To Find Yourself, Think for Yourself

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Special Education by Design Students in Ms. Lapidus's inclusion class have just finished reading Cinder- ella and are preparing for their first Socratic seminar. To do so. (he stndents begin the process of questioning the components of the story, including the author's style and the literary elements, specifically the theme. Ms. Lapidus reminds the students to generate ques- tions that should be supported with evi- dence from the text (i.e., inferential questions.) including those that can be open to interpretation. "Fbr example, " she says, "You can't ask any questions cüjout the ttiagii: in the story because magic is an element of fairy tales. That is. we can't argue Iww the fairy god- mother did the magic—fust assume it's so." After all the students' questions have been recorded, the students collab- oratively decide which 10 questions they would like to discuss during their seminar. Next, they independently search through the text to find support for their answer to each of the 10 ques- tions, using sticky notes to mark the reference. The students are now ready for the Socratic seminar. To facilitate a good discussion, the students move their desks to form a cir- cle. As they do so. Ms. Lapidus reminds thetn of the rules for a Socratic discus- sion. Once the students are in place. she begins the discussion with one of the 10 inferential questions they identi- fied (i.e.. Was Cinderella able to find true happiness?). As the students are discussing this possibility. John, a student with a learning disability, responds with another question, "Why didn't the fairy godmother just change Ginderella's life?" "Wow. That's a good question. Can. you repeat that?" says Ms. Lapidus. After the question is repeated, Ms. Lapidus paraphrases the question and poses it to tfw students: "Why if the fairy godmother was capa- ble of magic, did she not just change Cinderella's life? Who'd like to share their thoughts?" After reflecting, another student says. "Cinderella had to go to the bail to experietice self-worth before she believed in herself" Knowing the students had reached one of the implied themes, Ms. Lapidus encourages them to wrap up their disaission and move into their writing assignment. 54 COUNCIL FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN "To Find Yourself, Think for Yourself" Barbara Fink Chorzempa Laurie Lapidus

Transcript of To Find Yourself, Think for Yourself

Page 1: To Find Yourself, Think for Yourself

Special Education by Design

Students in Ms. Lapidus's inclusionclass have just finished reading Cinder-ella and are preparing for their firstSocratic seminar. To do so. (he stndentsbegin the process of questioning thecomponents of the story, including theauthor's style and the literary elements,specifically the theme. Ms. Lapidusreminds the students to generate ques-tions that should be supported with evi-dence from the text (i.e., inferentialquestions.) including those that can beopen to interpretation. "Fbr example, "she says, "You can't ask any questionscüjout the ttiagii: in the story becausemagic is an element of fairy tales. Thatis. we can't argue Iww the fairy god-mother did the magic—fust assume it'sso." After all the students' questionshave been recorded, the students collab-oratively decide which 10 questionsthey would like to discuss during theirseminar. Next, they independentlysearch through the text to find supportfor their answer to each of the 10 ques-tions, using sticky notes to mark thereference. The students are now readyfor the Socratic seminar.

To facilitate a good discussion, thestudents move their desks to form a cir-cle. As they do so. Ms. Lapidus remindsthetn of the rules for a Socratic discus-sion. Once the students are in place.she begins the discussion with one ofthe 10 inferential questions they identi-fied (i.e.. Was Cinderella able to findtrue happiness?). As the students arediscussing this possibility. John, astudent with a learning disability,responds with another question, "Whydidn't the fairy godmother just changeGinderella's life?" "Wow. That's a goodquestion. Can. you repeat that?" saysMs. Lapidus. After the question isrepeated, Ms. Lapidus paraphrases thequestion and poses it to tfw students:"Why if the fairy godmother was capa-ble of magic, did she not just changeCinderella's life? Who'd like to sharetheir thoughts?" After reflecting, anotherstudent says. "Cinderella had to go tothe bail to experietice self-worth beforeshe believed in herself" Knowing thestudents had reached one of the impliedthemes, Ms. Lapidus encourages themto wrap up their disaission and moveinto their writing assignment.

