Socratic Seminar and Kids of All Ages!

 Socratic Seminar is not just for older students.  If you try it with first-third graders, the procedure is a little different than with fifth or sixth graders, but the outcome is the same...critical thinking! 

Here are some things I've noticed with doing Socratic Seminar with younger students:

• They get their feelings hurt when someone disagrees with them. Focus on this skill of disagreeing appropriately a little more closely when preparing primary students for Socratic discussions.  Try to anticipate all the possibilities and feelings they might have. Honestly, this is true of all grade levels, but the older students understand faster because of their developmental ages. 
• They need reminders of the norms often.  I always go over the norms for every single Socratic Seminar in every single grade, but they may need more support in the primary grades.
• They may need more support with reading the book.  I would always recommend reading a book twice before discussing.  

Students create their own questions as they get older and more adept at Socratic Seminar

In general, there are some tips for making your Socratic Seminars better- no matter how old your students are:

• Always review the norms while anticipating all the possibilities of problems you can think of or issues from previous days. 
• Stay physically away from the group.  This is one of the MOST tragic pitfalls of teachers using Socratic Seminars.  You must stay out of the discussion as much as possible.  If a teacher has a hard time being "hands off", s/he should practice, ummmm, keeping his/her opinions and comments in check!  Sorry, but it's the truth. Sit away and try to stay quiet. Observe, listen, always, but guide only if you must.  There are, of course, obvious times when the adult in the room must intervene.  However, your time for guiding the group to answers you hope to hear should come after the Socratic Seminar when you can make clarifications and have students respond outside of Socratic Seminar. 
• Never force a student to participate.  Instead, when out of earshot of the class, encourage, quietly, gently.  
• Choose your questions carefully.  If your group is in the beginning stages of learning how to conduct Socratic Seminars, you could model and use your own questions. My products have good questions and book ideas to get you started (linked here and below.)  Use Bloom's or any worthy taxonomy you choose.  If your students are at the stage where they can write their own questions and discussion topics, take time to read them and choose the best ones.  I use sticky notes for them to write questions as they are reading, and they then turn them in to me, and I choose the most powerful ones. I often combine similar questions. 
• Be proactive in teaching students stems for disagreement.  Prepare them for the mindset of no right or wrong answers, and everybody's opinion matters.   
• Use a rubric for self evaluation and goal setting.  We set individual and class goals.  The norms offer a great starting place for setting all goals.  After they have mastered those, let them explore different goals for themselves. 
• Offer a written response opportunity after Socratic Seminar.  Have students use their own questions, questions that were used in the discussion, or any new questions they have for a written response in a journal or even a "Flip" or other online platform for reflections. This is a great opportunity to allow some students who are afraid to share or who didn't get to say what they wanted to say to have a voice. 
• Encourage, encourage, encourage.  Tell them what an awesome job they did. To quote my wise mother who taught for thirty years, "Nothing succeeds like success."  Let them know the successes you noticed, even if there is room for improvement. 

Below are products to get you started and products for those of you looking for great stories to use with your younger students.  

For younger kids- online book ideas with questions

If you are just getting started, try this product!

ICE BREAKERS!

     My students seldom mind doing work.  As GT students, they love to dig in and produce work they are passionate about.  Part of my job as a GT teacher is to instill a love for learning and teach them to work together as a team!  I had the privilege of attending the TAGT (Texas Association of the Gifted and Talented) conference in  December.  It was a fantastic conference!!  There, I encountered a couple of really fun games that require 15 minutes of class time and a million laughs and affirmations!  The first is called "Morphing."  As the class sits in a circle, teacher chooses an simple item such as a stapler.  I start the game with "this used to be a stapler, but now it's a...telegraph sending Morse Code."  I then pass the stapler to the next person who says "This used to be a telegraph machine...but now it's a ______." This goes all the way around the circle.  The kids absolutely love it!  

     The next game I learned is called "Four-Headed Professor."  We get four students to the front of the room and ask them questions like "Oh Wise Four-Headed Professor, can you explain the water cycle?"  The four students then proceed to be allowed to only speak one word at a time going in order and telling how the water cycle works (or whatever they are asked to explain).   They have to rely on the person ahead of them to determine what they say.  It  becomes hilarious and my students can't wait to be chosen.  Surprisingly, even the shy students want to play.  They only have to say one word, so how hard can it be?  It's all fun!  

