A Better Way To Teach History Socratic Seminar

"The unexamined life is not worth living." -Socrates

Socrates was a famous Greek philosopher Socrates was a famous Greek philosopher. His method of teaching encouraged students to question everything. The Greek government became uneasy with this method, for when people begin to question everything, they are no longer blinded by what they are told. Instead, they look at everything with a critical eye. Because Socrates’ methods made the Greek government nervous, they sentenced him to death. His death sentence was to drink a poisoned drink (hemlock). One of his students was so inspired by Socrates that he dedicated his life to writing down everything Socrates ever said – that student was Plato. Today, thousands of years later, we realize how brilliant his methods were. What we’re going to embark on today is based on Socrates’ methods – the Socratic Seminar.

Group Work Directions With your group, you will read the document and describe the information in each document and decide for yourself. For each document you will describe the information your own words.

Questions to be Discussed Outer Circle Inner Circle

Socratic Seminar Questions What do I do? Socratic Seminar Questions Refer to text when needed during discussion. A seminar is not a test of memory. It’s okay to pass when asked to contribute Do not say confused; ask for clarification Stick to the point and make notes about ideas you want to come back to. Don’t raise hands, take turns speaking. Discuss ideas not opinions. Sentence Starters I agree/disagree … I believe that… I have a question …. How do you teach history? Is it feasible to use the case study method for all of your lessons? Should our classes be about acquiring content or critical thinking? Would your students do better in your class if there were no Multiple Choice tests? Do our HW packets continue the one narrative/objective that most textbooks have?