54 COUNCIL FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN

"To Find Yourself,Think for Yourself"

Barbara Fink Chorzempa

Laurie Lapidus

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UsingSocmticDiscussionsin InclusiveClassrooms

Aristotle said, "To find yourself, thinkfor yourself" (Quotationspage, com).As schools and teachers strive to aligninstruction with state and nationalstandards, teacher.s often struggle withdeveloping students' abilities to thinkfor themselves. As a result, studentsmay find analyzing a piece of literatureand writing proficiently about it to be adaunting task. Ms. Lapidus found ¡nher classroom that although elemen-tary students might be able to criticallyanalyze a text reading through discus-sion, they often have difficulty doingso in their own writing. She rektedthis challenge to her own training ineducation: Teacher preparation pro-grams place a greater emphasis onteaching students to read than onteaching them how to write. For somestudents, particularly those with dis-abilities, writing is intimidating, chal-lenging, and labor intensive (Fink-Chorzempa, Graham, & Harris, 2005;Graham, 2006). Thus teaching studentshow to write, especially when teachershave been taught only a few strategiesthemselves, can be a very difficultundertaking. These observations andbeliefs are also documented in theresearch about writing instruction (cf.,Graham & Perin, 2007; NationalCommission on Writing, 2006).

Realizing the challenges many oflier students encountered, Ms. Lapiduswas determined to improve their writ-ing and thought that before she coulddo so, she needed to first teach stu-dents how to think using supportingdetails. She recalled professional devel-opment she received as a middleschool teacher, learning how Socraticseminars can be used as a way toteach students to think critically, andshe decided to explore how she couldadapt that method to make it work inher elementary inclusive classroom.

What Are Secrotic Seminars?Socratic seminars, defined as "explor-atory intellectual conversations cen-tered on a text" [Lambright, 1995, p.30), are a group-discussion model andare designed in such a way to resembleSocrates's instruction-through-question-

ing method (Chorzenipa & Lapidus,2006; Polite & Adams, 1997). They areheld in a student-centered environmentto foster authentic engagement and toprompt ideas to occur (Loan, 2003),Simply stated, this method involvesstudents' reading a selection and thengenerating questions and exploringtheir ideas and questions in an opendiscussion (Queen. 2000). The open-discussion method not only allows stu-dents to support their own opinionswith details but also strengthens theirability to exhibit a personal voice intheir writing and improves the depth oftheir papers (Sorenson, 1993). Elderand Paul (1998) linked critical think-ing, or establishing an "inner voice ofreason," and Socratic discussion as thepublic forum that cultivates it.

The procedures and justificationsfor the use of Socratic seminars as ameans of developing critical thinkingskills are well documented in middleand high school classrooms (cf.. Loan,2003; Mawhinney, 2000; Metzger, 1998;Polite & Aáams, 1997; Queen, 2000;Strong, 1997; Tanner & Casados, 1998;TVedway. 1995). However, its use israrely documented in elementary inclu-sive classrooms. Therefore, in light ofthe potential benefits of the Socraticseminar and using the experiences ofMs. Lapidus and her third- and fifth-grade students, this article provides amodel and guidelines for using theSocratic method to develop students'critical thinking and writing skills with-in elementary inclusive classrooms.

Establishing the FoundationsPrior to usitig the Socraiic method, it isimportant to establish the foundationsthat help students engage in (heSocratic method. Similar to other edu-cators who use this approach, Ms.Lapidus realized the importance ofdeveloping in her classroom a sense ofcommunity that fosters mutual respectfor one another. She encouraged herstudents to express their views and todisagree respectfully and appreciate thedifferent perspectives held by theirclassmates while still holding on totheir own perspectives without feeling

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The open-discussion method not only allows students tosupport their own opinions with details but also strengthens

their ability to exhibit a personal voice in their writing

insecure. She established this climateby employing trust-building activitiesin the beginning of the year, specifical-ly during her morning meetings. Thosemeetings along with other group activi-ties (e.g., academic games) alwaysclosed with students' reflection on theexperience. That is, she asked studentsto consider such questions as whatthey did well and what they could dobetter. She also modeled how to pro-vide constructive feedback to oneanother by giving specific praise to stu-dents for a response and offering asuggestion for next time.

Ms. Lapidus also ensured that allstudents had in-depth knowledge oíthe literary elements and devices (e.g.,plot, setting, point of view, symbolism}before seminars were held, becausethese elements provide the basis forestablishing literary connections amongworks and are needed to develop criti-cal thinking skills, such as makinginferences and identifying implicitthemes. She frequently asked her stu-dents to engage in Reader's Theatre(see description under "Preparing forthe Discussion") as a way to deepentheir understanding of these elements.

