Do You Have 21st-Century Skills to Help Your Students Succeed? Do Your Students Have 21st-Century Skills to Think for Themselves? The Power of the Socratic Classroom has the answers you are looking for—answers that will supply the strategies to show students how to succeed into the future. A future that has unknown products, unidentified jobs, and unanticipated challenges. In Socratic Seminar, teachers shift to the role of facilitator, where they help their students develop the collaborative interpersonal skills, the critical and creative thinking skills, and the speaking and listening skills to face the upcoming challenges of the 21st century.
Charles Fischer has taught in public and private schools in a variety of settings, from rural Maine to inner city Atlanta. In the past 20 years, he has worked with a wide range of students from 4th grade to AP English and has been nominated for Teacher of the Year four times. He has his Master’s degree in Teaching & Learning from the University of Southern Maine, and received his B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from Binghamton University. His latest book, The Power of the Socratic Classroom, has won four awards, including the NIEA Best Education Book. His first novel, Beyond Infinity, won a 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award bronze medal (YA fiction). His areas of expertise are Socratic Seminar, Active Listening, Inquiry, Teaching & Learning, and Critical & Creative Thinking. He is currently working on a book of poetry, a short story collection, and several novels.
Most students (most people) don't listen very effectively. They have an assumption that they are listening when, in fact, they are merely hearing. There's a huge difference! If you ever want to test this, just ask students to paraphrase the previous speaker to that speaker's satisfaction. You (and everyone else) will quickly discover who is actively listening and who is skating by with assumed listening.
Book Excerpt
The Power of the Socratic Classroom
Assumed listening could also be called pretend listening, especially with younger students. As teachers, we can ask students questions to help them orient their listening: Are you actively listening or pretend listening? Are you fully listening or assuming you are listening? Are you using whole-body listening?
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