Socrates goes to class: New-old method excites students about learning
What is justice?
Most people can come up with a single word synonym. But Shelter Island English teacher James Bocca is certain that when students are asked to apply the word to different situations in the time-honored Socratic method of teaching, it produces thoughtful discussions.
It’s how he teaches concepts in the literature his students read. It requires they not only master the material, but explore it intelligently from varying perspectives.
Discussions among students are intense and complex, he told the Board of Education at its December 16 meeting.
Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik noted that observing the class is to see students truly engaged and empowered to think — basic tenets of the district’s mission statement.
Watching political debates during the past several months and the level of discourse in Congress that, Mr. Bocca said, has been reduced to arguing and shouting with no attention to ethics and moral issues prompted him to bring back the ancient Socratic method of dialogue.
It raises discussions from chaotic to thoughtful, he added.
In the classroom there’s not a debate where there are winners and losers. The aim isn’t to persuade as many people as possible to think the way the debater thinks. Instead, discussion seeks to open students’ minds and expand the intellectual spectrum that leads to wide-ranging discourse.
Students exchange roles in listening and speaking. Often the original concept that started the discussion changes as new ideas are brought forth.
Mr. Bocca has used the Socratic method in teaching the English classic “Beowulf.” What could have been a deadly discussion in some classrooms had students examining the moral territory within the characters.
Several students expressed pleasure, Mr. Bocca said, with the process, noting that it has made their studies not only more interesting but, for some, helped encourage them to speak up more in class, putting aside their shyness.
“You have to bring your A game” to such discussions and that means being knowledgeable about the subject matter and open to finding a truth that may not be immediately evident, Mr. Bocca said.
“The Socratic method is starting to regain its trendiness,” the teacher added.