Knowledge of the different types ofquestions that can be asked inresponse to a reading also needs to beestablished before students can engagein a Socratic seminar. Specifically, stu-dents need to know the differencebetween "in the book" and "in yourhead" questions, the two general typesof questions used in the QuestionAnswer Relationships ¡QAR) strategy(Raphael & Au, 2005). Ms. Lapidusreferred to the literal questions as the"right there" questions to help her stu-dents understand that the answers tosuch questions can be found explicitlyin the text. The "in your head" ques-tions she explained as either inferentialquestions (i.e., those for whichanswers are obtained by readingbetween the lines or putting informa-tion together) or evaluative questions

(i.e., those for which the answers arenot in the text but rather come fromwithin). To help her students learnhow to distinguish and generate thedifferent types of questions, Ms.Lapidus first modeled the use of themfor her students. This familiarity isimportant not only because studentsgenerate "in your head" questionswhen preparing for the Socratic semi-nars but also because 70% to 80% ofthe questions they face on high-stakestesting will be these types of questions(Raphaels Au, 2005).

Preparing for Hie SeminarBefore a Socratic seminar can be con-ducted, it is important for teachers toprepare for the seminar by selecting anappropriate story and becoming famil-iar with its elements. The selected textshould be thought-provoking and at alevel at which every reader in the classcan successfully read. When selectinga piece of literature, Ms. Lapidus foundthe Junior Great Books (The GreatBooks Foundation, 2006) and Touch-pepples (Touchstones DiscussionProject, 1993) to be excellent resources,as these texts contain readings withidentifiable themes or issues that werefamiliar and relevant to her studentsand their lives.

Before introducing the story to stu-dents, teachers read through the textcarefully and identify the main themes.Teachers then consider a final discus-sion topic, one that the students willbe asked to reflect on in their writingat the conclusion of the seminar. Thefinal discussion topic should be onethat encourages students to analyze thetext critically and requires them to pro-vide support for their statements withdetails from the text. Although a finaldiscussion topic is prepared inadvance, teachers should be flexibleand willing to revise their topic on thebasis of student questions and interpre-tations during the seminar, thus mak-ing it more powerful and meaningful.

Conducting the SeminarOnce the planning has been carefullyconsidered, teachers serve as facilitatorsof the process by first introducing thetext to the students and then engagingthem in their preparations for theSocratic seminar. During the seminar,both the students and teachers accom-plish a variety of tasks, which are out-lined in the following paragraphs.

The Students' Role

Preparing for the Discussion. Beforethe Socratic discussion is held, stu-dents should be exposed to the text atleast three times. Teachers readthrough the text first, encouraging stu-dents to listen aesthetically, and thenask students what questions they have.All students' questions are accepted, aslong as they are "in your head" ques-tions, with each question written downon chart paper for later examination.For the second reading, students readthe text independently to answer twoto three guided questions, ones thatbegin to focus on the themes of thetext. After they read the story the thirdtime, teachers ask students to respondto the guided questions orally and thenallow students to add any questions totheir list. Often these questions aremore insightful than the ones con-structed after the first reading, andteachers should point out to studentsthat each time a text is read, moredetails to reflect on often becomeapparent. For example, on the firstreading of Cinderella, one student inMs. Lapidus's class asked, "Why werethe stepsisters so mean?" After the thirdreading of the text, Alice, a studentwith emotional disturbance and readingdifficulties, asked the following ques-tion as students were discussing thestory, "Why at midnight did everythingchange except for the glass slipper?"

Depending on the complexity of tbetext, students may use Reader'sTheatre to present a scene or excerptfrom the text. First, students workcooperatively in small groups to pre-pare what they consider an importantscene from the text, one that focuseson a theme. Next, they perform thescene in front of the class, therebyexperiencing another way to interact

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with the text. Having students engagein this strategy allows them to assumethe role of a character and view thestory from the character's perspective,thus possibly broadening their view ofthe events in the text.

As the last step before the discus-sion is held, teachers and students ana-lyze each question generated after thefirst and third readings. Students arereminded that although these may allbe good questions, only questions thatcan be supported from the text shouldbe used in the discussion. The list ofquestions is then narrowed to a reason-able number (i.e., 10 to 15] that can beanswered in one Socratic discussion.Students are then given sticky notes tomark where the evidence ¡n the text isfound, reinforcing their ability to pro-vide supporting statements.