     Our third, but not least favorite game is called "Drama Circle."  I buy these on TPT from Runde's Room.  She does a great job with these activities.  They are super easy.  Each student gets a card that has one thing for them to say or act out, and each card is dependent on the one before it.  Big laughs and engagement!!  For my older GT students, I have had them create their own drama circles and work together to make the all connect.  It is a great group project that requires collaboration, thinking, and creativity.  I had to tweak a few of them so that they are easy to follow, but kids can do this!  

    Group Juggle is our all-time favorite.  We start the year with this game.  We bring it back when we add new GT students to our classroom.   All of the students think of an alliterative name to go with their first name.  (I'm Laughing Lee, and I've been Loveable Lee!)   The linked website explains it exactly like we do it in my class.  I use small stuffed animals (and we discuss the difference between tossing and throwing the stuffies.)  

     The students in your room need breaks. They need reasons to look forward to your class, and while they most likely love the work you give them, they will also love a brain break and a giggle or two!  Do you ever wonder if school for kids is the same as professional developments can be for us?  EEEEK, I hope not.  Only you can fix that and help them think of your classroom as a place of fun, interesting work, and most importantly, a place where they feel welcome can be themselves!

TPT SALE!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Teacher-Stuff-And-A-Little-Fluff

 

What is a Socratic Seminar?

Your next question may be, "can I do this with my elementary aged students?"   

A Socratic Seminar is a discussion method begun by, guess who?  Anyone? Bueller? :)

Socrates. Of course!

His method of creating learners who can think and articulate answers for themselves taught his students to discuss their ideas.  In elementary schools, where I have spent most of my teaching career,  I began to use the Socratic Seminar Method with third graders.  Since then, I've utilized Socratic Seminars for kids as young as first grade with great success.  One of the biggest buy-ins for students is understanding that what you are going to have them do is actually on a high school or college level.  They love to hear that.  

Success breeds success

Just determine you will try it out. Soon, you will have a group of students who can carry on an academic discussion, and all you had to do was find really good literature, choose the best topics/questions for discussion, and teach them the norms.  Success at this level is very rewarding for your students.  They know they are doing something amazing.  

Practice makes better. 

You will have to give them practice time to learn the norms and become fearless to express themselves.  This means you have to have a safe environment where nobody laughs at anybody because of their opinions or thoughts. You also have to teach elementary students how to accept and welcome answers different from their own and not become offended when someone disagrees.  You will need to teach polite sentence stems to begin a differing opinion.  Students will learn to use these and they may even spill over into other academic activities.  I have definitely noticed this happen in my classes.  

What to do

1. Find a couple of great story books that have strong themes (middle school students love story books...they just don't want to check them out from the library.  This gives them permission to read great stories.)  The books you choose are probably your favorite read-alouds anyway! These will be your "training books."  Novels can also be used, but short stories/books are best to start with. 

2. Write a few discussion topics.  Drag out the list of Bloom's Verbs that is probably in your files.  Find verbs from columns four or five that cause students to think critically.  You should pre-teach what the verbs mean. You should NEVER front-load ideas about the story prior to reading or conducting a Socratic Seminar.  Your topics/questions should not have a correct answer.  No literal questions allowed. 

3. Tell the students what you are going to do after the book.  Go over the norms.  Find some videos on YouTube of younger kids having Socratic Seminars.  

4. Read the story book. (Remember, no front-loading or pre-teaching outside of going over the norms and the few Bloom's Verbs.)  

5. Read the book again the next day if time allows.  

6. Conduct your first Socratic Seminar.  

This is not hard, friends.  It's not a secret, complicated method.  It just requires training and celebrating small successes.  We are at a place in my classroom where we set goals for our own personal participation and use rubrics to evaluate our participation.  My students write their own topics (I choose which ones we use), and they know how to use Bloom's Verbs (I tell them it's a list that only teachers had, and I'm SHARING it with them.  So coool.)

If you want support and some question stems to get you started, I do offer that in my TPT store.  Or, you can WING IT!  

