Socratic Circles are a great way to engage students in a provocative question. Students are engaged with the topic, encouraged to think about complex topics with a critical eye, and inspired to explore big ideas.
However, Socratic Circles can be a challenge in a classroom with 30 or more students. In a large class, it can be a challenge to ensure all students have a voice. There are time, space, and personality constraints that sometimes mean the conversation is dominated by just a few voices.
A Simple Tool That Can Help
By leveraging digital tools, you can mitigate these constraints and give all of your students a voice. Google Classroom features tools that will ensure all students have the opportunity to explore their own thinking as well as their classmate’s.
How It Works
Set up your Socratic Circle with inner and outer circles. The inner circle is students participating in the usual way. They will respond to each other’s thoughts without talking over each other and while using respectful discourse. The outer circle students concurrently use their Chromebooks to react to the discussion via the discussion feature in google classroom.
The engagement of the students in both circles will be greater. In this Socratic Circle, every student has a voice. Because of this, the ability for each group to function at a higher level will grow.
The inner circle discussion is more robust because of the smaller number of participants. The outer circle discussion will be lively and engaged because they can respond to the discussion in real-time. For the outer circle participants, this is a huge part of engagement. Instead of having to wait for the inner circle to finish, the outer circle can share their thoughts in real-time.
Take a look:
Want to keep up with new blog posts, tech tips, and other content? Subscribe below and receive an email when new content is posted here. As a thank you, we’ll send you a free Google Form + Google MyMaps activity you can use with your students tomorrow.
No spam, ever. No address selling either. Ever.