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Socratic Seminars

The goal of a Socratic seminar is for the class to help one another understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected in a specific text. Students are responsible for facilitating a discussion around ideas in the text rather than asserting opinions. Through a process of listening, making meaning, and finding common ground you will work toward a shared understanding rather than trying to prove a particular argument. A Socratic seminar is not used for the purpose of debate, persuasion, or personal reflection, as the focus is on developing shared meaning of a text.

Step one: Selecting an appropriate text

Socratic seminars are based on close textual analysis so it is important to select a text that provides many opportunities for interpretation and discussion. If you choose a simple text where the meaning of it is fairly straightforward, there won’t be much for students to discuss. Also, the text should not be too long to read closely in the allotted amount of time. Often a text ranging from one paragraph to one page is enough. An example of texts often used as the basis of Socratic seminars include the preamble to the US Constitution or excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

Step two: Prepare for the seminar

Before beginning the seminar, it is essential that you make time to prepare your ideas. You should annotate the text before the start of the class discussion. You should become very familiar with the text and the author.

Step three: Contracting

Socratic seminars have rules that may not apply to other forms of discussion, so before beginning the seminar, it is important that everyone is aware of the norms. Below are the rules used to structure a Socratic seminar in our class.

    • Talk to each other, not just to the discussion leader or teacher.
    • Refer to evidence from the text to support your ideas.
    • Ask questions if you do not understand what someone has said, or you can paraphrase what another student has said for clarification. (“I think you said this, is that right?”)
    • You do not need to raise your hands to speak, but please pay attention to your “airtime” – how much you have spoken in relation to other students.
    • Don’t interrupt.
    • Don’t put down the ideas of another student. Without judging the student who you may disagree with, state your alternate interpretation or ask a follow-up question to help probe or clarify an idea.
    • Common statements or questions used during a Socratic seminar include:
      1. Where does that idea come from in the text?
      2. What does this word or phrase mean?
      3. Can you say that in another way?
      4. Is this what you mean to say…
      5. What do you think the author is trying to say?
      6. What else could that mean?
      7. Who was the audience for this text? How does that shape our interpretation of these words?Who was the author of this text? What do we know about him/her? How does that shape our understanding of these words?
Before beginning the seminar it is also important to remember that the purpose of the seminar is not to debate or prove a point, but to more deeply understand what the author was trying to express in the text. 

Step four: The Socratic seminar

A Socratic seminar begins with the discussion leader asking an open-ended question. A typical Socratic seminar opening prompt is: What do you think this text means? Silence is fine. It may take a few minutes for students to warm-up.  Sometimes a Socratic seminar is organized like a fishbowl, with some students participating in the discussion and the rest of the class having specific jobs as observers. Socratic seminars should last at least fifteen minutes.

Step five: Reflection and to evaluate

After the Socratic seminar, you will have an opportunity to evaluate the seminar in general and your own performance specifically. Here are some questions you might write about when reflecting on the seminar: 
  • At any point did the seminar revert into a debate/discussion rather than dialogue? If so, how did the group handle this? 
  • What evidence did you see of people actively listening and building on others' ideas? 
  • How has your understanding of this text been affected by the ideas explored in this seminar? 
  • What would you like to do differently as a participant the next time you are in a seminar?



(Contents of this page based on material from Facing History and Ourselves)
mikemcguig@gmail.com