Top ten reasons to teach with Socratic seminar

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10) Engagement

A well-structured Socratic seminar, and the learning that leads up to it, helps keep students excited and engaged in learning. Classroom discussion has a .82 effect size on John Hattie’s “list of influences on achievement” because dialogue itself is engaging. It gives students opportunities to interact with one another that are sometimes rare in classes.

9) Scaffolding

Most of us scaffold work for students so that they have incremental steps to take in order to achieve a goal (note: you can over-scaffold – think of how annoying really shallow steps are). The steps that culminate in a Socratic seminar support skills in close reading, inquiry and question writing, short written responses, small group discussion, and even text selection.

8) Inquiry

Questioning has an effect size of .48. When students have the opportunity to dive deeper, through posing open-ended questions, they usually become more attached to a subject. The Question Formulation Technique supports the process of asking questions – these questions can become the discussion questions or the seminar or be used and investigated at any point in the learning.

7) Differentiation of tasks

Educators have students with a wide-range of abilities in classes. Differentiating tasks that lead to a Socratic seminar helps ensure that individual needs are met and that student small groups have diverse resources to support preliminary discussion (aka coaching groups). The diversity of experiences makes seminars rich – not agreeing creates more productive discussion.

6) Close reading

Socratic seminar depends on students reading and understanding a text in order to discuss aspects of the text with others. Teaching close reading, a skill that is essential to success in other classes as well, is a vital scaffold. Using annotation to get students to cue into what they think and feel, not to mention what they say, is engaging and helps support other learning.

5) Argument

Reading closely and answering authentic questions through inquiry supports students as they learn to build arguments. Being able to cite text in order to support an opinion (kind of like I did above when I cited Hattie) is a necessary skills to getting ready for college and careers. Supporting an opinion with text evidence makes seminars an academic task that goes beyond a regular old class discussion of a topic.

4) Analysis and Synthesis

Socratic seminars require analysis of at least one text, but bringing together multiple texts, and discussing them together, requires synthesis skills. This means more prep time leading up to the seminar but the combining of texts is extremely dynamic and the takes students have on those ideas will make you proud. Often discussion is a great way to build skills in analyzing and synthesizing because students get to hear from their peers and learn how others approach complex topics, making students engage rather than just comply, with tasks.

3) Change it up!

Your Socratic seminar does not have to look the same every time. You can use the Harkness method (this provides students clear & high expectations, an effect size of 1.44), a fishbowl discussion, open chair, BRAWL, and any number of other techniques. Changing up your approach keeps things fresh for students and helps to differentiate instruction to include more students. Find methods that challenge students and methods that embrace them – they may be the same method!

2) Build relationships

In some classes, but especially large classes, students might go a whole year without knowing one another’s names. Socratic seminar can require that students respond directly to classmates (making nameplates for desks/tables helps) so that, over time, they learn the names of students who sit across the room or are in different cliques. The discussion itself can assist in building connections and empathy for others, not to mention help the teacher know the students in order to better meet their needs over time.

And, the NUMBER ONE reason to use Socratic seminar? It meets ALL the standards

When I look through my “Skinnied” CCSS I can see that seminar, and the tasks that build to seminar or extend it further (like using the questions for research), meets every. single. standard.

These are my Skinny Standards paint sticks – at the end of a PL session we used them to reflect on what seminar could do for student learning

What’s your favorite reason for using Socratic seminar in classroom instruction? Or, what’s stopping you?

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Book Review: The Choreography of Presenting

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Choreography of Presenting

I attended the 2018 Learning Forward conference with the intent to learn more about PLCs and how I could help our district implement them more effectively. While I learned many valuable lessons regarding leadership and teamwork, I came away with an overall sense of how every presentation I sat through was excellent, and how it all came down to the presenter. Now, my background is in English Rhetoric so it should come as no surprise I value a good presenter. That said, the conference and it’s participants reminded me of how important presenting skills are, and they are skills. No one is born a wonderful presenter. Fast forward to the other fun part of conferences for an English teacher, buying books, and I was delighted to see The Choreography of Presenting by Kendall Zoller and Claudette Landry.