I'm adding my Socratic Norms here for you to use:

TPT: Socratic Seminars for Younger Elementary Students

Let's Talk About GT-ness

What is your own definition of giftedness? Who comes to mind when you think of gifted individuals? Jot down your definition, then compare it to the information here or what you find online.  Why does a definition of giftedness matter? According to Jim Delisle, “The concept of giftedness is not limited to high intellectual ability.  It also comprises creativity, ability in specific academic areas, ability in visual or performing arts, social adeptness, and physical dexterity.” (Delisle, 17)  

The Texas state definition for gifted talented students states: 

“A gifted/talented student is a child or youth who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment and who

• exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area;

• possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or

• excels in a specific academic field. (Texas Education Code §29.121)”

I would imagine many states have something similar. How do states other than your own define gifted and talented? Contrary to what many people (including many educators) think, being in GT services is not a privilege or some sort of “award”.  Gifted children are amazing, but in addition to that, giftedness presents an educational need.  Gifted services are not something that should be withheld as punishment or used as a reward for performance.  I have seen both parents and teachers want to withhold services because of bad grades or behavior. That is comparable to taking someone's glasses away as punishment. Students need services to meet their unique needs...all students need their education needs met. Even though in some circles it may be a status symbol to have a child labeled as gifted, it is not a social club. The other side of that coin is that parents and students should not feel inferior if a student is denied services. We need to spread the word, that GT services fit an educational need, and if that need isn't there, then services aren't what is best for that student. I’ve had many parents inquire as to how they “sign up” their student to be in GT classes. It's okay to ask that question, but we also need to educate parents in our schools about when GT services are necessary and not necessary. A need to educate a community about giftedness should be met with interaction and readily available information.

An educational need for gifted services should be decided though various data collection and assessment. Services should be based on that educational need for differentiated, unique instructional, social/emotional activities.  In our district, we focus on critical thinking, research, communication, and creativity in order to meet the needs of our gifted students. 

Some kids think it’s not cool at all to be gifted, and as a result, they try to mask their abilities. Research has proven that kids as young as kindergarten may begin to mask their abilities in order to fit in.  Teaching GT students about who they are as gifted individuals will give them tools to overcome any stigma they perceive about their own giftedness. We want them to feel confident in who they are and hone and strengthen their abilities. Most states require that gifted students be allowed to work with their intellectual peers because it benefits them both academically and socially, which is why they should be together with other GT students for at least part of their day.    

I’d like to think that our gifted students are having their needs met through the GT services offered in our district, and I hope your district offers services as well.  It makes me happy that finally many students are receiving attention, challenge, and are hopefully enjoying GT time with their gifted peers!

Jim Delisle says, “...students have a right to education designed for their level of ability.  With few exceptions, they cannot and do not find their way on their own.” (Delisle 25)

The purpose of our GT time at school is to meet those enrichment or intervention needs for our kids. One of the myths that exists is that gifted students will succeed in life no matter what.  We all have to work together as their advocates and support systems.  Just like other myths and stereotypes that exist about our gifted students, this one is one of the most prevalent in my experience.  While we do have many very successful GT students in our district, many will falter without encouragement, nurturing, and training in how to cope with their exceptionalities.  I am encouraged every day when I see kids’ joy and smiles as we meet together.  I always tell them that they don’t have to be best friends with all other GT kids...but a family supports one another, and that’s what I encourage them to do. 

What are you doing to meet the needs of your advanced and gifted learners? Your definition of giftedness matters. It matters because it affects how you teach your advanced learners and how you perceive them. Is your classroom one that is under extreme pressure to focus solely on RTI? I know classroom teachers are desperately trying play catch up after the shut downs and inconsistencies COVID has created in our education systems. The learning gaps have become canyons. Please, please don't leave your gifted learners out of the intervention and enrichment times. We cannot afford to lose them. There are so many amazing resources at our fingertips that do not require a great deal of preparation. I challenge you to find a couple of things (such as Socratic Seminar or Genius Hour, for examples) in this new year to challenge and enrich the gifted learners in your classroom and in your school.

                                                                                                

Delisle, J. R., Galbraith, J., & Espeland, P. (2002). When gifted kids don't have all the answers: How to meet their social and  emotional needs. Free Spirit Publishing.