Holding the Socratic Discussion.Once the students are ready to beginthe Socratic discussion, teachers out-line and discuss several rules and pro-cedures for teachers and students tofoliow (see Figure 1), allowing for asuccessful discussion by the students.These differ slightly from proceduresused in secondary classrooms, modi-fied specifically for use in an elemen-tary classroom. For example, in Ms.Lapidus's class she has students raisetheir hands and wait to be called on tospeak, whereas a Socratic discussionusually involves free expression ofideas and thoughts by participants. Shealso explains to the class that this ruleis necessary to reduce the chance thatone or more students monopolize thediscussion and to give all studentsopportunities to speak. She also tellsher students that one of her goals forthe end of the year is for them toengage in a literary dialogue withoutraising their hands.

Teachers open the discussion byasking students to discuss the 15 or soquestions they generated, one at atime. Not all students are required toparticipate in the discussion; however,Ms. Lapidus has experienced thatmany of her students want to sharetheir ideas with their peers or respondto comments made by others. Shedoes, however, subtly encourage allstudents to participate through positive

Figure 1. Rules and Procedures for the Socrotic Discussion

Procedures

L Every time a discussion is held, teachers review the procedures and ruleswith the students.

2. The students are to sit in a circle so that every student can see every otherstudent as they speak.

3. Teachers sit in the circle as well but do not participate in the discussionexcept as the facilitators.

4. Teachers do not give an opinion until the reflection time and are the last tospeak.

5. Preparing a final discussion topic before the seminar is held allows teach-ers to select particular students whose ideas allow the discussion to beguided toward the intended topic or theme.

6. Time must be left at the end of the discussion for reflection. This is theonly time during the seminar that every student must contribute.

Rules lor Students

1. Students tnust raise their hands during the discussion, waiting to be calledon by a teacher before they share their ideas or thoughts.

2. Students are to listen attentively to one another, respecting the rule thatone person speaks at a time.

3. Mutual respect for one another must be shown.

reinforcement. The only time every stu-dent is required to participate is at theend of the seminar when Ms. Lapidusasks them to reflect on the discussionby responding to two questions: Whatdid you learn from this discussion? andWhat could be done differently nexttime to improve the discussion?

During the discussion, students areasked to look at their classmates,another goal set at the beginning of theyear. Often when students are firstengaged in the Socratic seminar, theywill look to teachers for a reaction orconfirmation when they make a point.As the year progresses, though, stu-dents naturally begin talking with oneanother, sensing they are in an envi-ronment of mutual respect. Theteacher continues as facilitator of thediscussion, but students begin to referto one another's comments and buildon one another's ideas. As one fifth-grade student with Asperger's syn-drome articulated, "The Socratic dis-cussion is like building a brick wall:Each idea is a brick, and when some-one says something, another personbuilds on top of it. Because of that, itis never-ending."

Applying the Writing Component.After the seminar is completed, stu-dents are asked to respond to a writtenprompt. Students also are expected towrite about points made in the discus-sion and to support their statementswith examples from the text. As men-tioned before, one of the purposes forholding the seminar is to help studentsidentify their own thoughts on a topicand articulate their point of view inwriting

The Teacher's Role

During the Seminar. The Socraticseminar requires teachers to assume avariety of roles as well. In the role offacilitator, teachers must refrain fromsharing their thoughts throughout thediscussion to allow the students todevelop their own critical thinkingskills. Also, sometimes during the sem-inar, students stray from the originalquestion and teachers must decidewhether they should allow the discus-sion to continue or bring it back to theoriginal question. Teachers shouldfacilitate the discussion by capitalizingon the strengths of students. Knowingeach student's particular strengths

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helps teachers guide the discussion insuch a way that the students are ableto reach an intended outcome without

cation skills [e.g., making eye contact,waiting for your turn to speak,responding appropriately to another's

Engaging students in literary dialogue encourages the

complex thinking associated with the writing process.

teachers' having to share their ownviews. For example, Ms. Lapidus real-ized that one of her students withimpulsivity, Cindy, surpassed her peersIn the ability to clearly articulate herthoughts. Therefore Ms. Lapidus facili-tated participation during the discus-sion so that Cindy was often one of thelast to contribute, allowing her theopportunity to connect many of thepoints made in response to a question.

