Socratic Method Discussion

Death of Socrates

I love the idea of Socratic Method discussions...so why are they so difficult to put into practice? I believe there are several reasons for why it is so difficult to achieve Socratic style discussions.

1. The majority of us are Conveyor Belt Educated...we never learned by using Socratic discussion, so have no idea what it is like to achieve it in practice.
2. There is some illusive idea that we need to follow a specific outline, set of discussion questions, or be a master of verbalizing ideas in order to achieve a true Socratic discussion. 
3. Lack of confidence in ourselves to be able to achieve something so beyond our idea of what education looks like.
4. We have not studied Plato's works, so thus we have not been exposed to the "real" Socrates, much less read all of the original texts in order to fully know what it all is anyway.

Luckily, there is a way to overcome all of these hold-ups!

Step 1 - Study the Classics

First, we must read the original works. For the longest time I thought Socrates was the author of the original works. Not true! Plato is the author of several dialogues in which he quotes the ideas and methodology of Socrates, his mentor. This is an easy fix, although granted a daunting one. 

I have read all most of Plato's works (I have not read The Law).  In the beginning, they were very hard to understand. However, the beauty of  reading the classics is that the reader becomes better able to comprehend what is read with practice. Read, read, read! You will become better at understanding as you study.

I recommend starting with Plato's Dialogues and finishing with The Republic. I read The Republic (free Google Book) first, much to my folly, and realized that was not the best place to start. I am not positive which order of reading is "correct" or best.

Step 2 - Practice

After reading all of Plato's works, start practicing! Try asking questions like Socrates did at the dinner table, with your spouse, with your children, with your friends...even on Facebook! I've found that practicing with every day conversation became much easier than at a class or book club meeting. 

Later, once you feel more confident in your abilities at every day conversation, move up to this type of discussion at book clubs and classes. Even in church! Yes, you may get a few stares, but in the long run you may find that people look forward to hearing questions outside of the typical church related cookie-cutter answers.

Step 3 - Apply to Mentoring

The hardest part is to learn to turn knowledge into application. That said, if you followed Step 2, you have already been practicing! "Practice makes perfect!"

I believe one of the most difficult things is to allow a time of silence when my students do not answer a question. I've found that I need to wait at least 10 seconds before rephrasing my question. In a room full of people, 10 seconds feels like a long time! I have also asked my students to bring questions of their own for classes and book clubs. Learn to allow the students to ask questions. 

This is one of the most important parts of learning how to think...let your students think...be their guide, not their answer source. It is OK to say, "I don't know the answer to that question. Where do you think we would find it?" 

Step 4 - Allow for Imperfection

I am not a perfect example of the Method, as I am still a work in progress myself. I am much better on paper (or on the web) than I am in person. :-) I am still working at my ability to hold and carry on a Socratic Method Discussion.

That said, I do believe that we can learn through reading the classics...specifically Plato's own words. If you want to know how to do it, learn it "straight from the horse's mouth".

TJED Conveyor-belt

Death of Socrates

I was going to post another Classics List for transcript purposes, but decided this needed to be posted instead.

On a Yahoo Group, of which I am a member, a discussion topic came up that has really got me thinking about TJED Conveyor-belt and the vast number of TJED based classes. I felt it need to be answered a bit more. So many people are looking for classroom environments for their Love of Learners and Scholars and I wonder if the choices out there meet the mustard.

Quote from a "TJED Muse" post: "When I asked the kids what they thought they'd REALLY like this class to look like, almost all of them agreed that they wanted to have a "sit down and take notes and lecture" part to the class each week, and they wanted it to last for 15 minutes. They also wanted a test. That was their request. Now, I wouldn't have designed a TJ Ed class that way, but it is what they wanted. So after four weeks, I talked to them again, and asked them what they had noticed. They noticed that they LIKED the lecture/notes, because they wanted to make sure that they were able to do that like the kids who attend public school."

My Answer: Have you ever considered that the reason these students asked for that type of learning environment is because that is the only picture of education that they have in the world today? Let's consider some other learning environments that brought people from thousands of miles away in a time when travel was difficult and time consuming, for example; Socrates, Aristotle, and Euclid.

How did they teach their students? Did they have tests, pre-essay and post-essay samples, or a syllabus? Or, did they inspire through asking and answering the tough questions, challenging the status quo, and showing by example what it takes to think for oneself? They taught their students in a Socratic discussion style in which they asked questions, deep thinking questions, and tried to answer them. These thinkers did not send out the questions before hand, rather they came up within the discussion.

As I read and study the great thinkers through the classics, I see very little classrooms that look like what we know today. For myself, I don't want my kids to get more of the world, I want them to get more of what is lost...a true educational experience that steps outside the box and asks the hard questions. In order to do that, it might mean taking the road less traveled and searching for those educational experiences that will impact them the most rather than a plethora of mediocre, which there is plenty of out there.

Does this mean we never experience the conveyor-belt? Of course not! There is too much around to avoid. But what it does mean is that we are careful and purposeful in what we choose to spend our time doing. There are many good things out there, but are they the best things? Only each family can answer that question for their family. I do hope, however, that we each keep the goal in sight as we make those decisions. Will this class, teacher, mentor, school, book club, group, friend, etc. lead my child closer to their end goals? Is this the best choice, or just a good choice?

For more on Socratic discussion, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method and
http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/the-role-of-socratic-questioning-in-thinki\ng-teaching-learning/522