Listening, Speaking & Socratic Seminar

Listening, Speaking & Socratic Seminar
From the time we are young to present day adulthood, we are taught to resolve or address issues in life by talking and listening to each other. Simply, we are taught to have a discussion with someone to help with the complexities of life. We all know that communication is key to any healthy mindset, and listening is just as important as speaking. We can all agree that we need to get students talking and listening more, and a Socratic Seminar is a great tool to springboard a dynamic discussion during ELA and gather evidence of students practicing active listening.			-Photo of my classroom. Podium is used during Socratic Seminar, and horseshoe room set up is common for Socratic Seminar
If you incorporate Socratic Seminar into your curriculum, you will discover how amazing student discourse can be, and student listening skills will be sharpened.
	It was a few years ago when I was asked to teach an AVID course at one of our middle schools.  I was so excited, because I really enjoy the AVID philosophy of learning and teaching. It was then, back at my old school site,  when I was first introduced to Socratic Seminar. Every week we discussed relevant issues and student interests. We discussed everything from bullying to mathematics difficulties. Then I moved school sites, and I stopped using Socratic Seminar because the curriculum didn’t call for it. Then I reflected and thought about why I stopped doing an activity my students enjoyed and I enjoyed facilitating. We all learned too! At that point in time, I decided to incorporate Socratic Seminar into ELA. I took my current curriculum, reviewed some AVID strategies I learned in years passed, freshened up some lessons, and implemented Socratic Seminar during ELA. It was great!. Socratic Seminar is not just a “free for all” discussion. There are listening and speaking rubrics, discussion norms, and process that take place. You also need to prepare your students with reading material to discuss or notes they may have taken during a lesson. It may be take a few hours to prep in the beginning, but after a while you get a sense of the process and it becomes much more manageable. If you have not learned this valuable teaching strategy, take some time and learn it, and you will see the benefits over time.
“If you’re not listening, you’re not learning”. –Lyndon B. Johnson
When you discover how to infuse Socratic Seminar into your lessons, you will be surprised how much your students are willing to share their ideas, and listen to their peers.
	Again, if you haven’t learned how to conduct or plan a Socratic Seminar ask around your campus. I’m sure there are colleagues and an instructional coach that will gladly show you the ropes. Remember, Socratic Seminar is not just a “willy nilly” discussion and “free for all” shouting match. There are many factors that contribute to a fantastic class discussion. For example, consider your room arrangement. I find the the horseshoe, inner/outer set-up most effective. A podium can be used for students, who are observing, to ask questions during the discussion. In addition, always prepare a rubric. This is the tool that keeps students accountable, and they use the rubric to actively listen to their classmates contributions to the discussion. Rubrics are also used to give feedback to students. Be sure to review/post some norms or rules of the discussion, most importantly, a Socratic Seminar is an exchange of information, not a debate. Lastly, the content or topic of the discussion is going to be what engages students the most, thus select content with high interest, or reading selections, that students really enjoyed. If you  would like to observe a Socratic Seminar , schedule a Spotlight Visit with me click the link below. https://docs.google.com/a/omsd.net/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc9VK1VneTaNsJuUcRGhplMOadHDwk3ymL18CsSvW58uwH-cw/viewform Uniquely Teaching -Carlos Gonzalez
Click here to schedule a visit	carlos.gonzalez@omsd.net