Socratic Seminars: Increasing Student Voice and Promoting Independent Learning in the Dual Credit Classroom
Marcelline Block, LaGuardia Community College
Bio
I am a certified French, TESOL, Social Studies, and ELA teacher at Long Island City High School, where I teach all levels of French and ELA for 11th and 12th grade students. I have received recognition from the National Endowment for the Humanities, NECTFL, and the Cullman Center Institute for Teachers (NYPL). I delivered an invited presentation at the 2026 NYCAFLT Spring Conference, “World Languages: Celebrating Communication and Collaboration for All.”
Course Setting
The students in my College Now class, “Reading the Biography,” are primarily juniors and college-bound seniors at a Title 1 community high school in Astoria, Queens. They are a culturally and linguistically diverse group of students, many of whom are ELLs and MLLs, and bring rich perspectives to class discussions. Translanguaging is a priority in our classroom. As we read and discuss autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs, students learn to think critically, connect texts to their lives, and build academic and literacy skills needed for college success.
Problem of Practice
I seek to increase student motivation, engagement, academic independence, and intellectual ownership of learning. Since students successfully complete assigned coursework and demonstrate a strong work ethic, I would like them to take a more active role in shaping their learning experiences by pursuing areas of personal interest that intersect with the autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs studied in the curriculum, asking deeper questions about course texts, and shaping ideas for class activities and assignments.
Building upon how students regularly engage with course requirements, I aim to foster greater student voice, buy-in, and ownership of learning. My problem of practice asks how to support students in becoming self-directed learners who collaboratively design, lead, and contribute to learning experiences that deepen engagement with rigorous college-level academic texts.
Strategy
The pedagogical strategy that I implemented were two cycles of Socratic Seminars to strengthen student critical thinking, discussion, and reflective writing skills. A Socratic Seminar is a structured, student-centered discussion in which students create open-ended questions, lead the conversation, respond to one another’s ideas, and support their thinking with evidence from texts and personal experiences, while the teacher acts as a facilitator rather than discussion leader.
The first Socratic Seminar focused on growth mindset and grit, while the second focused on independent learning. Before the seminars, students engaged with texts and multimedia sources, including Angela Duckworth’s article “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” and Carol Dweck’s “Developing a Growth Mindset.” Students completed reflection journals, answered guiding questions, and created discussion questions for the Socratic Seminars. I also used entry/exit tickets that asked students to reflect on their readiness and feelings about participating in the Socratic Seminar.
This strategy supports student voice, collaborative learning, and academic confidence. Research on Socratic Seminars suggests they can help students develop higher-order thinking, listening, communication, and discussion skills while encouraging ownership of learning, or in other words, become more independent as learners.
Documentation
Artifact 1: Pre-Socratic Seminar Survey
An entry ticket students completed prior to the first student-led Socratic Seminar about growth mindset, which was the initial Socratic Seminar that was held. In this survey students were asked to share how they feel about participating in the upcoming Socratic Seminar.
Figure #1: Sample Student Survey Responses
Artifact 2: Pre-Second Socratic Seminar Discussion Questions about Independent Learning
Prior to the second Socratic Seminar, on independent learning, I asked students to create at least three discussion questions that they would ask about independent learning during the Socratic Seminar.
Figure #2: Second Student Survey Responses
Measuring Impact
Measure 1: Student Independence Growth Following Socratic Seminars
Following each Socratic Seminar, students reflected upon how their participation impacted their independence as learners. Comparing responses from the two seminars measured an increase in students reporting greater independence after the second seminar.
Figure #3: Self-Evaluation vs Socratic Seminar on Growth Mindset Post-Seminar
Measure 1: Student Independence Growth Following Socratic Seminars
This graph compares student self-evaluations after two Socratic Seminars focused on growth mindset and independent learning. Results show an increase in students reporting greater independence after the second seminar. The data suggests that repeated seminar participation supports students' confidence, self-direction, and ownership of learning..
Figure #4: Student Independence Following Seminars
Analysis
Student self-evaluations completed after the two Socratic Seminars on Growth Mindset and Independent Learning demonstrated overall positive growth in student independence. The number of students who reported feeling “more independent” increased between the two seminars. No students reported feeling less independent following either seminar, which suggests that the experience was consistently positive and supportive for students. This increase indicates that repeated opportunities to participate in student-led discussions helped strengthen students’ confidence, ownership of learning, and willingness to contribute independently..
The findings also suggest that practice and familiarity with the Socratic Seminar format played an important role in student growth. During the second seminar, students appeared more self-directed, asked more questions of one another, and relied less on teacher guidance than they had during the first seminar. However, growth was not completely consistent across all students, as one student reported no change in their level of independence. This demonstrates that while the strategy was effective overall, some students may require additional supports, scaffolding, or practice opportunities to fully develop confidence and independence in collaborative discussions. Overall, the data supports the conclusion that Socratic Seminars were an effective strategy for promoting independent learning, though future implementation should include targeted supports to ensure growth for all learners..
After years of seeking to implement Socratic Seminars into my teaching practice, this was my first experience of incorporating them in my classroom. I will stay with this strategy because it promoted student voice, encouraged independent learning, and increased student confidence.
Recommendation
For other CN teachers considering Socratic Seminars, I would strongly recommend gradually introducing the format and providing students with multiple opportunities to practice discussion skills beforehand. Many students may initially feel nervous about speaking in front of peers or may not be familiar with the structure of a Socratic Seminar. Starting with smaller partner or group discussions can help students build confidence before transitioning into full-class seminars.
Providing expectations, discussion prompts, sentence starters, and peer evaluation opportunities can also increase student engagement and independence. In my experience, students became more self-directed and confident during the second seminar because they were able to build upon their first experience. I also found that allowing students to create discussion questions and evaluate one another’s participation encouraged greater ownership of learning. While challenges such as varying confidence levels remain, repeated practice and supportive scaffolding can strengthen student voice, participation, and independent learning over time.