AND....Here it is! My New Look!

How do you like it?  New name, new look, more posts about Socratic Seminar, same blogger!  

New Blog Look

I'm always thinking how to do things better.  Not only in my classroom, but in my communications with other people, whether it be parents, students, or other teachers.   This new blog idea has been on the middle burner (not the back 😁) of my brain for a couple of years.  It usually doesn't take me this long to act on an idea.  I guess there are just too many distractions in life to follow through with all the steps it takes to basically re-brand your work.  All that said, this quarantine...and re-quarantine (ugh) has me typing on this old blog again wanting to make it new and more descriptive of my passions in teaching.

If you scrolled through the blog on past posts, what you might see most often are words about communication, oral language, stations, and SOCRATIC SEMINAR.  With all of this online school situation, I'm excited about the new look of Socratic Seminar in my classroom.  It looks like the possibility is high for not starting in-person school as planned.  Texas is currently surging with very high COVID numbers.  It's gonna take awhile to calm down and school may not start August 17 as planned.  TEA has already said that parents will be able to choose if they want kids to go to school in the building or online.  Who knows.  It's early July, and it's just too soon to tell.

Regardless of what we end up doing, a huge part of my job is using Socratic Seminar to work with my students regarding what we are reading or learning.  I have used it in so many ways.  We have discussed current events, books, feelings, and whatever can be discussed using the Socratic Method.  I may be Socrates biggest promoter.  He would probably think I'm a stalker.  I am such a fan.

So stay tuned for all things Socratic.  Look for book ideas, discussion topics, tweaks for your seminars, and some other stuff as I just turn what I do into what I share.  Look for a new look and a new name.  I can't wait!!!

Level Up

All of our kids love to "level up" in video games.  How about leveling up in your classroom?  Take your students to the next level of literacy learning.  Perhaps your kids can answer any questions you ask them. Perhaps they are great on the district level tests and state tests.  That is awesome!! My guess is that at least some of you are trying to find a way to move your students forward.  I'll tell you a way to do that!

I have listened to many teachers ask their students things like, "what questions do you have over this story?"  Those types of general prompts are not going to generate good responses from students.  I've never seen a high level question that shows critical thinking generated through this method.  In defense of those teachers, they are generally following a prescribed/mandated type of reading program for small group instruction.  Students are not equipped to come up with a great question or a critical thought over a text without some training!  Students in primary grades generally have great difficulty composing/wording their own in-depth, critical-thinking questions.  The older kids I've observed could generate a fair question about their reading based on experience.  However, those questions may not be very strong questions, usually at a literal level requiring one correct answer.

Here's the thing.  Unless we teach our kids how to phrase their questions, compose great discussion topics, give them some stems and tools, they will not be able to generate the types of questions or discussion topics we hope they will.

Being able to answer questions is wonderful.  Being able to ask those questions or think of ideas for discussion topics is even better.  If they can create them, they can answer them.  I teach my students to create great, deep, thought-provoking topics that have multiple answers, and I explain to them that this gives them a "super power" over test questions.

Writing their own discussion topics is empowerment for our students.

Start your kids where you as a teacher start...or maybe should think of starting.  

BLOOM'S VERBS

Download a copy, keep it at your desk with your plans, and as I've suggested on several posts, pre-plan your discussions for your students.  No matter what subject, pre-plan your prompts for discussion.

Next step is not hard.  TEACH your kids some Bloom's verbs.  Tell them what they are and what they mean.  Explain to them that you use them and that Bloom's will help them figure out how to compose their own discussion topics!  I've done this with kids as young as second grade!  They ROCK at it.  I give each grade level an appropriate number of verbs for them to have in their own discussion topic "toolkit." For example, I use about 3-5 verbs for second grade.  I use 7-10 for third, and increase that for fourth.  The fifth and sixth graders get the whole list.  They pour over the whole list finding the best verbs for their questions. I use direct instruction for teaching how to use the verbs correctly.  I encourage them to stick with the last three levels of Bloom's for the best ideas.

What happens next. is. AMAZING.

