What’s a Socratic Seminar and How Does it Work?

If you’re one of the hundreds of teachers who follows my work, you’ve probably noticed that I am a big believer in Socratic seminars. If you don’t follow my work, you’ll realize that by the end of this article. (Maybe even this very moment.) I love them for their versatility, their power, and their effectiveness. They just work, and we all need things like that in our classrooms.

I’ll mention that I’m a middle school ELA teacher, but Socratic seminars are a great tool for any content area or grade level. In my classroom, I’ve used them to discuss whole books and chapters of books, as introductions to different genres, and as a way to analyze short stories. Back in college, my education professor went meta and used them to talk about teaching strategies. I’ve seen history teachers use them for nonfiction texts, and I’ve heard of math and science teachers using them for topical discussions. That’s the versatility I mentioned above.

What is a Socratic Seminar?

"The School of Athens" painting by Raphael depicts philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists like Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates.

Okay, so they’re versatile and powerful, but what are they?

In the simplest terms, a Socratic seminar is a student-led discussion. They are named after Socrates, who often taught by asking questions. Similarly, your students will be forming their own questions about the text (or whatever topic you’re discussing), and they’ll use those questions to lead the conversation. It’s a great way to improve their critical thinking, conversational, and metacognitive skills.

How Does a Socratic Seminar Work?

If you’re interested in incorporating a Socratic seminar into your classroom, you’re probably wondering how they actually work. While I give in-depth instructions further on in this post, you can find a quick summary below.

Essentially, before the conversation, students are given time to prepare. The primary way they do this is by creating their own probing questions about a certain topic. (Probing questions, by the way, are questions that can’t be answered with a yes or no statement; they’re generative, sparking more questions than answers.) This process gets them thinking critically and deeply about the subject at hand. Once they’ve created their own questions, they bring them to the discussion, ask them when its appropriate, and respond to their classmates’ questions as able. This makes for an engaging, free-flowing conversation that can last a whole class period.

How to Prepare for a Socratic Seminar:

Once you know what a Socratic seminar is, the next step is preparing yourself and your students for the conversation yet to come. To me, this is the most important part of any Socratic seminar. Successful student discussions don’t just happen naturally, no matter how well-spoken your kids are; they are the result of thoughtful, in-depth preparation. Let’s talk about what that looks like.

Make sure everyone understands the concept.

This applies to both you and your students. If the what and how of Socratic seminars is still unclear, spend some time unpacking them. If you’re a visual person, you can find a lot of great examples on YouTube.

If you’re still having trouble grasping the concept, I find it helps to oversimplify. (It can take some of the pressure off, at least.) Simply put, a Socratic seminar is when your students ask one another thoughtful, generative questions about a text, concept, or idea. It’s like the grown up version of the “Why?” game that three-year-olds play. For example:

Student One: Why does the government burn books in Bradbury’s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451?

Student Two: Books add complexity to the otherwise simple, television-ruled lives of the characters in the story. They change they way people think, and the government doesn’t like that.

Student Three: Why would Ray Bradbury write about a government that burns books in the first place?

Student One: I think he was worried that technology—especially television and radio—would lead to a society that devalued slow and thoughtful living.

Student Two: Do you think we’re living in the world of Fahrenheit 451 today? We have technology that distracts us even more than the characters in the book. How are we any different?

Etc. etc. etc.

Give students enough time to prepare.

If they don’t have plenty of runway, they won’t be able to effectively prepare their thoughts and questions. For me, in my ELA classroom, I’ll let me students know we’re having a Socratic seminar anywhere from 3-5 days in advance.

Let’s say, for example, that our discussion is going to be centered around a short story. In that case, I’ll introduce the concept of a Socratic seminar before reading the story, and I’d give my students a full day in class after reading the story to work on their questions. When you add reading and other analysis into that, they know about the conversation at least three days ahead of time, if not more. For other subjects or topics, you can tell them even earlier.

Give students clear guidance and examples.

This can look like many things: clear reference guides, one-on-one support, or teacher modeling for the whole class. In my classroom, it looks like all three. I always spend time on “question day”—which is how I refer to the day before the seminar when students are drafting their questions—reviewing what a “probing question” is with my class. As needed, I’ll model what it looks like to come up with a probing question. Then I give my students question stems to use as they work, and I walk around the room offering support where I can.

