Socratic Seminar

Description:
A Socratic Seminar is a teaching strategy that allows the students to have control over their own
learning, by showing the instructor what they learned by students responding to a series of open-
ended questions about a topic of study. While this strategy works best in high school English
classes, it could be used in a variety of classes and for a variety of topics.

Directions:
Here is a step by step guide to using a Socratic Seminar:
1. Select the text or topic students will be discussing in the seminar.
2. Allow students to have time to prepare what they want to say about the topic.
3. Create and teach the appropriate procedure to ensure the best learning experience for
students. Items to think about:
a. The time each open-ended question is discussed.
b. How students will be evaluated for their talk time.
c. How students will have an equal chance to speak.
4. The discussion leader, either the teach or a student, puts out an open-ended question
about the chosen topic.
5. Students then discuss for a predetermined time about that question.
6. Steps four and five repeat until the topic has been thoroughly explored.
7. Have students reflect on the experience.

When to Use This Strategy:

The best times to use this strategy would be:
1. At the end of a unit of study.
2. After reading a specific text.
3. When learning about major events in history that had a massive effect on society.
4. As a start to a research project, to begin the inquiry process.
Variations:
Here are some variations of this strategy:
1. Instead of a whole class meeting, you could have small research groups who start their
research by having a discussion in the Socratic Seminar structure.
2. Divide this strategy over a few days. The first day, half the class participates in the
discussion and on the second, the other half participates in the discussion. The students
who are not participating in discussion would prepare questions and statements to ask the
students in the discussion circle. The third day, the whole class comes together to discuss
these questions and statements.
3. In a Google Community, or similar online community, create a discussion board for
students to use to talk and ask questions of each other about the research topic on hand.