Your kids, once they learn how to use the verbs through your direct instruction, practice, and examples, will begin to think more critically about their reading.  When they are privy to the meaning of critical thinking and how to analyze literature, they become "insiders" to higher level of questioning and thinking!  Let them experiment, then guide them to the right words for their discussion topics.  They will use them to ask and write better discussion ideas than you could imagine!

Here are my verb suggestions:
First grade:  Use analyze, compare/contrast, predict

Second grade: Use analyze, compare/contrast, predict, infer

Third and fourth grades: Use analyze, compare/contrast, predict, infer, evaluate, justify, compare/contrast, explain, adding more as the year goes on and they are successful with these.

Fifth and sixth grades:  The entire list (chunking the words as mini-lessons)

When we have some amazing topics for discussions written by students...we have a Socratic Seminar.  THAT'S an entire post in itself.  Please check it out!  There is a product in my TPT store that would help you get started!  I am passionate about Socratic Seminar, so you can find many posts here about my journey with this method.

Who Invented That?

So I wonder how all of these companies make so much money on their programs?  When you break down some of the programs (language arts, for instance), they are basically all the same.  For example, Guided Reading, Daily 5, Literature Circles have some similar basics: vocabulary study, small groups. teacher/student led discussions, and literature.  It is almost like all you need to make a million dollars is some research and an idea that recycles current teaching practices.  I always wonder, "why didn't I think of that?" Actually, we did think of that.  Certainly not to take away from the research and development that goes into a specific program, I have to ask, why are there so many that are almost the same?  A college professor or a teacher with a good head for business turned what we all do into a brand. Teachers have been doing centers for decades.  My mom taught elementary from the early 1960's to 1995, and she did centers every year of her teaching career.  She had a routine that worked. But really, it's not about the program or the fact that kids are doing different things around the room all at the same time.  It's what goes into those small groups, the discussions kids have, the things we choose for them to practice. The reason districts invest in the structure of programs is that we need a consistent guide.  We need a framework.  I get that.  But honestly, I don't believe it's some magic program that a district chooses to spend money on, but instead, it's what goes on in your classroom.  Your interpretation and implementation of what is determined important and relevant to your grade level standards.  We tweak what we bring back from professional developments to make it our own.  We also tweak the frameworks we've been given.  No teacher I've ever met follows exactly what they've been handed.  We do what works in our own classrooms within the framework we've been given.

My questions are...

• Are you happy with what goes on in your language arts class on a daily basis?
• Do you LOVE your lessons?  
• Do you feel fulfilled as a professional educator after a week of planning? 
• Do you look forward to coming to school each day so that you can do what you have planned?  

If you answered "no" to any of those questions,  fix that right away.  Find your "thing" that makes it all work.  Create your plans so that YOU love them.  Find activities that you can't wait to share.

My life as an LA teacher went in a new and strongly positive direction when I started Socratic Seminars in my classroom. They've been around for, well, since Socrates. When I heard about Socratic Seminar, I read up and studied it online.  I was a little discouraged because everything I read was geared to middle or junior high and high school.  I saw the simplicity and genius in the method and thought my kids could handle this.  After searching and viewing several sites, I created common rules that would work for younger, primary kids.

In my class, we had the respect thing down for the most part with a few rogue moments.   My kids LOVED to talk (not about books, but they loved to talk,) and they loved things that were not test practice or worksheets.

With the current language arts structure in place (Daily 5...which was really Daily 10, but that's another post  <here>), I still felt there was a missing piece, or lots of missing pieces. I did two things that made me VERY HAPPY as a teacher.

