Creating Socratic Discussions

1. Creating Socratic Discussions

2. Coverage Vs Engaged Thought • Textbooks tend to be written in declarative statements • “the civil war stated on April 12th, 1861” • Educators should change learning from declarative to interrogative. • “What day did the civil war start”

3. Thinking is Driven by Questions • Every field of study comes from a cluster questions. • Two reasons: • 1. Answers are Needed • 2. Answers are Highly Desired • Field only thrives from the creation of fresh new questions that are taken seriously.

4. Thinking is Driven by Questions • Questions Define: • 1. Tasks • 2. Express Problems • 3. Delineate Issues • Answers tend to stop thought. • An Educators job is to improve students ability to “Ask the right Questions”.

5. The Problem of Most Classrooms • Classrooms should avoid feeding students tons of facts & statements to memorize. • Students should come to class prepared. • Thinking is of no use unless it goes somewhere. • Questions always determine where thought goes.

6. Types of Deeper Questions • Purpose • Information • Interpretation • Assumption • Implication • Point of View • Relevance • Accuracy • Precision • Logic

7. Bad Questions Stagnate Thought • Most High School Students tend to ask Dead Questions. • Forces the teacher to become the generator of all questions in a classroom. • Teachers must move students from Superficial Questions. • Low level questions = Low level understanding • Silent student = Silent Mind

8. Bad Questions Stagnate Thought • Your Generated Questions must Stimulate Thought, be comfortable with silence. • Implement a 10 second rule, builds productive tension. Use a cold call if no one responds. • Always be open to learning something new, and don’t be afraid of saying “I’m not sure”. • Teacher must stay away from long speeches or lectures.

9. Socratic Dialogue as Art Form • Classroom becomes instantly dynamic. • Students become Active Participants which makes them Active Learners. • Critical thought comes from the application of Socratic Dialogue.

10. Socratic Dialogue as an Art Form • It establishes higher thinking- • Which Forms Reasoning- • Which reconstitutes our level of thinking and creates • Strong Inner Voice.

11. Teachers Engaged in a Socratic Dialog Should: • Respond to all answers with a further question (that calls upon the respondent to develop his/her thinking in a fuller and deeper way) • Seek to understand–where possible–the ultimate foundations for what is said or believed and follow the implications of those foundations through further questions • Treat all assertions as a connecting point to further thoughts

12. Teachers Engaged in a Socratic Dialog Should: • Treat all thoughts as in need of development • Recognize that any thought can only exist fully in a network of connected thoughts. Stimulate students — through your questions — to pursue those connections • Recognize that all questions presuppose prior questions and all thinking presupposes prior thinking. When raising questions, be open to the questions they presuppose.

13. Content Driven Questions • First thing that you must do is Pre Think the main Question you want discussed. • Do this by using Prior Questions to establish dialogue. • You can use Bloom’s or Rhodes' Typology to create questions.

14. A Sample List of Prior Questions • What is history? • What do historians write about? • What is the past? • Is it possible to include all of the past in a history book?

15. Prior Questions • How many of the events during a given time period are left out in a history of that time period? • Is more left out than is included? • How does a historian know what to emphasize or focus on? • Do historians make value judgments in deciding what to include and what to leave out?

16. Prior Questions • Is it possible to simply list facts in a history book or does all history writing involve interpretations as well as facts? • Is it possible to decide what to include and exclude and how to interpret facts without adopting a historical point of view? • How can we begin to judge a historical interpretation? • How can we begin to judge a historical point of view?

17. Preparing Students • Students should come to class prepared. • Must read text, take notes attempt to analyze. • Must be ready to ask questions.

18. Clarification Questions Have theses types of Questions posted on your white board, everyday. • How do you know…? • Where did you get…? • Why did you do…? • What does…tell you? • What does…mean? • Where on your (graph, motion map, diagram)…?

19. Extension Questions • What if we changed…? • How is this problem different from…? • How is this problem similar to…? • Is there another way to do this? • What is key to solving this problem? • How does…compare to…?

20. Create Comfortable Environment • Allow students to present without interruption • Promote peer questioning • Show respect for student conclusions • Get students to agree • Let students feel that a new idea is theirs • Make students feel that they have contributed.

21. Create Comfortable Environment • Discourage students from deferring to authority. • Find a classroom setting that encourages interaction. Small groups or place students in a circle. • Don’t be scared of size, this can be used in any size classroom.