Last summer, I read Socratic Circles by Matt Copeland. The idea of focused dialogue between students naturally appeals to me -- I love just "being there" when kids put their learning into words!
After a painfully difficult last school year, I was determined to try something new early in the first quarter of this new year.
I waffled like crazy for a few days -- kept moving it to "tomorrow" -- and almost backed out when the final "tomorrow" came! What if the kids wouldn't talk? What if having the inner circle sit on the floor and the outer circle sit in desks around them didn't work? What if they went for cut-throat debate instead of dialogue?
"At first i had no idea how this circle was going to work, because all i saw was desks around blankets on the floor. But once it started going it was quite interesting to see what people had to say." --AG
AG has no clue how uncertain I was. I, too, "had no idea how this circle was going to work!" But it did, as evidenced by the reflective blogging they did afterward:
"During discussion, so many ideas were brought up that i [hadn't thought of] before." --JP
". . . someone asked if you saw someone being picked on, would you step in and defend that person, or would you be to cool or to worried about what others would think about you to help? . . . I started thinking deeper about it, and it occurred to me that the answers that the group was giving were standard answers. "Yes, I help," "Without a doubt." But how many of us would TRULY have the ability to step into a situation like that and do something about it. It really makes you stop and think about how easy it is to say one thing and do something completely different." --JC
Students were thinking about things they hadn't thought of before . . . thinking more deeply . . . stopping and thinking . . .
I think it worked!
One vital thing I learned from just trying something new -- in this case, Socratic Circles, is that although the first time may be far from perfect, it's opened us all up to whole new possibilities for learning. As I'm reading my students' reflective journals about the Socratic Circle experience, I'm pulling -- literally cutting and pasting their very words into a PowerPoint presentation! -- great comments about what worked, what didn't work, what they can do differently next time. They won't need me to tell them what to; they've already spelled it out themselves.
I won't be telling -- I'll be modeling, monitoring, and setting up more authentic opportunities for practice and reflection. Which means I'd better quit blogging; I need to find a current news article that deals with issues of truth/lies and honor/dishonor. We're starting Hamlet later this week, and I'm thinking that dialoguing about these core issues will be a great place to start!
How about you? What's something new you've tried or will be trying? What's your rationale? What are your expectations and hopes? How are you feeling about trying something new?