Reading Matters Winter 2019

Socratic Discussions: A Reading Discussion Activity

By Suzanne Horn, Kristal Curry, Savannah Scarborough, & Sarah Vicini, Coastal Carolina University

Introduction Some of us may have encountered the Socratic Seminar during college years in our English classes. We sat in circles discussing how the author artfully painted themes in a text chosen by our literature professors. These memories of discussing how themes related to our own lives or other texts had the potential to create important experiences in analyzing literature. This study explores the ways that teachers build connections between students and texts and whether Socratic seminars assist in that goal. Socratic seminars are structured, whole class, discussions about topics or themes (Mangrum, 2010) that allow students to work through complex information as a group (Griswold, Shaw & Munn, 2017). Ideally, the students serve as facilitators and participants. They ask and answer key questions, analyze key text and construct knowledge (Dillion, 1980). Often, the teacher acts as a facilitator and mentor, asking key questions to guide discussion (Callison, 2005). Socratic seminar is a student-centered activity and the teacher’s job is to redirect off task discussion and make sure all discussion is appropriate, based on school rules. to motivate novice readers into picking up the book and reading it. Students who are reluctant to read or put down the novel half way through may be inspired to pick it back up and continue the reading by an exciting Socratic seminar that relates that text to students’ lives. Lastly, the Socratic seminar could be used in the traditional manner, at the end of a novel to discuss the overall themes and their relationship to students lives. Keene and Zimmerman (1997) suggest that students will understand what they read better if they make connections with text. These connections can be text-to-text, relating their current reading to a past reading; text-to-self, relating a current reading to their own lives, and; text-to-world, relating a current reading to the events in the world around them. Review of the Literature Socratic seminars can help students increase their critical thinking skills. In their study exploring multiple critical thinking skills, Kalelioglu & Gulbahar (2014) found that “Socratic questioning helped students to exchange their thoughts, evaluate their perspectives critically, and come to the conclusion about the discussion topic” (256). Of the six strategies they examined, Socratic seminars created the greatest change in critical thinking. Socratic seminars can occur before, during, or after reading text. Rather than being a culminating activity, it can be used

Frey & Fisher (2012) advocate using Socratic seminars after reading a text and recommend requiring students to use examples from the text to support their discussion. The act of supporting assertions with evidence can be challenging to students. Adding this requirement to the seminar can increase the rigor of the task and increase the text relationship for students. Tredway (1995) found that the nature of Socratic discussion required students to predict and imagine during the discussion. They had to gather and analyze pertinent information and form preliminary ideas prior to the discussion. Tredway recommended using compelling texts that get students excited to read. Other advantages of Socratic discussions are that students have opportunities to practice civil discourse; they learn to disagree, examine multiple viewpoints, and work together to find solutions. Polite & Adams (1997) explored the use of Socratic seminars in an urban middle school. After conducting the seminars in nine different classrooms, they found positive results with Socratic seminars. Their study confirms the assertion that this method promoted critical thinking, motivated students to read, and encouraged polite discourse. They also found that students liked Socratic seminars when they discussed topics that they could relate to their own lives (text-to-self ). Students thought the topics that they could not relate to their own lives were boring. Using Socratic seminar to excite students and motivate them about upcoming literature and future readings has been done before. Keegan (2013) shares her experience of using Socratic seminars in her classroom. The goal for the discussion was to excite students about reading the play The Crucible . She worked with her school librarian to gather multiple non- fiction articles about the SalemWitch Trials. Students were assigned to read a specific article and discuss it in Socratic groups. She used predetermined questions for the groups to focus on during the discussion. Students made text-to- text and text-to-world connections during the discussions in their groups. She felt very positive about the results of the discussions to prepare her students for reading the play. The South Carolina reading standards emphasize critical thinking. Socratic seminars can help achieve these critical thinking standards and motivate students to read well. The information in TABLE 1 is taken directly from the South Carolina Education Web Site under the Instruction tab.

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