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The Socratic Seminar

The Socratic Seminar. Guidelines Roles Responsibilities. Debate and Dialogue. Dialogue is collaborative: multiple sides work toward shared understanding. Debate is oppositional: two opposing sides try to prove each other wrong.

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The Socratic Seminar

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  1. The Socratic Seminar Guidelines Roles Responsibilities

  2. Debate and Dialogue • Dialogue is collaborative: multiple sides work toward shared understanding. • Debate is oppositional: two opposing sides try to prove each other wrong. • In dialogue, one listens to understand, to make meaning, and to find common ground. • In debate, one listens to find flaws, to spot differences, and to counter arguments.

  3. Debate and Dialogue (continued) • Dialogue enlarges and possibly changes a participant’s point of view. • Debate affirms a participant's point of view. • Dialogue reveals assumptions for examination and re-evaluation. • Debate defends assumptions as truth.

  4. Debate and Dialogue (continued) • Dialogue creates an open-minded attitude: an openness to being wrong and an openness to change. • Debate creates a close-minded attitude, a determination to be right. • In dialogue , one submits one's best thinking, expecting that other people's reflections will help improve it rather than threaten it. • In debate, one submits one's best thinking and defends it against challenge to show that it is right.

  5. Debate and Dialogue (continued) • Dialogue calls for temporarily suspending one's beliefs. Debate calls for investing wholeheartedly in one's beliefs. • In dialogue, one searches for strengths in all positions.In debate, one searches for weaknesses in the other position.

  6. Debate and Dialogue (continued) • Dialogue respects all the other participants and seeks not to alienate or offend.Debate rebuts contrary positions and may belittle or deprecate other participants. Dialogue assumes that many people have pieces of answers and that cooperation can lead to a greater understanding. Debate assumes a single right answer that somebody already has.

  7. Debate and Dialogue (continued) • Dialogue remains open-ended. • Debate demands a conclusion.

  8. Socratic Seminars Ground Rules Speak so that all can hear you. Listen closely. Speak without raising hands. Refer to the text.

  9. Socratic Seminars Ground Rules (continued) Talk to each other, not just to the leader (no side conversations) Ask for clarification. Don’t stay confused. Invite and allow others to speak. Consider all viewpoints and ideas. Know that you are responsible for the quality of the seminar.

  10. Socratic Seminars Ground Rules (continued) • Address one another respectfully • Monitor “air time” • Use sensitivity to take turns and not interrupt others • Be courageous in presenting your own thoughts and reasoning, but be flexible and willing to change your mind in the face of new and compelling evidence

  11. How am I graded?

  12. How am I graded?

  13. How am I graded?

  14. How am I graded?

  15. COME PREPARED AND WE’LL HAVE A JOLLY GOOD TIME!

  16. Pre-Seminar Question-Writing • Before you come to a Socratic Seminar class, please read the assigned text (novel section, poem, essay, article, etc.) and fill in the Socratic Seminar Prep Sheet. (If the Prep Sheet is not complete, you may not participate in the Socratic Seminar, and you will earn a zero.)

  17. Level 1: Close-ended Questions • Write a question about the text that will help everyone in the class come to an agreement about events or characters in the text. Thisquestion usually has a "correct" answer.Example:  What happened to Hester Pyrnne's husband that she was left alone in Boston without family?  (from TheScarlet Letter).

  18. Level 2: Open-ended Questions • Write an insightful question about the text that will require proof and group discussion and "construction of logic" to discover or explore the answer to the question.Example: Why did Gene hesitate to reveal the truth about the accident to Finny that first day in the infirmary? (after mid-point of  ASeparate Peace).

  19. Level 3: World Connection Questions • Write a question connecting the text to the real world. Example:  If you were given only 24 hours to pack your most precious belongings in a back pack and to get ready to leave your home town, what might you pack?  (After reading the first 30 pages of Night).

  20. Level 4: Universal Theme/Core Questions •           Write a question dealing with a theme(s) of the text that will encourage group discussion about the universality of the text.Example: After reading The Great Gatsby, what can you say about why everyone searches for love?

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