Case Study: Socrati Socratic Seminar
Does participating in professional development on Socratic Seminars result in higher reading comprehension scores than implementing this dialogic strategy without professional development?
My hypothesis is, that the teacher who receives professional development on implementing the Socratic Seminar will see higher reading comprehension scores than the other teacher. By receiving explicit training on how to effectively and meaningful use this strategy the teacher will be able to guide their students to a deeper level of understanding. The teacher that implements this strategy without the professional development will attempt to guide their students to a deeper level of understanding, but it may be more difficult without understanding exactly how to use the Socratic Seminar to do this.
Definition of Terms
Professional development: Professional development in this study refers to a specialized training for teachers to improve their professional knowledge, competence, skill, and effectiveness at implementing the teaching strategy Socratic Seminar. This would consist of at least one one-hour workshop provided by a reading specialist. …show more content…
Socratic Seminar: Socratic seminar in this study refers to a formal discussion, based on a text, in which the teacher asks open-ended questions.
Students are required to listen to others ideas, think critically, and articulate their point of view and their responses to the thoughts of others. This teaching method is a research based best practice for reading education (Gambrell & Morrow, 2015). Teachers first employ appropriate reading activities to provide students an opportunity to analyze the text. Next, the teacher must prepare the students to participate in the discussion by teaching effective listening strategies. The teacher’s role during the seminar, is to ask questions that promote higher-order thinking. Afterwards students understanding can be assessed through a summative
assessment.
Dialogic strategy: Dialogic strategy in this study refers to a discussion which is facilitated by the teacher that leads students to developing and understanding of the text they are engaging with or an understanding of the content they are discussing (Corcoran & Silander, 2009). This is different from the more common monologic approach of teachers. A monologic approach is when the teacher asks a question, a student responds, and the teacher evaluates the student’s response.
Reading Comprehension: Reading comprehension in this study refers to the students’ ability to understand and interpret what was read by making meaningful connections between the text and what they already know and by thinking deeply about what they have read. Reading comprehension can be assessed in a variety of ways. For the purpose of this study the school’s reading curriculum will be used to assess the students’ comprehension of the text.
My hypothesis is, that the teacher who receives professional development on implementing the Socratic Seminar will see higher reading comprehension scores than the other teacher. By receiving explicit training on how to effectively and meaningful use this strategy the teacher will be able to guide their students to a deeper level of understanding. The teacher that implements this strategy without the professional development will attempt to guide their students to a deeper level of understanding, but it may be more difficult without understanding exactly how to use the Socratic Seminar to do this.
Definition of Terms
Professional development: Professional development in this study refers to a specialized training for teachers to improve their professional knowledge, competence, skill, and effectiveness at implementing the teaching strategy Socratic Seminar. This would consist of at least one one-hour workshop provided by a reading specialist. …show more content…
Socratic Seminar: Socratic seminar in this study refers to a formal discussion, based on a text, in which the teacher asks open-ended questions.
Students are required to listen to others ideas, think critically, and articulate their point of view and their responses to the thoughts of others. This teaching method is a research based best practice for reading education (Gambrell & Morrow, 2015). Teachers first employ appropriate reading activities to provide students an opportunity to analyze the text. Next, the teacher must prepare the students to participate in the discussion by teaching effective listening strategies. The teacher’s role during the seminar, is to ask questions that promote higher-order thinking. Afterwards students understanding can be assessed through a summative
assessment.
Dialogic strategy: Dialogic strategy in this study refers to a discussion which is facilitated by the teacher that leads students to developing and understanding of the text they are engaging with or an understanding of the content they are discussing (Corcoran & Silander, 2009). This is different from the more common monologic approach of teachers. A monologic approach is when the teacher asks a question, a student responds, and the teacher evaluates the student’s response.
Reading Comprehension: Reading comprehension in this study refers to the students’ ability to understand and interpret what was read by making meaningful connections between the text and what they already know and by thinking deeply about what they have read. Reading comprehension can be assessed in a variety of ways. For the purpose of this study the school’s reading curriculum will be used to assess the students’ comprehension of the text.