“Like a great dance partner, an excellent presenter leads others with ease and confidence. By showing how verbal and nonverbal communication shape every aspect of a successful presentation, this engaging book helps readers develop the underlying skills for polished, successful public speaking.”

This book uses the metaphor of dance to educate those who don’t know the first thing about presenting as well as remind those of us who could always stand to improve upon existing skills. Along with narratives of both positive and negative experiences from the authors’ presenting past, there are useful charts that provide step-by-step practice on certain elements. Have a presentation coming up? There are places in the book to reflect on your practice. The parts of the book I particularly enjoyed were those focused on movement- hand, eye, and even full body. The “dance” you do while presenting really does matter.

“A still hand gesture is the visual correlation to an auditory pause.”

While this book is meant for educators, I plan on utilizing it with my AP Capstone Seminar students next year. It’s applicable and understandable. New presenters and old alike, I encourage you to read the 124 pages. You won’t regret it, and you’ll come away a more effective presenter.

Tech. Tool #2 – Insert Learning

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I too have played with this tech tool and think the options are fantastic. I can’t wait to try things out with students next year. Melissa has already been able to test the tool out with students, so she offers a great intro and review!

Melissa Blake ~ Education & Technology

In my quest for formative assessment tools that allow for more student involvement, I came across Insert Learning (https://insertlearning.com/).  As I am about to embark on a unit that focuses on reading informational texts in preparation for a persuasive research paper and extension project, I thought the timing was perfect to implement this tool in class.  Basically, Insert Learning allows a teacher to take any webpage and add sticky notes, discussion questions, quiz questions, and highlights. Additional resources can be added to help supplement comprehension or differentiate, such as videos or links to other websites.  For those who are a bit more technologically inclined, a list of 60+ tools to embed (Flipgrid, Quizizz, memes, and Quizlet, for example) is available on the website, some with tutorials and most with explanations of how the tools benefit students.

All data and responses are sent to the…

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Speaking to Share

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Speaking and listening support for students is essential – the skills support all of the other work kids need to do when they are reading and writing. But most people have a fear of public speaking, including teachers, so we can forget to scaffold the skills with smaller tasks.

A great way to use to give students practice speaking in class is to let them read aloud a short selection of their reading for class. If the expectation while they read is to mark the text, then marking something they loved – a turn of phrase, a descriptive detail, imagery, etc. – can easily be shared. As a teacher, you are then assessing reading while assessing speaking.

Once the passage is chosen, have students whisper read to themselves, or read with a partner. Practice reading out loud in different ways helps avoid embarrassing mispronunciations or other issues that would reinforce public speaking as a scary experience. Practicing also helps student read more fluently over time, demonstrating to them the need to practice in order to improve.

I often have students record themselves since I had a BYOD policy in effect. That way they can troubleshoot their own voice performance through an audio recording, or record with video in order to critique themselves or critique with a partner.

Finally, have students read their passage to the class! You can create a specific list so they know when their turn is or you can have them “popcorn” read so they can jump in. More than one student can have the same favorite passage and passages can be read in any order.

This activity is great because it’s informal but gives students exposure to reading and public speaking. There are lots of ways to extend it as well: FlipGrid readings, writing a rationale for the selection, found poems from the passage, pastiche, etc.

new blogger!

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I’m so excited to announce that my friend Traci Espeland is going to start blogging here with me. In her final year of graduate school, Traci started her teaching career with me, as my student intern. This was seven years ago and, even early on, she brought with her a solid training in pedagogical methods and English/language arts, along with great energy and enthusiasm. Traci brings exciting new ideas to life; I’m confident that she will continue this momentum as she seeks out new challenges and opportunities in this blog.

Traci impresses me with her commitment to lifelong learning. She successfully collaborates with other educators in the school, and takes advantage of professional development opportunities offered in the district. She was the 2017 PBS Digital Innovator, representing the needs and talents of teachers throughout all of Alaska with PBS. This year she has been an integral part of the Innovations Team here in the Anchorage School District, supporting educators in technology integrations and innovations. It’s this commitment to growth and the well-being of her students that makes Traci an outstanding educator who empowers her pupils and those around her.

