A Socratic Seminar for Diverse Students

A Socratic Seminar for

Before I get started on this blog post, I want to give credit to my fall semester observation mentor Meredith Irwin who currently teaches ELA for Northwest ISD; I was introduced to this Socratic model in her classroom. After trying it with help from my current spring semester mentor, Mandi Bush, I felt like I had to share the effect it had on our students.

We live in a world that prizes the extrovert and frowns upon, or maybe just isn't too fond of, the introvert. Susan Cain writes about this very issue in her book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. I read this book during my sophomore year of my undergraduate for a writing class. It wasn't until I began diving into my education classes that I realized many of the classroom strategies I was being taught also prized the extrovert. Now, having students communicating outwardly and verbally in class is 100% necessary. But, to my understanding the classroom needs to set a healthy balance between extroverted activities and introverted ones. After all, it's just another factor that makes up a classroom of diverse learners. So, here is one example of how I have allowed both types of students to show what they know in class. We live in an extrovert versus introvert world, it's time we shift to a world that simply coexists for both. What a better place to start than in the classroom? Extroverts and introverts alike, welcome to a discussion format that allows both to shine.

Above is the Socratic seminar seating format. There is an inner and outer circle. Upon entering class I hand the students a card that says "inside" or "outside." The student proceeds to his or her seat, depending on their card, and they begin preparing for the discussion. What makes this Socratic seminar discussion different than most is the inner circle is using verbal discussion, while the outer circle is a technology-based, chat room discussion. For the chat room I generally use todaysmeet.com. I project the actual chat onto the overhead at the front of class so the outer circle has a large visual, and also so the inner circle can comment or gather ideas from the chat to discuss. Halfway through the discussion, students will switch from one circle to the other. I pay close attention to the conversation occurring within the inner circle and when class concludes I print off the chat room transcript. I then assess students based on both their participation on what I hear from the inner circle and what I read from the outer circle transcript.

This format allows the extrovert to chatter and communicate about the discussion topic verbally, yet allows the introvert to type up their thoughts without the daunting factors that come with talking in front of the group. Through Socratic, it's obvious who has read the book or who has studied the content versus students who are not doing the work. Too often we come to the conclusion that if a student doesn't outwardly speak about it then he or she must not be doing or understanding the work. Keeping these expectations in perspective, 74% of all people suffer from speech anxiety. "All" meaning introverts and extroverts combined. As you may have heard before, 25% of the population is made up of introverts. What you probably have not heard, is this study percentage was determined by Isabel Myers of the Myers-Briggs organization in the early 1960's. Since then, random samples from the Myers Brigg organization in 1998 showed that introverts actually make up 50.7% of the population. So, over half of your students probably don't favor speaking in front of groups due to their introversion. Introversion and extroversion aside, over 7/10 of your students get anxiety when speaking in front of a group.

No, I'm not saying that we should never make students speak in front of groups. What I am saying is that students who do not flourish in public spaces, where they are forced to speak, should not be assessed based off of their verbal participation as compared with those who love to speak in front of others. This discussion format is just one way to help all types of students by pushing them to verbally discuss, while offering them a web safety net where the educator can still assess the student's understanding through what they type.

If you're wondering whether this formatting is necessary and beneficial, try it yourself. I knew it was from the response of two different students as I handed each of them a different card and one student said immediately, "Aw, Ms. Moss can I please have inner circle?!" and the other who let out a disappointed sigh and said under his breathe, "ugh, not the inner circle."

Want to know if you or your students are introverted or extroverted? Click here.

If you have any questions or want to know how I prepare students for Socratic seminar please comment below.

Ambiverted as ever,

Sources:

Myers, I. B., McCaulley, M. H., Quenk, N. L., & Hammer, A. L. (1998). MBTI Manual: A guide to the development and use of the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (3rd ed.). Palo Alto,
CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

 http://www.statisticbrain.com/fear-of-public-speaking-statistics/