No, it is not from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, I am talking about Socratic Circles. This higher-level thinking/collaborative strategy intensely focuses the classroom discussion around a particular piece of text or artifact. All students are assigned a particular reading the night before the Socratic Circle. While they read (or analyze) the text (article, act in a play, piece of artwork, section of the text book, or anything of value related to the curriculum in the course), the students are required to annotate as they read and bring questions, ideas, thoughts, and connections to the Circle the next day.The facilitator of the Circle, forms an inner and outer circle with the chairs or desks in the classroom. The inner circle is permitted to start the discussion for a designated amount of time that is predetermined by the facilitator. The outer circle has the role of silent observers and to evaluate how the inner circle is interacting with one another rather than evaluating what they are discussing. All students are provided a feedback form so they understand the evaluation criteria while in the inner circle. The inner circle begins by discussing the questions, ideas or thoughts they brought from the reading that they did the night before. The facilitator may elect to provide the initial question to begin the discussion. After the designated discussion time is up, the outer circle reflects on how the inner circle interacted based on the criteria. Outer circle members provide the inner circle with feedback. Then the roles switch.
I had the pleasure to witness the "first go" at Socratic Circles in Mrs. Warren's class this week. I was very impressed to see students who I would not have thought would step up to share their thoughts, let alone, disagree with a peer and defend their point of view with evidence from the text! This process was an example of students taking responsibility for their own learning and I really believe that these students gained a deeper understanding than if this information was shared via a lecture and they take notes. Students provided positive feedback about the overall experience.
Socratic Circles--Try it, you might like it...your students definitely will!
No comments:
Post a Comment