A Socratic Seminar is a great way to learn and think!
It is named after a famous philosopher named Socrates (saw-kruh-teez) who believed that the best way to learn something is to ask questions that make you think. Socratic Seminars help you learn how to communicate, listen, think critically, ask thought-provoking questions, and be an overall better community member!
When asking these questions, it is important to refer to the text you are talking about. Use quotes from the text to explain yourself or prove your point.
You can disagree in opinions, but it is not a debate. We will all listen to each other respectfully, share our ideas and learn from each other.
Good Socratic questions to use in the seminar:
It is named after a famous philosopher named Socrates (saw-kruh-teez) who believed that the best way to learn something is to ask questions that make you think. Socratic Seminars help you learn how to communicate, listen, think critically, ask thought-provoking questions, and be an overall better community member!
When asking these questions, it is important to refer to the text you are talking about. Use quotes from the text to explain yourself or prove your point.
You can disagree in opinions, but it is not a debate. We will all listen to each other respectfully, share our ideas and learn from each other.
Good Socratic questions to use in the seminar:
- How is the setting of this story important? Does it really matter? Why/Why not?
- How does the setting contribute to the overall meaning/message?
- What inferences can you draw about the characters, based on their actions?
- What major challenges do the characters face, and how do they deal with them?
- What major decisions do the characters make, and why? What do these decisions reveal about the characters?
- Can you relate to any of the characters? If so, explain how. If not, explain why.
- From whose point of view do we see the story?
- Why do you think the author chose this point of view instead of a different one?
- How important is point of view in this story?
- How would it change the story if it was from another point of view? Pick a different character and explain how the story would change.
- What lessons do the characters learn?
- What lessons do we learn?