One of the first professional development sessions I ever attended was called "Mentoring Minds," and was sponsored by a company of the same name. They used the wheels in a Socratic circles scenario, which as a new teacher I had never heard of. After the demonstration I had to have some, and now use them several times a year to great effect in my classroom. This post explains my use of Socratic circles and the Critical Thinking Wheels, based on Bloom's Taxonomy, in my English classes.
Most recently, my AP English class had their first Socratic Circle of the year as their test grade for The Great Gatsby. After finishing the book, I pass out the thinking wheels and do a brief lesson on what Bloom's Taxonomy is in terms of different tiers of critical thinking. This year our school has introduced Data Walks and trained all the teachers on "Student-Friendly objectives," so the most advanced of my students liked this insight into how we, their teachers, think about our lessons.
The wheels have verbs on the inside, and a window with question stems that spin around. I gave them some examples of the easier Knowledge/Recall questions:
What do you recall about Myrtle's death?
Who is Daisy Buchanan?
We worked our way to demonstrating the higher-level questions, like:
Predict the outcome if Tom knew Daisy was driving. (Synthesis/Create)
What would you have told the police if you were Nick? (Evaluate)
Students each wrote two questions for each of the six fields, twelve total.
The wheels have verbs on the inside, and a window with question stems that spin around. I gave them some examples of the easier Knowledge/Recall questions:
What do you recall about Myrtle's death?
Who is Daisy Buchanan?
We worked our way to demonstrating the higher-level questions, like:
Predict the outcome if Tom knew Daisy was driving. (Synthesis/Create)
What would you have told the police if you were Nick? (Evaluate)
Students each wrote two questions for each of the six fields, twelve total.
On the day of the Socratic Circle, the classroom is set up with half the desks arranged in an "inside" circle and the rest arranged in an "outside" circle. Each student has a partner, with one partner sitting on the inside and one on the outside. The inside circle runs the discussion, and the outside circle listens and takes notes. Halfway through class, the circles switch.
Students are graded on their participation on the inside circle and their attention in the outside circle. Students use their questions to generate a student-led discussion on the inside. There is one extra chair on the inside circle, designated as the "hot seat." If a student on the outside circle desperately wants to jump into the inside circle, he or she can go sit in the hot seat - though the inside circle does have the right to ignore the hot seat if they choose. Students must add a minimum of three quality thoughts to the inside circle discussion; asking a question from their lists does not count. Their partners on the outside take notes on their responses to track for grading purposes.
The inside circle also gets to set their own discussion norms; some decide to have a free-for-all, jumping in whenever. Other circles opt for a speaking tool, where they toss a beanie baby or ball around and only the holder can talk. Some circles elect a "leader" within their circle who calls on people and makes sure that the quieter students get a chance to jump in.
My only job is to keep track of time, reminding them when there are five minutes to go. I love this class because it is entirely student-led. The first time we do it, it's often a little uncomfortable for them; students try to look to me for approval or when they can't answer a question themselves, but I redirect them to their circle or invite an outsider to the hot seat. After each class, students thank me and ask to do it again.
I use this class project to invite students to delve deeply into a text. They get annoyed with the easy "recall" questions and prefer digging up text evidence for the higher-level thinking questions. It become blatantly obvious which students did not do all of the assigned reading, and the peer pressure to participate increases reading levels for the next Socratic circle. By far the best part is that it is entirely student-led. They love being in control of their discussion, and jump on top of each other trying to add a more creative question or response. They are always disappointed when time is cut off. It gives them a non-written-test way to express their views and show their understanding of a reading. The exercise is versatile; it can be done with a full-length book (I've used it with To Kill a Mockingbird, Julius Caesar, Brave New World, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Great Gatsby), as well as shorter stories and essays. I had classes in college where participation was my primary graded task, and small seminar courses where it was do the reading or flounder. This exercise prepares students for both, plus it allows for a break from normal testing procedures.
Students are graded on their participation on the inside circle and their attention in the outside circle. Students use their questions to generate a student-led discussion on the inside. There is one extra chair on the inside circle, designated as the "hot seat." If a student on the outside circle desperately wants to jump into the inside circle, he or she can go sit in the hot seat - though the inside circle does have the right to ignore the hot seat if they choose. Students must add a minimum of three quality thoughts to the inside circle discussion; asking a question from their lists does not count. Their partners on the outside take notes on their responses to track for grading purposes.
The inside circle also gets to set their own discussion norms; some decide to have a free-for-all, jumping in whenever. Other circles opt for a speaking tool, where they toss a beanie baby or ball around and only the holder can talk. Some circles elect a "leader" within their circle who calls on people and makes sure that the quieter students get a chance to jump in.
My only job is to keep track of time, reminding them when there are five minutes to go. I love this class because it is entirely student-led. The first time we do it, it's often a little uncomfortable for them; students try to look to me for approval or when they can't answer a question themselves, but I redirect them to their circle or invite an outsider to the hot seat. After each class, students thank me and ask to do it again.
I use this class project to invite students to delve deeply into a text. They get annoyed with the easy "recall" questions and prefer digging up text evidence for the higher-level thinking questions. It become blatantly obvious which students did not do all of the assigned reading, and the peer pressure to participate increases reading levels for the next Socratic circle. By far the best part is that it is entirely student-led. They love being in control of their discussion, and jump on top of each other trying to add a more creative question or response. They are always disappointed when time is cut off. It gives them a non-written-test way to express their views and show their understanding of a reading. The exercise is versatile; it can be done with a full-length book (I've used it with To Kill a Mockingbird, Julius Caesar, Brave New World, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Great Gatsby), as well as shorter stories and essays. I had classes in college where participation was my primary graded task, and small seminar courses where it was do the reading or flounder. This exercise prepares students for both, plus it allows for a break from normal testing procedures.