Teachers also may find it useful toparaphrase comments the studentsmake. By doing so. teachers are able tohighlight important points made, usual-ly ones that focus on the themes orrelate to the final discussion topic.Paraphrasing student comments alsocan help students with attention diffi-culties and second language learnerspay attention to and understand thediscussion. An example of how Ms.Lapidus used paraphrasing is providedin the opening vignette.

Addressing the Needs of AllLearners. With a wide range of levelsin her classroom, Ms. Lapidus hasfound several components of thismethod helpful for all levels of learnersbecause although teachers serve asfacilitators, the instruction is nonethe-less structured with clear expectations.

Because most of the activities aredone as a whole class and thoughts arearticulated verbally, students are notasked to write their thoughts down.This approach allows students whohave difficulty articulating themselvesin writing to share their higher levelthinking in an open-discussion format.Ms. Lapidus has observed that oftenthese students become the leaders dur-ing the Socratic discussion and feelquite comfortable obtaining roles whenengaged in the Reader's Theatre com-ponent of the seminar. Ms. Lapidusalso uses the Socratic discussion toteach appropriate social and communi-

comments.) that are included in herstudents' individualized educationprogram.

Ms. Lapidus makes instructionalaccommodations to support the partici-pation of her students with disabilitiesin the Socratic seminar; she has foundthese accommodations beneficial for allher students. When the text is beyondthe independent reading level of one ormore students, she works with them ina small group to read the text orally asecond time, stopping during the read-ing to monitor each student's compre-hension. She also has provided "mini-workshops" to students who need fur-ther instruction on necessary compo-nents. Mini-workshops also providesupplemental instruction on identifyingIhe literary elements, as well as ongenerating in-your-head questionsinstead of right-there questions.

Ms, Lapidus also adapts the Socraticseminar's writing component toaddress her students' strengths andchallenges. Although all students areencouraged to use the writing process,Ms. Lapidus holds conferences withthe students who struggle with writingat all stages of the process. When nec-essary, she, a special education teacher,or a paraeduator serves as a scribe toassist students in noting their initialthoughts and then guides them as theyuse their prewriting to construct adraft.

Benefits and Outcomes forUsing Socratic SeminarsJust as Ms, Lapidus had envisionedwhen she began using Socratic semi-nars in her inclusive classrooms,engaging students in literary dialogueencourages the complex thinking asso-ciated with the writing process. In herinclusive classroom, students learnedto analyze a text through questioning,find evidence in the text, explore the

elements of the story through discus-sion, and finally prepare a writtenresponse reflecting the main themes ofthe story. She noted that these skillshelped prepare students to respond toa document-based question, a taskrequired on many state assessments.

Ms. Lapidus also observed that theseminars helped develop responsibilityand independence in her students andpromote a sense of community, whichare Important goals for inclusive class-rooms tSalend, 2008). After usingSocratic seminars, Ms, Lapidus noticedthat her students felt more comfortablesharing their ideas, encouraging oneanother to "think out of the box." Oneof the most enjoyable moments ofholding the seminars for Ms. Lapidushas been watching the students eagerlyrespond to one another in a positiveway, allowing themselves to be open toothers' viewpoints and nol criticizingothers for points that are not concur-rent with their own point of view. Theyoften then follow through with theirown opinions, or personal voice, intheir writing, hut sometimes becauseof others' comments during the discus-sion, they reverse their initial feelingsand their writing as a response lo. orvalidation of, another's viewpoint. Forexample, during the discussion ofCinderella, Ms. Lapidus watched herstudents move from a literal interpreta-tion of the text (i.e., the fairy tale aspresented by Disney) lo a deeperunderstanding about a journey of self-worth.

For her students with special needs.Mrs. Lapidus has found that the semi-nars have helped the students focustheir thoughts, resulting in a moreorganized written product. One of herformer students. Adam, a student withprocessing difficulties, was very cre-ative in his writing; however, it lackedorganization. He often included whatMrs. Lapidus referred to as "gems" inhis writing, profound or Insightfulstatements but that seemed out ofplace in the larger piece. The Socraticseminars provided him the opportunityto retrieve statements made during thediscussions and make use of them tosuppori his thoughts. One example thaiillustrates this development was follow-

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ing a discussion on "The Enchanted

