Through 9th and 10th grade, William Allen High School students claw their way through track or advanced English classes every day. They read texts from their textbooks perhaps twice a month at most, and rarely discuss them in class. Instead, these students complete meaningless worksheets, or fill in journals with logs to prove they read each selection. This hardly stimulates a student’s brain, merely leaving students with the belief that English class provides no useful content whatsoever. Any discussion that may happen elicits only a summary of the plot, characters, or setting, and evokes no deeper thought about an author’s style, literary decisions, or implications. This model of education certainly is unhelpful — and boring! However English,
…show more content…
According to The University of Chicago Law School, on their webpage detailing their use of the Socratic Method, what we know about Socrates (470-399 BC) comes largely from the writings of his disciples, Plato and Xenophon. The philosopher engaged himself in an unending search for the truth, constantly probing at a pupil’s beliefs until he could identify the flaw within their assumptions (University of Chicago). Matt Copeland, in his book Socratic Circles, published in 2005, explains why Socrates favored this method. Socrates believed that if he helped students look at their beliefs and also accept the limitations of their mind, the students could “improve their reasoning skills” and take steps towards having “ideas more easily supported by logic.” (Copeland, 7) As stated by Robert Reich, in his lecture, The Socratic Method: What It Is and How to Use It in the Classroom, given on May 22, 2003, the Socratic Method ought to be a “shared discussion between teacher and students,” where both parties work to advance the dialogue with thoughtful questioning. It is important to note that the instructor is as much a participant in the dialogue as they are a guide. Reich further goes on to …show more content…
However there is a quick, easy solution to this issue, provided by the NorthWest Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR). In a short online outline titled “Socratic Seminar”, NWABR acknowledges that large class sizes may be an issue, especially in college-level courses (although it surely applies to high school classes as well which can reach up to, or occasionally exceed 30 students). Their solution is simply to divide the class in half, and let the inner group of students participate in the discussion, while the outer group observes it. In order to keep the outer group involved, the instructor could require them to “take notes or use an evaluation form to track the overall conversation or focus on specific participants.” (NWABR, 109) The next time the class has a discussion, the outer group would then move to the inside, and vice versa. If this still does not narrow the numbers enough for a teacher, they could further split the groups until the sizes are ideal for
According to The University of Chicago Law School, on their webpage detailing their use of the Socratic Method, what we know about Socrates (470-399 BC) comes largely from the writings of his disciples, Plato and Xenophon. The philosopher engaged himself in an unending search for the truth, constantly probing at a pupil’s beliefs until he could identify the flaw within their assumptions (University of Chicago). Matt Copeland, in his book Socratic Circles, published in 2005, explains why Socrates favored this method. Socrates believed that if he helped students look at their beliefs and also accept the limitations of their mind, the students could “improve their reasoning skills” and take steps towards having “ideas more easily supported by logic.” (Copeland, 7) As stated by Robert Reich, in his lecture, The Socratic Method: What It Is and How to Use It in the Classroom, given on May 22, 2003, the Socratic Method ought to be a “shared discussion between teacher and students,” where both parties work to advance the dialogue with thoughtful questioning. It is important to note that the instructor is as much a participant in the dialogue as they are a guide. Reich further goes on to …show more content…
However there is a quick, easy solution to this issue, provided by the NorthWest Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR). In a short online outline titled “Socratic Seminar”, NWABR acknowledges that large class sizes may be an issue, especially in college-level courses (although it surely applies to high school classes as well which can reach up to, or occasionally exceed 30 students). Their solution is simply to divide the class in half, and let the inner group of students participate in the discussion, while the outer group observes it. In order to keep the outer group involved, the instructor could require them to “take notes or use an evaluation form to track the overall conversation or focus on specific participants.” (NWABR, 109) The next time the class has a discussion, the outer group would then move to the inside, and vice versa. If this still does not narrow the numbers enough for a teacher, they could further split the groups until the sizes are ideal for