The Power of the Socratic Classroom

The Shift to Facilitating

I remember how nervous I was when I first decided to take a leap in my professional journey by trying out Socratic Seminar. I was nervous that the students wouldn't respond well. I was scared that they would erupt in chaos and that I wouldn't know how to respond. I was worried that they wouldn't be able to understand the text. But I knew what we were attempting was valuable. There was an underlying principle for me, which at the time I would have described as: "teachers need to make themselves increasingly obsolete." Now I prefer "gradual release of responsibility" since it sounds a lot more positive. Looking back, I completely overcompensated my shift to student-led discussion and put everything in their court, with hardly anything from me besides questions, shoulder shrugs and a stoic poker face. Here's the important part, though. The students rose to the challenge - just as in all my other experiences in over twenty years of teaching. The students can always rise to the challenge, though they may need some guidance along the way. Trust the process. They can do this. You can do this.