A socratic seminar is a genuine discussion to explore a topic. Participants ask and consider questions, explore each others’ answers, and develop facilitation habits and skills. The success of the seminar is dependent on issues coming up “naturally” from the participants prior work and experience.
The goal is to not only learn about the topic but also how to discuss it. Participants develop and practice their facilitation skills by listening for insights within comments from others, proposing alternative paths of conversation, insuring that all voices are heard, and by helping to move the discussion beyond superficial unconnected sharing to sustained and thought-provoking dialogue.
Guidelines
- Respond to a post by Assuming a Role (see below) and asking a further question that requires the original poster to develop his/her thinking in a fuller and deeper way.
- When you Assume a Role you are seeking to understand–where possible–the ultimate foundations for what is said or believed and follow the implications of those foundations through further questions.
- When you Assume a Role you are seeking to understand–where possible–the ultimate foundations for what is said or believed and follow the implications of those foundations through further questions.
- Whenever someone posts an assertion (states something) respond with a Connecting Move (See below) to connect the point to further thoughts.
- Treat all thoughts as in need of development
- Recognize that any thought can only exist fully in a network of connected thoughts. Stimulate others — through your Connecting Move questions — to pursue those connections.
- Recognize that all questions presuppose prior questions and all thinking presupposes prior thinking. When raising questions, be open to the questions they presuppose. Prior questions– questions you would have to be able to answer to answer the first question.
Roles to Assume
Speaking/Posting
When you reply to a discussion post assume one or more of the following roles:
- Explorer: Let’s try a new path or perspective…
- Gadfly: Everyone seems to be too easily content with saying…
- Sherlock Holmes: I think we have overlooked an important clue (comment/bit of credible content)..
- Librarian: Here’s a scholarly reference relating to the topic that supports/refutes your point…
- Matchmaker: What you are posting/saying is a lot like what so and so posted/said earlier…
- Judge Judy: Let’s see what the disagreement is and come to an understanding…
- Will Rogers: Let’s find a way to make a seemingly odd/unpleasant/ incorrect post/comment more plausible or helpful…
Listening/Lurking
If you do not want to reply to a post you assume one of the following roles:
- Journalist: Summarize the important points.
- Map-maker: Make a visual chart of paths and terrain covered in the conversation, noting major “landmarks” and “twists and turns”
- Referee: Judge which “moves” in the discussion seem warranted or unwarranted (in terms of content) and exemplary of or outside the “rules” of good seminar behavior (in terms of process)
- Coach: Diagnose the overall “play” and propose some new ones, improvements in performance, strategies, etc.
Connecting Moves
Make connections using Connecting Moves. Connecting Moves are strategies to move the discussion to sustained and thought-provoking dialogue. The problem is knowing when it’s the most opportune time to to use a specific Connecting Move (listed below) to move the discussion.
Connecting Moves:
- What question are we trying to answer? Why?
- Could you give me an example or an analogy to explain that?
- Where did you find that to support what you are saying?
- What are you assuming in that argument?
- But what about…? (That seems at odds with what we said before, what the author said here, etc.)
- How does this relate to… (what was said before, read last week, etc.)
- Do we need to modify or rephrase the question (or answer) we are working on?
- What do you mean by _____ (key words)?
- I think we are lost. Could someone tell me where we are, where we are going, help me find some “landmarks”?
- Is there someone who hasn’t yet posted/spoken who might have something to post/say at this point?
Assessment
At the conclusion of the week participants are surveyed about their experience.
How did you feel about this weeks Socratic Seminar?
- Treatment of Issues
- Superficial 1 2 3 4 5 Thorough and Deep
- Quantity of your own participation, as compared with your usual performance
- Low 1 2 3 4 5 High
- Quality of your own participation
- Poor 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
- Your own interest in the discussion
- Low 1 2 3 4 5 High
- Overall interest,reflected in intensity of conversation and % of participation
- Low 1 2 3 4 5 High
- Complexity of discussion
- Low 1 2 3 4 5 High
- Degree of your own understanding of topic
- Lost & Confused 1 2 3 4 5 Full