You can follow Traci on Twitter @TraciEspeland

Love connections (through tech)

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I know a lot of people only see how technology wedges in between people, noting how groups will sit together and stare at devices rather than speaking. It’s a problem, I get it. But I am a proponent of using technology to bring people together, to see how it can be used to connect, and I love stories about how that happens.

I was lucky enough to catch a story on NPR’s Morning Edition with Rachel Martin and Newberry Award winner Kwame Alexander. Back in January, the segment asked teachers to share a prompt with students. It was just a simple “Love is…” but the show received responses from over 2,000 classrooms across the country.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/28/688284226/what-is-love-teachers-share-this-prompt-with-your-students

And then… magic happened. Like he has in the past, Kwame Alexander wrote a crowdsourced/paella/casserole/GUMBO poem for Valentine’s Day. “‘Kids finding their voice and lifting it up, for love,’ he tells NPR. “Nothing more powerful than that.'”

From a simple prompt to a love poem for families, teachers, pets, movies, food, and expectations. This prompt, and this technology, a radio program, brought people together and made connections through words and feelings. It created a shared experience and published creation for students and teachers across the country.

Listen to the poem – or read it to your class – and see how your students connect to the writers and the common experiences.

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/14/694635029/love-is-_____-more-than-2-000-entries-filled-in-the-blank

Annotate in Google Docs

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Google’s Applied Digital Skills lessons for students are amazing. They just released one on annotating (note taking) with Google Docs that teaches students WHY and HOW to annotate. This is a great resource if you are working on creating a paperless classroom or if you just want students to develop their annotation skills in a variety of ways (because they can also annotate paper, annotate on sticky notes, take 2 column notes, etc.)

Check out the Applied Digital Skills lesson to see how you can apply the learning in your own classroom!

Best-in-Class Resources–You Decide — Ask a Tech Teacher

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Every year, I review a large number of websites, apps, and resources that help educators blend technology into their classrooms. I get lots of feedback from readers sharing their experiences, asking questions, and clicking through to see if a particular tool will serve their needs. But, I often don’t hear how the product worked in…

via Best-in-Class Resources–You Decide — Ask a Tech Teacher

Leading the way for students

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Twice in the last few weeks I’ve needed to write about my leadership experiences – I always list Every 15 Minutes as the one I am most proud of. As leaders (and all teachers are leaders) we lead our students by example.

In August of 2013 two high school students, Brooke McPheters and Jordyn Durr, were struck and killed by a drunk driver while walking home on a sidewalk from the mall. I didn’t know either of them, though I knew kids who did and teachers who knew them well in classes at South and Service. Too often as teachers we are used to tragedy but there was something about them, these two girls, that made me want to do something more.

They were killed right by where I used to work when I first moved to Anchorage. They were killed on a sidewalk I biked or walked on several times a day for months as I commuted to my job teaching preschool. I felt at some level like I could relate to them – I found out that many kids I knew well did relate to Brooke and Jordyn, either through friendship or experience.

So, I recruited students to co-lead the program with me and we were able to pull off an event that was effective and true to the origins of the national program while showcasing the talents of South’s new video production class. I am so proud of the work Shelby, Amanda, Jordan, and John did as student leaders and how our student body received that work. I’m thrilled with how we coordinated with police and fire (it’s hard!) and the video class. I’m relieved still that my colleagues and administration supported our efforts and guided us when necessary. But mostly I am proud that we stepped up and actually did some small thing to try to prevent an accident like that from occurring again. 

When I read the comments adults make on the work and efforts of protestors, teenagers who are not too different from the kids I’ve always taught, I feel sick. These teenagers have the ability to change the world, as generations before them have had. I hope that all of us educators who have helped lead small changes recognize that how and why we have taught and led students has made the world a better place and has helped show our students how to do the same.