Pre-Seminar

 

Teacher Steps:

1. Select a piece of text or literature that encourages critical thinking skills or relates to a topic you are studying.
2. Generate a few open-ended questions that will help the students to think about some aspect of the topic in new or creative ways.
3. Model close reading, annotating a text, and developing open-ended questions before students read their own seminar text.
4. Use text on an overhead transparency to highlight important parts, model note taking, and encourage thinking aloud.
5. Review the Guidelines for Participants in a Socratic Seminar with the students.

Student Steps:

1. Read the selected material carefully.
2. Make notes and highlight important parts. (Be sure to note specific examples or parts that are of interest to you.)
3. State your view points and form a few questions relating to the text.
4. Familiarize yourself with the Guidelines for Participants in a Socratic Seminar.