The Seminar

1. Have the students sit in a circle. Only the students in the circle participate in the dialogue.
2. The teacher poses an open-ended question related to the text to initiate dialogue.
3. Students begin to respond to the question supporting their answers with examples from the text.
4. Students should also paraphrase other students for clarification and ask additional questions to continue deeper exploration.

Important Points to Consider:

• The teacher acts as a facilitator to remind students of the dialogue guidelines, to direct them back to the text, or to offer a personal viewpoint about the text.
• When beginning, the seminars should only be 20-30 minutes.
• Allow students to pass if they wish.
• Moments of silence are good indicators of student thinking.
• Teach and help students to disagree in a way that continues the dialogue, not in a way that seems combative or the work of a "devil’s advocate."