By Paul Berman - American Honors Staff William S. Cox Professor of Law at the George Washington University and Academic Advisor to Quad Learning/American Honors Visit facultyconference.americanhonors.org

1. Teaching with
the Socratic
Method
Paul Schiff Berman

2. Why Use the Socratic
Method?
• Talking Is Not Teaching
• Empowering Students
• Flipping the Classroom
• Creating an Improvisational
Classroom
• Keeping the Students (and the
Teacher) Prepared and Engaged

3. Making the Method Work
• Never Ask a Question with Only One
Right Answer
• Never Force Students to Guess
What’s in Your Head
• Always Work with the Student’s
Answer
• Always Call on a Student and then
Ask the Question
• Ask Questions Multiple Ways
• Repeat and Shape Student
Responses

4. Demonstration
“No Vehicles in the Park”