1. Five stations were totally boring. I'm not nearly as timid to say that as I was five years ago.  I was okay with the Daily 5 at first, but quickly thought, "SERIOUSLY, we cannot stamp spelling words all year!"  What does that do anyway?  I created a form that offered choice with 10-12 activities each week. (TPT and my own creations to the rescue!)  I had a few activities for EVERY topic I covered for the year. I rotated them through the choices my kids had each week. My kids did daily practice of the big objectives we worked on all year.  You know the ones that they need to constantly practice - inferring, summarizing, drawing conclusions - to name a few. I had things they "had to do" and when finished, things they "could do".  One of the things my kids "could do" was states and capitals.  I'm not sure why, but that was a hot item in my stations all year.  It wasn't necessarily in my ELA TEKS (Texas's own Common Core standards), but what a great "early finisher" station! I created Webquests based on those social studies units that were so hard to work into my ELA block. They combined informational texts and Social Studies skills.  (Linked HERE)  You can read my post about how I expanded my stations to give my kids more choice  HERE.  I'm going to link some things below that will be a great start for you if you want some new things in your stations. 
2. I researched and implemented Socratic Seminar.  It was my finest hour as a teacher when I started the Socratic Method in my classroom.  I'm dead serious. It's the bread and butter of my ELA time.  It's the cream in my coffee.  It's the gift that keeps on giving.  One day, I had a "teacher epiphany."  I was reading a book (which I never read professional books, I'm sorry, but I don't have time.) instead of a blog or some quickly researched article that I skim through.  I don't even remember what book it was.  A quote shot through me like an arrow.  

Let that sink in a moment.  When do we truly focus on oral language? Kindergarten?  Maybe first grade?  In my opinion, it's the "missing link" to our ELA instruction for all grade levels.  Oral Language is the thing we've all been searching for in every grade level, in every subject.  After that revelation, I set out to intentionally and strategically utilize their innate ability to talk nonstop all day long.  I turned that need to talk and share into some heavy duty language arts potential. I learned all that I could about the Socratic Method. It was mostly geared toward older students, sixth grade and up. I decided to modify it to fit younger kids (I was teaching third grade at that time.) 

We learned all the norms and pitfalls that first year together.  We dug deeper and learned how to write our own Socratic questions for the Socratic Seminars.   Remember the days when kids had no idea of what they were going to learn, why they were learning it,  and took very little responsibility for their own learning?  We were the only ones privy to the standards and we just spooned it out to them. We all know things have changed!  I taught directly about Bloom's verbs. Blooms is not just for the teachers.  It's for the kids.  Teach them how to write their own questions about their reading.  

We started out learning these five Bloom's verbs.  They have served us well in grades 2-5 (remember, I teach GT kids and have multiple grade levels.)  All of your kids can be successful at this with practice. I give them a sticky note while we are reading the text we are going to use for Socratic Seminar.  They learn to jot down their question during or after we read.  They post their note on the board, I go through them quickly and use the ones that are the most powerful.  I don't really point out the best ones, they know if I'm using their question!  It's not a contest, it's an attempt to write a powerful question that the group can deeply discuss. 

Want to learn more about Socratic Seminar?  Here are some links:

The product on TPT

Blog Post

Blog Post

Station activity

Center Ideas

Use the time you have this summer to incorporate great discussion time into your ELA, science, math, or social studies blocks!  

Kids Take Ownership of Their Own Learning

I've blogged extensively about Socratic Seminar.  I love it, it's no secret!  This year during a PD, someone suggested having kids write their own questions.  That was a twist I had not thought of.  Since that PD, that is almost exclusively how I have conducted Socratic Seminars.  Let me explain the process...

Step One

We all know how to use Bloom's action verbs when planning.  I'm sure I'm not unique when I get out the taxonomy page I keep handy and use them in my lesson plans to make sure my kids are thinking at the highest levels.  They are all over the Internet.  Just google it to find a variety you can print and use (linked above is one I really like, especially for the kids!)   

Now here's the twist...teach your kids to use them.  Teach your kids what they mean.  Not all of them, but some of them...the important ones that you use all the time.  Have a whole group lesson on what they mean and how they connect to thinking.  Let the kids read a short, but great story, like Mr. Peabody's Apples. (If you teach 3-6th or even 7th...get this book! You can tie it into your social media lectures lessons. And, yes, Madonna wrote it, but I am not condoning or not condoning Madonna ;) 

You write two or three great Socratic questions to go with that story and share the questions ahead of time.  For example, "Analyze the reason why you think that Tommy shared the information about Mr. Peabody with his friends."  Show them how you pull those verbs into the questions to make your students think.  The reason you want to start with a story book is so that you can get the story read to them and get right into the heart of the story quickly.  

Step Two

Go ahead and let them try their hand at writing a question.  Create an anchor chart that reminds them of some of the Bloom's verbs so that they are always on hand.  

