Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School

Copeland, Matt. Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School. Portland: Stenhouse Publishers, 2005. Matt Copeland, an English educator and executive board member of the Kansas Association of Teachers of English, offers a succinct and poignant look at Socratic circles and their use in the classroom. Using Copeland’s model, students themselves direct a Socratic circle’s overall focus of inquiry within a selected work or topic, while the educator acts as facilitator (rather than as an arbiter of ‘truth’). Both teacher and student also examine the effectiveness of each Socratic circle, providing feedback and constructive criticism to a class in a timely fashion. Applied to develop students’ critical thinking and communication skills, Socratic circles offer a creative way to explore texts and ideas.