Teacher Setup

Create a teacher account on Edmodo.com

 Class Setup on Edmodo.com

• Create groups or classes on

Edmodo.com
• I created groups within each
class on my own to save time
during class. But, you could
have individual student logins if
you prefer
• Each class has a code so you
can keep it private
Socratic Seminar
Students were given a copy of the
text, “Funeral Oration” by Pericles.

They were assigned to read the text,

annotate the text, and come up with
a question for Friday.

It was explained that students who

brought a text that was annotated
well and had a high level question
would lead their group during the
seminar.
 10 Tips for a Great Socratic Seminar
1. Come to the seminar prepared.
2. Listen actively.
3. Build on what others say.
4. Expose/suspend your assumptions.
5. Do not step on other’s talk. Silences and pauses are
OK.
6. Emphasize clarification, amplification, and implications
of ideas.
7. Converse directly with each other, not through the
facilitator.
8. Let the conversation flow without raising hands, as
much as possible.
9. Make references to the text and encourage others to do
the same.
10. Watch your air time for how often you speak and how
much you say when you speak.
 Setup

Socratic Seminar on "Funeral Oration" with

Edmodo.com.
Students will be placed into 6 groups and
then 1 facilitator/captain of each group will
have a laptop that is logged into
Edmodo.com.
As the students discuss the text, they add
questions and comments through the
laptop and reply and help other groups
through Edmodo.
 Assessment
Expectations for Socratic Seminar:
Students were assessed:

50% on the Annotation and Questions written on

the Funeral Oration text.

50% on the Notes on a separate sheet of paper

and your reflection at the end.

I collected both the packet and separate sheet at

the end of the period.
Select a leader or facilitator for each group.
Divide the class into groups. Students numbered off by 6 in my classes.
Each group must log into Edmodo.com
The students then have a regular Socratic Seminar “text-based”
experience.
Key point of emphasis for the teacher: “REFER TO THE TEXT.”
Students begin by asking each other questions and discussing parts
of the reading that they did not understand.
When the students in the group have questions that they cannot find the
answers to, they can type them into Edmodo.com.
Each student or group
can also see all
questions or comments
from a single student or
group by clicking on
their icon.
In this class the Thomas Jefferson group was more assertive.
They did not post as many questions, but tried to answer those
questions of other groups.
 A feature that I like is that the
teacher can ask Poll Questions.
My goal in using Edmodo.com was to help keep the Socratic Seminar on task.
The students could use the power of the whole class to help their group
discussion. Yet the small group was still important to fuel student interaction
and learning.
 Conclusions

• Overall I thought it went very well.

Typically a Socratic Seminar is only as
good as the text and preparation of the
students. Using Edmodo helped create
some excitement about the seminar.
• It also left a permanent record of the
seminar for me to be able to review later.
• Students were encouraged by the
experiment and want to do it again.