104-Please try a SILENT Socratic Seminar...Compliments of Peergrade and the Stanford History Education Group

Summary: Socratic Seminars are a big part of my class. The students circle-up and then dissect complex topics. These are highly engaging, collaborative, and provocative sessions. We do them a lot. However, even if you thoroughly enjoy something, like the taste of a Reese Cup (the relevance of which I'll explain in the episode), if you do it too much...the magic is lost. I'm always looking for ways to improve engagement in class discussion. My kids are totally down with Philosophical Chairs, which I consider a highly successful experiment. A few months ago I ventured down a new a path, the Silent Socratic Seminar. Even as I read the last sentence, it seems absurd. How can you have a class discussion if no one says anything? This episode will demonstrate how you can do just that.