More Socratic Seminar: What is the Role of the Facilitator?

Wow! October has gone by in a flash!

As promised to my friends and colleagues in the field, I am posting a document with revised language, which addresses the facilitation aspect of the Socratic Seminar.

Those who know me know… I live in revision! Hope this helps! 

Socratic Seminar Purpose:  The purpose of the Socratic Seminar is to increase understanding: understanding of textual and conceptual ideas and values, as well as understanding of self and others.

“The seminar is a collaborative, intellectual dialoged facilitated with open-ended questions about text and ideas.

Key components:

• Choosing the text
• Preparing the questions
• Facilitating the dialogue
• Engaging student participation

Text should be characterized as:

• Filled with ideas and values: “An idea is a thought, mental conception, mental map, or notion.  A value is that which is desirable or worthy of esteem for its own safe; thing or quality having intrinsic worth.”  (Webster’s Dictionary)
• Complex and challenging: The text requires reading and rereading; is not easily disposed of.

• Relevant to participants: Has a clear connection to students’ lives and connects thinking and dialogue with curricular standards.
• Notably ambiguous: It can be thought about and viewed from multiple perspectives.

Seminar logistics:

• All sit in a circle with only enough chairs for participants.
• Talk time is shared, so it isn’t necessary to raise hands.
• Questions may be posed to the full group or as a pair share.
• Students’ names are visible through either placing table tents in front of them or wearing name tags. 

Seminar Facilitation:

The role of the seminar facilitator is to nurture participation and inclusiveness, as well as to foster and support meaningful, deep dialogue, not to impart his or her opinion.  The facilitator comments on process, but not content.  The goal is that participants experience increased understanding of important content and concepts, the text, self and others.

Guidelines for facilitator preparation:

1. Read the text carefully, underlining key words and defining those words you might not understand, marking important sentences and paragraphs, and jotting down main points.

2. Prepare questions as follows:

·      a. An opening question that everyone around the table can answer in succession. This question should interest you and the members of the group. It can be about something you were made to think about by the reading.

·      b. A few closed (or convergent) questions that require recall from the text, and hold participants accountable for the reading.

·      c. Several open (or divergent) questions for which there will be no right answers.

·      d. At least one core question that focuses on the central message of the piece.

·      e. The questioning sequence moves from questions that are more specifically content related to questions that connect content to the students’ lives. The closing question always has real world application.

3. Form a circle and lead the discussion with the following tasks in mind:

·      a. State the questions and listen carefully.

·      b. Ask students to refer to the text and other evidence to support their responses.

·      c. Keep the group on task, using a variety of strategies to engage all students.

·      d. Remember, you are not to be the expert with all the right answers.  You are a facilitator who guides the group through the process.

4. Pose questions to the full group, as well as assigned pairs in the group. For more complex questions, or during those times when students appear insecure to speak, it can be beneficial to allow time for students to engage in dialogue with a partner before opening up the conversation with the full group.

Facilitator Role:

• Listen actively to each participant and form follow-up questions based on student comments.
• Think about the ideas and values expressed in the dialogue, the depth as well as the diversity of points of view.
• Question the participants in a manner to foster increased understanding, noting the flow of the conversation.
• Limit teacher talk turns and talk time while taking steps to distribute increased talk turns and talk time among participants.
• Map the seminar by recording the amount and type of participation, as well as the ideas that are shared. You may use a rubric or discussion score sheet.

Seminar Participation:

The role of seminar participant is to engage in the dialogue process.  Participants are consistently challenged to expand and refine their seminar participation skills.

Participant Role:

• Think deeply about the ideas and values expressed in the dialogue, examining the various perspectives with an open mind.
• Refer to text and ideas by citing specific information and quoting actual passages to support a point of view. Discuss ideas rather than opinions; demonstrate poise and self-control.   (In other words, your emotions are not evidence of fact!)
• Address others respectfully by using others’ names. 
• Agree constructively by adding and making connections to the comments of others.  Respectfully disagree constructively by saying phrases such as, “I disagree with ______ because ____________.”
• Listen by looking at the speaker, perhaps taking notes, and not talking while another is talking.  (No sidebars.  No interruptions.)
• Share the talk time as a group; be polite and take turns.
• Speak loudly enough for everyone to hear, asking questions as well as making statements, while looking at others.