In AP English Language and Composition, our overarching behavioral goals are to learn how to learn and to cultivate intrinsic motivation through both self-direction and cooperation. As a matter of priority, we are working to build a culture of question-asking that, I hope, will gradually 1) minimize students’ disinclination to express uncertainty or ignorance, and 2) increase their tolerance of ambiguity.
Our Socratic Seminars are an essential part of our effort to build this culture.
Our goal here is to understand more and more deeply that question-asking is THE engine of learning, and that this engine should operate at every level. Individuals need the capacity to ask their own questions and, then, to direct those questions to the world around them.
Here are a few documents that explain what a Socratic Seminar is and how it works:
- Characteristics
- Elements
- The Opening Question
- Ground Rules
- Habits of Mind
- The Socratic Rules of Engagement
- Socratic Questions
Here are the texts that have been the focus of our Socratic Seminars during the 2nd Semester of the 2023/2024 school year. Before each seminar, students are expected to read the relevant text closely and actively, interacting with it thoughtfully by highlighting and annotating it. This will both deepen their preparation for our discussion and facilitate their participation in it.
- Socratic Seminar #1 (Wed, Jan 31, 2024): “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato (429?-347 BCE)
- Socratic Seminar #2 (Wed, Feb 14, 2024): “A Talk to Teachers” by James Baldwin (1924-1987)
- Socratic Seminar #3 (Wed, Feb 28, 2024): “Education” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
- Socratic Seminar #4 (Wed, Mar 20, 2024): “On National Education” by Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
- Socratic Seminar #5 (Wed, Apr 17, 2024): “Memes: The New Replicators” by Richard Dawkins (1941- )