Socratic Circles

I believe, as Socrates did, that students learn best from each other. A teacher can lecture but I think there is more engagement and more participation from everyone when we can have a group discussion that includes everyone.

This is where Socratic Circles come into play. We review and practice the rules first. No one laughs at anything anyone says. We do not talk over each other-I have even had an object that you have to be holding in order to share something to make it tangible for them. Stay on topic.

Then my favorite way to introduce it is to take the class outside. We make a big circle and start discussing. This year my position is called the Art of Thinking. We push-in to 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes. So I took my 5th graders outside and had an amazing conversation about the impact of social media on our perspectives. Is it that same in other countries? Other cultures? We talked about people like the Amish who do not have access to social media-how are their lives, their perspectives different?

With the young kids you could talk about people who have made a difference in history. What made them want to make those contributions? What made them so brave?

If you try it, let me know how it goes.