I give each student a post-it note and they come and stick their questions on a piece of paper.  I sort them into similar questions and try to combine them.  Sometimes I give credit on a really good questions by simply saying, "Dani had an excellent question," show it on the projector, make it a big deal, and explain why.  I try not to make it about competing to have the best question.  They know when you are using their question or part of their question.  It's a great way to make them think twice.  They are not only using critical thinking skills to come up with a question, they have to have an opinion about their own response to the questions (remember, Socratic questions don't necessarily have "right" answers!).  I encourage them to write a question for which they could come up with an answer.  

Friends, even third graders can do this.  Maybe not all of them all of the time, but some can most of the time.  Here are a few my kids just wrote from The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  

Step Three

Conduct your seminar.  If you've never done a Socratic Seminar and would like to know how, I have an introductory product you might find helpful in elementary school.  Click <HERE>.  You may have to supplement some of your own questions at first, but your kids will get the hang of this.  It's great for differentiation.  It allows those kids who can think on these levels to express themselves.  The Socratic Seminar itself is the great equalizer, in my opinion.  It allows those kids who can't put their thoughts on paper to speak their thoughts.  

I always tell the story of my struggling student who could never pass the state tests or even the district practice test.  His mother, who is a teacher, came to me so worried about him. Desperate tears.  I had video taped my Socratic Seminars quite often that year.  I started showing her her son's parts and what he had to say in Socratic Seminar.  Happy tears.  She said, "He CAN think.  He does know the answers."  SO then we both cried happy tears. The end.  

Have a "Brain Day" in Your Classroom!

I planned this before Christmas, and as our first day of the new year grew closer, I was more and more excited to do this with my kids.  I named it "Brain Day!" It was FULL of choice.  I like to follow the precept that "If I don't love the activity, the kids won't either."  When that motto is my guide for coming up with fantastic lesson plans, I find that I look forward to each school day.  I can't wait to teach and implement what I've planned.  I admit, there are some plans that are WAY more fun than others, but like the kids, I hate to be bored.  Meaningful and engaging are our code words - all the time, right?!

With that in mind, I planned a back to school, ice-breaker type of day that was met with enthusiasm and talkative kids (the good kind of talkative!)  I wanted to trigger critical thinking and eagerness to start thinking.  Since that day may have come and gone for you, I'm thinking this could be a "Brainy Friday" idea.  I gave them some ground rules, AND  I provided lots of "choice."  Choice is the key to success for all students in the room, in my opinion.  First, I found all those great and challenging books I had collected over the years from book fairs and Scholastic Freebies!  Mine probably aren't the same ones as yours, but you know you've got em.  I bet you hardly ever use them because who has time?  Some are consumable and some aren't - but since I have so many- I just let them write in the consumable so that the copyright police wouldn't arrest me.  I have a solution for those copyrighted pages...keep reading.

First, I took a couple of fabulous non-fiction books.  I thought up writing activities for each one.  I have this wonderful primary encyclopedia called Very Important Things. I simply told them on a little notecard to research something from the book they are interested in and write a short paragraph about what they learned and add a question they still have about the topic.  (Encourage curiosity, always!) I provided a notecard to write down the information.

Next, I have this ADORABLE nonfiction poetry book about animals called, Animal Ark. They simply wrote a line of poetry to replace (think: SCAMPER) one in the book (using a sticky note) and stick it on the page where their line can be substituted for the original text.  Easy, peasy.

I laid out the books they could write in.  I also have some amazing optical illusion books that I am in love with.  We seldom have time to look at optical illusions, but they are so fascinating!! If you ever have time, go look at http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/ (pre-screen the text on the site first, but the illusions are so much fun!!)   The kids who chose the illusion books to look at didn't switch activities once.

Ok...here's the tip on what to do with books that you don't want the kids to write in.  First, find the best book you can for this (interactive magazines work well).  I use the Puzzlemania and Highlights books that come as samples to my teacher box in the office.  Rather than letting the kids write in them, I cut the pages out and put them in sheet protectors so that the kids can use dry erase markers on the pages.  I even put the answers in an attached envelope so the kids can check their work.  I've used this one for about 4 years! Still perfect.

