1. “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates
Socratic Seminar
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates

2. What it is…
A “collaborative, intellectual dialogue facilitated with open-ended questions about a text.”

3. It is also…
A seminar is a genuine discussion. It is designed to enable students to explore a text or problem; it is not a more conversational form of teacher-led instruction. Rather, it is the students’ opportunity to ask and consider questions and explore each others’ answers. In short, it becomes the student’s opportunity and responsibility to develop habits and skills that are traditionally reserved for the teacher.
The student not only learns more about an idea or text, the student learns how to discuss it: the student gains practice in leading discussions, listening for insights in the comments of others, proposing alternative paths of conversation, and moving beyond superficial but unconnected sharing to sustained and thought-provoking dialogue.

4. What it is not…
A Cool-Off
A Bore
Nap Time

5. It is also not… Socratic Seminar is not… Interactive lecturing.
Canned student speaking or recitation
Teacher-led
A sharing of thoughts, feelings, and reactions

6. Focus of Socratic Seminar
TEXT INQUIRY COLLABORATION The aim is to uncover not cover a subject.

7. Some history…
Socratic seminar takes its name from, well, Socrates, a famous and ancient Greek philosopher who prized inquiry over information and thinking for oneself.

8. Noggin Scratcher…
Would it be worth killing a man with hemlock if he weren’t radical in his thinking? I wonder if people would’ve cared much if he got people to ask easy questions.