The great thing about this model is that it gets the students sharing their feelings about how they feel about social issues. I have found that when we share these types of feelings as a class, in a safe, non-judgmental environment, we grow closer together as a classroom community.
The first idea I had for using this model is the debate we usually have with our Greece unit - Sparta vs. Athens. The kids will do all the research they usually do, but when we do the debate we will use the Socratic Seminar model.
The second idea I would use this for is the differences between Rome and Greece, and which one would they rather have lived in. Rome stole a lot of ideas from Greece, but Rome also had some of its own ideologies that we use today.
And the last (and I think the most important) idea I had was for our classroom behaviors. I have most of the rules/habits I want them to know, do, and follow, and I want to discuss with them why I implement those specific ones. But I also want their input on how they feel about them; plus, I want the students to suggest some of their own.
The Socratic Seminar can be very beneficial, if used correctly, to bring a class closer together. Plus, it can open students' minds to new ideas.
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