Socratic Seminar Model

The Socratic teaching method is something I have never personally tried in my classroom. I am familiar with this teaching method from previous college classes. I have read Plato’s dialogue entitled Meno, and participated in class discussions that were based on the Socratic teaching method. However I am still to nervous to try and use this method of teaching in my classroom. I teach 130 eighth grade students in a five period time span. That means my class sizes are anywhere from 24 students to 28 students in each class. Having large class sizes makes it harder to have class discussions that are students driven and involve critical thinking. It also makes it difficult to get all the students to speak and give their opinions. I could give each student two tickets and after they used their tickets they could no longer speak. This may give other, shyer students, an opportunity to participate in the class discussion. I may try, one day, to use the Socratic teaching method in my class. I just have to make sure that the students understand the purpose of the teaching model and what they should get out of it.

Direct instruction

Every since I started teaching and while I was going to school to become a teacher, I thought that direct instruction met the teacher stood in front of the class and relayed information to the students. I thought there was nothing more to it until I read more about direct instruction. Direct instruction is an effective and efficient method of teacher which is used most frequently in schools. The teacher presents the information to the students and the students watch, listen and practice what they have learned. Direct instruction has several benefits. It benefits in teaching thinking and problem-solving skills, skills for citizenship, increases independent learning. Technology can also be a benefit in direct instruction. Technology can be used to enhance lessons and make teaching concepts much more interesting for students. Direct instruction is easy to modify and also differentiate to fit your individual student’s needs.

Cubing

Cubing is a strategy that can fit any classroom. It is a strategy that can be used to differentiate activities based on a student’s readiness, learning styles, or interest. Cubing gets its name from the “instrument” used to complete the activity, which is a cube. You create a six sided cube which has different task that relates to the concept or idea being taught.  

            You can start by printing out a blank cube template, which can be found on the internet. After you have the template you need to create the different questions or commands that will go on each of the six faces of the cube. The students are grouped in ways that best fits their learning style or ability levels, or readiness, in the classroom. The groups may differ depending on the activity or concept that you are having the student complete. Cubing can be modified to fit your particular school, class or select individuals in your class.

            Cubing allows for differentiation in your classroom for the many different learning styles, interest, and levels of ability. The activity can be differentiated for individual students or a group of students. For example you can have one group of gifted students completing higher-level activities that are more challenging, and another group of students completing task that better fit their level of ability. Another way to group the students is according to their interest. Groups may consist of gifted and non-gifted students working together on a concept of similar interest.

            Cubing does more than allowing for differentiation in the classroom.  Cubing is a strategy that encourages critical thinking and exploration of a concept or idea. Cubing leads to a deeper understanding of the concept or idea being taught because it is created around the multiple intelligences and incorporates Bloom’s Taxonomy.