not marked the text or made meaningful notes or questions, shows difficulty with vocabulary, mispronounces important words, key concepts misunderstood, little evidence of serious reflection prior to the seminar. / Student is unprepared for the seminar, important words, phrases, ideas in the text are unfamiliar, no notes or questions marked in the text, no attempt made to get help with difficult material.
Socratic Seminar Guidelines
Þ Be prepared to participate
Þ Don’t raise hands
Þ Invite others into the
discussion
Þ Refer to the text
Þ Comments must be
appropriate/respectful/focused
Þ Listen to and build on one
another’s comments