ENGLISH
Preliminary Advanced English - Socratic Circles
This week we introduced our Preliminary Advanced English classes to the concept of Socratic Circles. The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates believed that through structured conversation and dialogue, students learn to think for themselves. With this in mind, we challenged our students to exit their comfort zones and engage in an unfamiliar method of learning.
In order to participate in this activity, students from both classes were given the prompting question “How does storytelling strengthen our understanding of history?” They had 20 minutes to research this question and develop their individual ideas. We then brought them together to participate in the socratic circle. Our inner circle discussed their ideas about the prompting question while the outer circle took notes on the interaction of those conversing. After 10 minutes of structured conversation, our outer circle became the inner circle and vice versa. The students were able to build on each other's ideas and a holistic understanding of the question was attained. As teachers, we were in awe of the insights our students offered. We are so proud of the way they challenged themselves this week and pushed beyond their personal limits.
Well done to the Preliminary Advanced team!
Ms Barreto and Mrs Dadd
