An Overview of the Socratic Seminar

Introduction

Reading is important, but reading is not the only component necessary in mastering literacy and literacy skills. Equally as vital are two other crucial supporting elements: 1. providing students with the opportunity to talk, discuss, and engage in conversation about what they have read, and 2. connecting those reading and discussion experiences to authentic writing. Use of the Socratic Seminar is a way to ensure that this tri-fecta of engagement gives your students a complete literacy experience.

The Seminar

In this digital age, the use of dialogue, dialogic instruction, and seminars, formally dating back to the time of Socrates, still proves a time-tested tool for engaging students in all the skills necessary to be life-long learners in the 21st century. There are a number of different modern approaches to engaging in dialogue with students. Several examples include “Touchstones” and Socratic Circles. However, perhaps the purest form of this discussion strategy is the Socratic Seminar, also known as the Paideia Seminar. The National Paideia Center in Chapel Hill, NC defines the seminar as “…a collaborative, intellectual dialogue facilitated with open-ended questions about a text.” The purpose of the seminar is to increase understating of textual ideas and values, as well as an understanding of self and others. In addition, according to Roberts and Billings, “…seminars are designed to improve the individual’s ability to explain and manipulate complex systems. Thus, the developmental goals are twofold: 1. Intellectual, through reading, thinking, and writing, and 2, Social, through speaking, listening, and responding to others in a constructive fashion.

How it Works

In the Socratic Seminar, advocated by Mortimer Adler and the members of the Paideia group, the framework is simple. The seminar is a principal cornerstone of instructional strategies based on a textual analysis. Of course, a text can take many forms, both traditional and nontraditional, and careful selection should be given to text choice. Texts should always reflect curriculum and standards, and great care and thought should be put into text selection.

After text selection, the driving force behind the seminar is the questions. Seminar questions should be open-ended inquiries that evoke numerous correct responses. Also, questions should be thoughtful and very clear. Three types of questions in the Socratic Seminar provide direction for the dialogue. They are as follows:

• Opening Questions, designed to engage participants in getting to the main ideas in a text.

• Core Questions, designed to engage participants in analysis of the text.

• Closing Questions, designed to engage participants in personalization and application of the ideas.

These inquiry elements are crucial for success. Of course, the best questions are often not ones not written down, but rather questions posed by the facilitator/instructor during the seminar experience, based on student responses. These follow-up-questions arise at any point in the dialogue, and they are crucial in further clarifying or investigating the topic at hand. In addition, a seminar should be followed by a post-seminar content writing assignment that refines and extends some topic related to the discussion.

Leading a Seminar

It is a challenge to lead/facilitate a seminar, and a good leader is a reflective practitioner who employs this instructional approach on a consistent basis. No two seminars are alike, and each class and text presents its own particular set of challenges. However,  it is only through repetition and application and practice, a teacher can master this form of instruction. A good leader is one who, according to Adler, “primes the pump,” guiding and challenging students while never interrupting dialogue to pontificate or slip in a “mini-lecture” on some point that has arisen. Thus, the learning in a Socratic Seminar is student driven. It should be noted that student-driven activities makes some instructors (and administrators) nervous because it means relinquishing an element of “control” in the classroom. However, with just one positive seminar experience, most teachers realize there is serious teaching and learning that flow through the student dialogue.

Closing

For our students in Pennsylvania, this ownership of education is an essential step in creating habits of mind, a framework for creative and critical thinkers, and also for building the groundwork in life-long learning habits. If you are seeking an instructional strategy that will deepen understanding, assess reading comprehension at a formative and summative level, promote discussion and provide bedrock for 21stcentury skills, then consider utilizing the Socratic Seminar. Reading Consultants at PaTTAN are committed to supporting teaching and learning that utilizes the Socratic Method and dialogic instruction. Stay tuned for future postings, materials, workshops, and trainings to support this style of instruction.

Sources and Seminar Resources:

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the Socratic/Paideia Seminar, please consult the following resources works cited in this blog:

Adler, Mortimer, J. The Paideia Program: An Educational Syllabus.

      New York, Macmillan Publishing Co., 1984.

Roberts, Terry and Billings Laura. Speak Up and Listen. Phi Delta Kappan, October, 2009.

Roberts, Terry and Billings, Laura.  Thinking is Literacy, Literacy Thinking. Educational   Leadership, February, 2008.

The National Paideia Center: www.paideia.org