The Socratic Method and the Dialectical Journal
Socrates said that an oracle of the gods had pronounced him the wisest of all people, because he knew how little he knew. The Socratic method of teaching proceeds by question and answer as opposed to lecture, so we’ll use this strategy as we prepare for our classroom discussions. The dialectical journal will be our vehicle.
The dialectical journal is a double-entry note-taking process done while you are reading literature. It provides you with two columns, which are in dialogue with one another - not only developing a method of critical reading but also encouraging habits of reflective questioning. Begin by drawing a line down the middle of your notebook paper. The left column is used for traditional note forms of direct quotations and citations or summaries. The right column is used for commenting on the left-column notes. As you keep taking notes, you should regularly reread your previous pages of notes and comments, drawing any new connections in a right column summary before starting another page of note-taking.
What might you consider for your journal writing? Listed below are several options – use a wide variety of them.
Quotations:
- Does the quote express an important theme?
- Does the quote relate to special imagery or a figure of speech?
- Does it offer new insight about a character?
- How does the quote speak to you personally?
- Does the quote remind you of someone else’s words?
Reader-response lead-ins:
- I wonder what this means….(cite a page and explain what the passage seems to be about; then offer a couple possible explanations).
- I really don’t understand…. (refer to pages and summarize the content before explaining what you don’t understand).
- I really like/dislike the idea that …… because ……..
- This setting ……….is important because………..
- I can guess what’s going to happen next………..
- Share how events of this play have caused a change in your views.
- List some questions you’d ask a character/author, given the opportunity.
- Evaluate the writing, explaining what is/is not good.
- Compare a character’s emotional response with yours in a similar situation.
- Comment on the author’s style.
- Contrast the society of this novel to your own.
- Discuss new insights into someone you know, which were gained from books
- Analyze whether your knowledge of a character was gained mostly from what s/he does, what s/he says, or what is said about him/her.
- If the play/novel deals with a clear-cut moral issue or dilemma, what message or philosophy is the author sending the reader?
- Explain any characters, events, or objects that are symbolic.
- To what extent is a character responsible for his own success/failure?
- Figure out the ways a character changed and what caused the changes.
- Describe an experience a character has that you would wish for yourself.
- Compare/contrast two characters who appear in the same book, or in two separate novels/plays.
- List questions about puzzling passages that are good for discussion.
- Respond to what seems to be the most important sentence or word in reading assignment and give reasons for choice.
- Comment on the relevance of a passage to its historical context or to the present.
- Examine values of a character you like.
- Examine values of a character you dislike.
- Examine different versions of the story (ie. Printed version vs. video version).
- Write some advice you’d like to give a character.
- Give your opinion about how a character should have worked out a conflict.
- Explain what you would have done in a certain situation.
- Tell what makes a particular character/setting appeal to you.
- Describe your response (emotional/intellectual) to your reading.
- etc. etc. etc.
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