If you’re not sure what a good question stem looks like, check out the following:

What might X tell us about Y?
Do you think Z connects with X somehow?
How would the story change if X?
What does Y show us about the theme?
How does X help develop the theme?

When you’re making your own question stems, just think about the questions you would ask about the text or topic, then find a way to generalize that for student use.

Arrange the room for conversation.

In other words, make sure the desks are aligned in a way that will enable each student to engage with any other student as needed. Generally, this means arranging desks in a big circle, but it could take other shapes if you prefer. And if you’re leading your Socratic seminar over Zoom or Google Meet, establishing rules for speaking is a great step you can take.

Set clear expectations.

I find it’s always helpful to go into the Socratic seminar with a few ground rules. In my classroom, this looks like the following:

Come to the discussion with 2-3 questions in hand. Usually, I have my students write their questions down on actual paper, but they can keep them on a phone or computer if you’re feeling trusting. You can of course require more or less questions as well.
Verbally participate at least two times, if not more. Again, the exact number is up to you, but with large classes I’ve found that two times shows students are engaged while saving room for everyone to be involved.
Do not repeat similar comments or questions. This is partly why it’s helpful to have 2-3 questions—in case someone asks something similar. Nothing slows a conversation faster than a repetitive thought or comment.
Go with the flow of the conversation. In other words, don’t force a question in just to “participate” twice. If your question fits the topic or follows nicely from the previous question, go for it. If it doesn’t address the current moment, maybe wait and see where the conversation goes. And if there’s ever a lag in the conversation, feel free to add your question then.

Usually I’ll go over these expectations on the same day I tell students about the seminar, but it’s helpful to remind students of them on the day of the discussion as well.

How to Host a Socratic Seminar:

Three students are gathered around a table. Their open notebooks and engaged looks signify that they're ready for an in-depth discussion or Socratic seminar.

Once you’ve prepared yourself, your students, and your classroom fort the Socratic seminar, it’s time to actually host it! Generally, as the teacher, this is the easiest and most rewarding day of the week (as long as you’ve prepared effectively). It mostly involves giving guidance as needed and starting the grading process as able.

As far as guidance goes, the teacher’s role on discussion day is to reinforce the expectations, open the floor to conversation, and nudge the conversation along by asking a follow-up question of your own as needed. For me, this means reading the expectations (mentioned above) at the beginning of class, then asking the students if anyone has a particularly exciting question they’ve been wanting to ask. After that, I’ll ask my own questions if there’s a serious lull in the conversation, or I’ll call on students to share their questions with the class.

In regards to grading, I’ll take careful note of who participates while the discussion is happening—that’s about all I can manage since I’m not the best multitasker. If you’re up to it, however, you can also start filling out rubrics for the students as they participate. (That’s my preferred way to grade these conversations; and you can pretty easily find high-quality rubrics with a quick Google search.) Alternatively, you can just use this is a participation grade, or you can grade your students’ comments/questions based on their level of insight.

If you’re feeling really energized, you can also write some sentence frames on the board or add them to a projector before the conversation starts. These can be helpful resources for students who might otherwise struggle to interject or participate effectively. I like to use the following:

“I agree about X because…”
“Adding to what Z said…”
“To be clear, you’re saying that…”
“What do you mean when you say X?”
“Is it fair to say that you believe…”

Final Thoughts:

Generally speaking, I’ll have my students write a short reflection after the seminar is over. This serves as an “exit-ticket” for the day and helps me ensure that they met the desired learning outcome. I’ve found that this is a particularly helpful practice for my students who don’t enjoy verbally participating. Writing their thoughts down provides an alternate method to assess their understanding and participation in the conversation. As I like to tell my class: Participation includes their attentiveness, not just their words.

Otherwise, everything I’ve included above should be more than enough to help you host an effective conversation. If you do host one, let me know how it went in the comments below. And if you’re interested in using my student and teacher resources for Socratic seminars, you can find them on Teachers Pay Teachers. I’ve also linked to them in the list below.

Write with a Point