One of my FAVORITE things of the whole year is what I call my treasure jars. They are like "I Spy" in a jar! I saw these at the store and I thought they were pricey!  These are filled with rice and beans, but could be pretty sand or whatever you think will work.  The ones at the store were filled with white beads, but I found beads were so expensive.  I found "trinkets" on Etsy.  They were the most expensive item for the project, but I got a TON in the bag (about $10), and I can make several treasure jars with this small bag of trinkets.  Next, I found some clear containers.  I used a Mason jar and a plastic container with a good lid.  I have a cool olive jar I'll use for my next jar.  Here are the images of my supplies and finished project.  Be sure to list what you are putting in your jar and later type it up for the kids to check off with dry erase markers.  

We had "Brain Day" for more like a Brain Hour...but they had a blast.  Were they thinking? Oh, heck yeah.

Have You Tried education.com?

I am featuring a post sent to me from education.com just for you!  I was approached by education.com to see if I'd like to offer YOU a freebie from their website.  Who doesn't love a freebie...so that was an easy "yes!"  Below you'll find a great idea for a math station - adaptable to several grade levels.  There could be a "make it" station where you have copies of various coins for them to glue onto index cards to create their own set of cards.  You could use them for a station to offer as much practice as needed.  How about if students traded sets of cards and practiced each other's cards?  Awesome!  There are several variations and extensions below to differentiate this idea. 

Follow the link and look at the fun work pages for  extra practice.  I see some great games on there as well for computer stations in your classroom!

  

Thank you education.com! :)

Check it all out here!

What you need:

Index cards (3” x 5”)

Printed copies of U.S. coins

2 pairs of scissors

Tape or a glue stick

What you do:

1. Together, cut out images of the coins.

2. In third grade, you will want to include at least three coins on each flashcard. On the back of each card, write the correct total amount.

3. Continue making flashcards with different combinations of three or more coins. Program the cards to appropriately challenge your child.

4. Once you have at least 20 different flashcards, you can play one of the following games:

How many can you name?

Choose a short time frame like two minutes. How many flashcards can your child correctly identify?

Greater or less than?

Select an amount like 60 cents. Your child must tell you whether the amount on the flashcard is greater or less than the amount. How many can he correctly identify in one minute?

In the Range

Select a price range like 50-75 cents. Your child must decide if the amount on the flashcard is in or out of the range. How many can she correctly identify in two minutes?

Continue to update the flashcards as your child becomes more proficient at adding the coins. You can add more coins onto future flashcards, making cards with four or five coins on each one.

Two Freebies for My Readers!!

Choice Board

I was really good about making choice boards for my students in the spring.  This fall, different story!  I think we are all feeling the heavy load of the beginning of school and don't recover from that until sometime in January.  Here's a fun choice board for October/November.  Kids will need a QR reader and a journal or paper! :) 

Follow this link to my TPT store for your free download!!

Pumpkin Attribute Activity

Your students will enjoy this sorting activity!  There are three different pages for them to try and figure out a system for sorting them.  Several grade levels would enjoy this...I'd use it up through 3rd grade or maybe even 4th grade!  

Follow this link to my TPT store for your download. 

Happy Fall y'all!!

Teach Them to Ask Questions

We've all experienced this.  Children typically don't ask great questions.  Of course there is the occasional opportunity to say, "THAT was a great question!"  Don't we love those moments? It means somebody is listening; somebody is thinking!  What if kids were compelled to wonder? When it becomes a classroom norm for your kids to ask good questions, you, as the teacher are their model, you get the ball rolling. Lots of times questions are "off the cuff" (and there's nothing wrong with that because our teaching is fluid), but we might consider ramping up our own questioning strategies.  If we raise the level of our questions in our classroom, we raise the level of thinking. Kids will catch on to how good questions sound and look.  I use verbs from Bloom's Taxonomy every single time I plan (modeling questions for students.) From that list of action verbs come great questions, plans, and ideas. To up your question game, I suggest one great starting point...

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In the same way that publishing children's writing improves their writing, children improve their thinking, understanding, and confidence as we verbally praise and encourage good questions.  

Here is a link to a free "Planning Pal" I have created to give you a reference for planning great questions.  

Click here