Dare to Disagree
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Critical Thinking and Socratic Teaching
In this fantastic Ted Talk, Margaret Heffernan speaks on the
importance of conflict to elicit truly productive thinking. In her words,
people who disagree with each other can provide “…a fantastic model of
collaboration: thinking partners who aren’t echo chambers.” While the idea
sounds great, the difficulty lies in the need to resist our desire to stay with
the familiar and face the fear of conflict. The crux of the matter is whether or
not we will dare to disagree with each other, and then move, in patience and
charity, towards better thinking together. I would like us to be able to ask
each other how we can grow, individually and as a school, in this this
difficult but vital skill. I hope you give this little gem a listen. It’s well
worth your time (although you can disagree with me if you like!)
-Candace Arce-Lindsay
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Critical Thinking and Socratic Teaching
“Socratic questioning requires teachers to take seriously and wonder about what students say and think: what they mean, its significance to them, its relationship to other beliefs, how it can bested, to what extent and in what way it is true or makes sense.”
Richard
Paul, Critical
Thinking
This
quote and accompanying link is taken from Richard Paul’s chapter “Socratic
Questioning” in his book, Critical Thinking.
Two points stood out to me as interesting and, perhaps, useful in thinking
about how Socratic teaching is done in an Archway classroom.
*First,
Paul draws a strong connection between critical thinking and Socratic teaching;
that is, a Socratic conversation is a way of modeling critical thought aloud.
*Second,
Paul places strong emphasis on listening carefully to student contributions and
the follow-up questions a teacher might use to help refine a child’s thinking
in order to uncover logical fallacies or untrue assumptions. (The term
“follow-up question” is mine. I am drawing a distinction between an
opening question, e.g., Why didn’t Columbus sail in a straight line?, and a
follow-up question (to a student’s proposed answer, “because of the currents”),
e.g., How would currents affect a ship’s navigation? Do we have evidence
that the currents were to blame?
I
believe teachers will find the sample Socratic questions particularly
useful. We spend a lot of time discussing philosophy but it is also nice,
I think, to have some concrete examples to pull into your next lesson.
Please
read the short article and
relay your thoughts or additional questions in the comments section in
order to spark further conversation among our staff. In particular, I am
curious about which sample follow-up questions you have found useful or might
try in your classroom. Conversely, you might relay some challenges you
have had with Socratic discussion in some subject areas.
Neil
Gillingham 1/26/16
I do feel that the Socratic method allows for a shift of power in the classroom. This is especially true in the 4th grade classroom. Students are empowered to "speak up" and share their thoughts. In turn, it forces the teacher to hang on their words. It changes the dynamic from teacher speak - student listen to all speak- all listen. Mr. Posner
ReplyDeleteMichelle Porcelli - The author discusses the pursuit of "problematic thought" as integral to Socratic discussion. I find it very difficult to pursue problematic lines of thought within the time constraints of a single lesson. This is perhaps the greatest challenge of a lesson with any discussion element. While I recognize that it is crucial for students to unveil the assumptions and inconsistencies in a premature line of thought, I do not know how to provide opportunities for such unveiling in 40 minute lesson with a hefty informational objective. Any advice?
ReplyDeleteMy follow up question is to everyone:
DeleteIs our goal of teaching a concept to achieve quality or quantity in learning?
By the way, I do not have a clear-cut answer to this question either; considering the fact that, we have huge volume of concepts we need
to teach in fifth grade.
I agree with Ms. Porcelli. I've encountered the same difficulty with time constraints in integrating Socratic questioning into my lessons, particularly outside of Touchpebbles. I believe that students will have deeper and more lasting understanding of the concept of understood subject pronouns in an imperative sentence, for example, if they are able to discover it through their own questioning; however, sometimes the lesson is reduced to reciting and explaining the given rule purely in the interest of time. Perhaps using Paul's suggestions, we could try prepping specific questions that would tie into the lesson and create a general path that you might foresee the conversation going. If the discussion is structured in this way, maybe we would be able to manage the timing better. - Caeli Austin
ReplyDeleteI love asking my students some of these questions. I'm particularly looking at those questions listed in the "clarification" section, and this is not necessarily because they need to clarify their reasoning or logic; I just want to find out why they came up with the answer I got. With these scholars being around 8 years old, they have a view of things that I may never have considered because I am no longer in line with their view of the world. What may seem murky or unclear to us can be black or white for them as they develop their own senses of justice. We might not be able to reach the depths of discussion that Prep students, for example, may reach (whether that's due to time constraints or age-appropriate ability) but I often come away from our discussions with some new discovery of a world view, as well as how my students' minds work.
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ReplyDeleteOne aspect of the article I appreciate is the classification of the Socratic questions. By segregating the questions into different categories, it allows the leader to ask more refined questions that target specific issues. It allows the Socratic leader to focus his or her energy on discerning the challenges to understanding without having to creatively conjure questions at the same time.
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ReplyDeleteI like the emphasis that Richard Paul places on teachers probing beneath the surface of things. My experience with doing this effectively is that I have to listen attentively and be proactive in asking the next "right/appropriate" question. Above all, I am fascinated by how much socratic teaching allows students to arrive at sound judgement from their own reasoning. I really like that moment when the scales drop, and they are able to draw conclusions about a certain concept. I love my students very much, but I consistently choose not to spoon-feed them with answers. This is the real beauty of socratic teaching.
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