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Charles Ames Fischer
a book bubble about
The Power of the Socratic Classroom
Education & Reference
Author Insight
Pre-Seminar
I have facilitated over two thousand Socratic Seminars and observed many more. One thing has become abundantly clear to me: when seminars don't go well, when the conversation is flat, when students don't participate, when only a few dominate the dialogue, the main culprit underlying everything is the pre-seminar. There are many reasons why a seminar conversation might not work very well, but it starts with not having enough things to talk about. Students need multiple entry points into the text so that they all can begin the thinking process. The pre-seminar's job is to activate curiosity, to get students engaged in wondering, to get them to notice things. The dialogue then is for the students to put disparate pieces together into a meaningful understanding.
Book Excerpt
The Power of the Socratic Classroom
There are many different close reading and annotating strategies that range from generally just “jot down what you’re thinking” to specific strategies and systems. Adler and Van Doran, for example, in How to Read a Book, outline about two dozen specific ideas for marking a text.
My favorite resource for literature is Kylene Beers and Robert Probst’s Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading, and for nonfiction I really like their Reading Nonfiction: Notice and Note Stances, Signposts, and Strategies. Both have specific signposts with accompanying lessons that could probably be used as low as third grade. Their book Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters provides strategies that could likely be useful starting in kindergarten.
When possible, have students write directly in their books or on their handouts, but otherwise they can craft their annotations on sticky notes, compile them in notebooks, or use dry-erase markers over plastic sleeves.
Mini-Lessons for Annotations
• Write one closed and one open-ended question that you have on page 2.
• Circle the two most confusing paragraphs.
• Number the stanzas.
• Underline your favorite sentence.
• Put a W in the margin where the author’s ideas seem weak.
• Put an M in the margin if you feel the author is trying to manipulate you.
• Put an E in the margin where the author seems to be exaggerating.
• Write page numbers of other pages for recurring ideas or themes.
• On a sticky note, write the definition of a word that seems important.
• Write two questions on each page. Then rank the most important three.
• Note a personal connection at the bottom of the page.
• Put a box around any of the words that are on our word wall.
• Draw an emoji where the main character is feeling an important emotion.
• Mark where the author appears uninformed or misinformed.
• Draw a vertical line in the margin to mark long passages. Add other notes or symbols as well.
• Use numbers to organize sequences and lists.
• Arrange this information into a graphic organizer.
Sometimes teachers get overwhelmed with the close reading process because they feel inclined or obligated to constantly ask comprehension questions or otherwise check for understanding. They may stress about levels of questions, depth of knowledge and other complexities. Such considerations are certainly useful, but are also time-consuming and usually not necessary during pre-seminar.
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