 |
Following the principles and practices from Matt Copeland’s
book Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle
and High School, the teacher
becomes participatory in the outer circle feedback. They direct students in offering
timely, specific feedback to the inner circle’s conversation. This improves the quality of the dialogue for
ongoing inner circle conversations moving forward.
The outer circle –observes, critiques, suggests alternative
ways of interacting, and sets a goal for future conversations.
Stated another way, the outer circle focuses on the inner
circle’s behavior and process, reflecting on the experience of the inner circle
conversation, assessing the quality of their dialogue, and establishing goals
for future performance. Using a proven feedback
form similar to the one provided in
Copeland’s book, the outer circle explores questions such as: Did the inner
circle students explore more deeply beneath the surface meaning? Did mutual respect characterize their conversation? Were students asking questions, sharing their confusion, seeking clarity and supporting one
another? What prevented new ideas
emerging from the critical reading and thinking about the text?
The teacher in essence directs critical reflection by the
outer circle students, following a cyclical process of the actual learning experience (inner
circle dialogue), followed by reflective
thinking, self-assessment, and goal setting (outer circle feedback). This process of action (inner), reflection
(outer), further action (inner), further reflection (outer) fosters continual
development of the inner circle dialogue, and of students’ ability to give and receive performance feedback that
is specific, relevant, achievable and timely.
Improving social behaviors and conversational skills are constantly
reexamined.
Reflective thinking
is thinking about what you have already done. “At the heart of this reflective
thinking is the questioning of skills, perspectives, and inner circle behaviors
that make up performance…The natural result of this reflective thinking and
self-assessment is the establishment of goals for future learning…allowing students
to become experts and guides of their own education” (Copeland, 2005, pp. 77-78).
This becomes central to shifting responsibility for learning from the teacher
to the student in the classroom. Refer to Copeland’s book for a proven and
useful Socratic Circle Feedback Form to aid both student and teacher in this
process, found on pages 79 and 152.
What has led to
astonishing outer circle feedback in your experience? What gets in the way?
