April 2007

Greetings Educators Guild Members! 

Have you ever heard the old adage, “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.  Teach a man to fish; and you will have fed him for a lifetime?”  Well, Socrates thought it was more important to help students think for themselves than to merely fill their heads with “right” answers.  Do your students know how to think for themselves? 

The Educators Guild would like you to consider Socratic Seminars! 

Do your students routinely argue with you and other students in order to express their point of view without thought to yours?  Do they want to debate every element of your lecture?  Probably so - they are gifted students! J  In Socratic Seminars students and teachers learn to listen to each other’s perspective, evaluate their own perspective and share the process of learning. They not only bring meaning to topics across any curriculum but also combine autonomous learning! 

For more information, check out these links

• Introduction to Socratic Seminars
• Using Socratic seminars with middle school students
• Opening and sustaining questions
• Field Trip Earth

WebQuests for possible use with Socratic Seminars:

Human Cloning? Why Not? (grades 9-12)
Human cloning is a timely and critical issue in today’s world. In this quest students work in groups and take roles to explore the subject in detail from the perspective of ethicists or scientists and present their findings in a Power Point presentation.

Illegal Mexican Immigration (grades 6-8)
In this webquest, students will research current U.S.-Mexican border laws and the pros and cons of the current system. They will then choose to either support stricter border laws or support less strict border laws, and present their findings in a persuasive Power Point presentation. They will also compose a credible letter to Congress voicing their concerns.

The American Revolution, Was It Worth It? (grades 3-5)
As 5th graders study the American Revolution, this webquest will give you a chance to research key positive and negative effects the Revolutionary War had on Americans. By the end of this webquest, students will decide if they would have fought in the war or not had they lived at the time of the American Revolution, and will try to convince people in their community why they should follow.

We hope you find this information helpful.  Remember, members have access to our team of professionals for consultation.  Therefore, if you are looking for assistance, ideas or resources, please feel free to contact us: edguild@ditd.org.