Ball, W. H. & Brewer, P. F. Socratic seminars. In Teaching in the block: strategies for engaging active learners

Ball, W. H. & Brewer, P. F. (1996). Socratic seminars. In Teaching in the block: strategies for engaging active learners (pp. 29-65).

An Annotation by Laurie Walsh

This is a practical and theoretical look at using Socratic Seminars in the classroom.  It provides information on room set-up, writing pre-seminar and seminar questions, general guidelines for Socratic questioning, student preparation and responsibilities, the rules for seminar, and charts and rubrics for students responses.  This is an incredibly helpful text!  It is obvious that Ms. Ball is an English teacher and Ms Brewer is a principal.  They know what teachers need to help them try something new!