Sticks" (Meyers, 1979), a story in

which the character used his mind to

outwit others and in doing so, proved

his strength through intellect. During

the discussion of the text, Adam literal-

ly jumped out of his seat, screaming

"I get it!" and became the leader of the

Socratic discussion. This interaction

between Adam and the text, which

arose because of the discussion with

his peers, led to a writing product that

was not only insightful but well organ-

ized and full of supporting detail,

'"IVue knowledge exists in knowing

that you know nothing. And in know-

ing that you know nothing, that

makes you the smartest of all. To find

yourself, think for yourself" (Aristotle,

Ouotationspage.com). The third- and

fifth-grade students in Ms. Lapidus's

classes have shown in their discussions

during the Socralic seminars and in

their writing after the seminar that they

think about the text not as how they

think their teacher wants them to, but

rather as what they perceive the story

to be about. In Ms. Lapidus's class, the

students often generate 70 or more

questions after they listen to the story

and read it themselves. They make Ms.

Lapidus proud by truly thinking for

themselves; she thinks Socrates and

Aristotle would be proud, too.

ReferencesAristotle. Retrieved March 19, 2007, from

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/3079.html

Chcirzempa. B. R, & Lapidus, L. (2006.November). Usiiig Socralic seminars withthird graders to promote critical thinking.Presentation at annual Council for Learn-ing Disabilities (CLD) conference,November.

Elder, L., & Paul, R. (1998). The role ofSocratic questioning in thinking. leach-ing, and learning. Clearing House. 71.297-301.

Fink-Chorzempa, B., Graham. S., & Harris,K. R. (2005). What can I do to helpyoung children who struggle with writ-ing? TEACHING Exceptional Children.37(5). 64-66.

Graham, S. (2006). Writing. In P. Alexander& P. Winne (Eds.), Handbook of educa-tional psychology (2nd ed., pp. 457-478).Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erhaum.

Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). A meta-analysis of writing instruction for adoles-

cent students. Journal of EducationalPsychology, 99. 445-476.

The Great Books Foundation. (2006). Juniorgreat books. Chicago. Author

Lamhright, L. L. (1995). Creating a dia-logue: Socratic seminars and educationalrefortn. Community College Joamal.65(4), 30-34.

Loan, B. (2003). A strong case for more talkin a Montessori classroom. MontessoriLife. /5(3), 40-42.

Mawhinney, T. S. (2000J. Finding theanswer. Principal Leadership. 4(1], 44,46-48.

Metzger, M. [1998). Teaching reading. PhiDelta Kappan. 80, 240-247.

Myers, S. J. (1979). The enchanted sticks.New York. Penguin Group (USA).

National Commission on Writing. (2006,May). Writing and scliool reform.Retrieved January 12, 2008, fromhttp://www.writingcommission.org/

Polite, V. C, & Adams, A. H. (1997). Criticalthinking and values clarification throughSocratic seminars. Urban Education, 32,256-278.

Queen, J. A. (2000). Block scheduling revis-ited. Phi Delta Kappan. 82. 214-222.

Raphael. T. E., & Au, K. E. (2005). OAR:Enhancing comprehension and test tak-ing across grades and content areas. TheReading Teacher. 59. 206-221.

Salend. S. (2008). Creating inclusive class-tvoms: Effective and reflective practices

(6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pear-son Education.

Sorenson, M. (1993). Teach each other:Connecting talking and writing. EnglishJournal. 82. 42-47.

Strong, M. (1997). The habit of thought:From Socratic seminars to Socratic prac-tice. Chapel Hill, NC: New View.

Tanner, M. L., & Casados, L. (1998). Pro-moting and studying discussions in mathclasses. Jonrtial of Adolescent and AdultLiteracy. 41. 342-350.

Tredway, L. (1995). Socratic seminars:Engaging students in intellectual dis-course. Educational Leadership. 53(1),26-20.

Touchstones Discussion Project. (1993).Toachpepples. Annapolis, MD. Author.

Barbara Fink Chorzempa (CEC NYFederation). Assistant Professor. Departmentof Elementary Education, SUNY New Paltz.New York: and Laurie Lapidus, ClassroomTeacher. Monroe Woodbury Central SclioolDistrict, Monroe. New York.

Address correspondence to Barbara FinkChorzempa, Depanmetit. of ElementaryEducation. SUNY New Paltz. 1 Hawk Drive.New Pallz. NY ¡2561 (e-mail: chorzemb®newpaltz.edu).

TEACHING Exceptional Children, Vol. 41.No. 3. pp. 54-59.

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