3-Check Questions Socratic Seminar

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This activity encourages students to engage with texts through inquiry.  Identifying the level of comprehension required to respond to each question invites students to be reflective about their inquiry practice and to evaluate the level at which they are engaging with texts.  Listening to peers discuss familiar questions further invites reflection and self-evaluation and is also important for developing an understanding of the possibilities for textual engagement.

Students need to first be familiar with the 3 Levels of Comprehension (literal, inferential, critical) in order to proceed with this activity. These can be introduced using the Defining Comprehension activity.

Process

  1. Using the note cards provided, write 3 questions you have about the text (or work), one note card per question, so that you have 3 note cards in total.  Do not identify yourself on your note cards.
  2. Form groups, consisting of 3-4 people.
  3. Place all the note cards in the center of the group and shuffle them.
  4. Review the characteristics of a 1-, 2-, and 3-check question (a question requiring literal, inferential, or critical comprehension).
  5. Select a facilitator.  Give the stack of cards and a pen to the facilitator.
  6. The facilitator reads the questions on the cards one at a time. The group decides whether the question is a 1-, 2, or 3-check question.  The facilitator writes the corresponding number of checks on the question card. If a repeat question arises, it (or its predecessor) can be discarded.
  7. The facilitator orders the cards:  1-check (literal comprehension) questions on top and 3-check (critical comprehension) questions on bottom.
  8. The facilitator reads out the questions one at a time, and group members respond to the question in a round robin fashion, ending with the facilitator.  1-check, literal comprehension questions will only require one answer, however 2- and 3-check questions might invite multiple responses. This is repeated until all the questions have been answered.
  9. When you are finished, or when the timer goes off, combine with one other group.  Trade cards. 
  10. One group sits on the inside and works through the new questions as the other group sits on the outside and listens to their responses.  When you are finished, or when the timer goes off, trade positions.
  11. Reflect in your portfolios:  What did you learn about questions from this activity?  What new insights did you gain about the text (or work)?  What did you learn listening to another group’s responses?

Related Post

Defining “Comprehension”

Credits
This activity is an adaptation of Erica McWilliam’s strategy of using 3-star questions in response to texts that was first introduced to me at a IB Language A Category 3 Workshop led by Elizabeth Stephens through Philpot Education. The protocol above combines this approach with Brassell & Rasinki’s (2008) research on reading comprehension to develop a new protocol culminating in a Socratic seminar.

Image by Manfred Steger from Pixabay