Think Like Socrates

Shanna Peeples, the 2015 National Teacher of the Year, took the road less travelled on the way to her classroom. She worked as a disc jockey, medical assistant, and journalist before teaching, as she says, chose her. Shanna taught middle and high school English in low-income schools in Amarillo, Texas for 14 years. Because Amarillo is a resettlement area for refugees, students as diverse as the Karen people of Myanmar to the Bantu people of Somalia, make up classes in her former assignment at Palo Duro High School. Currently, Shanna is a doctoral candidate in Education Leadership at Harvard Graduate School of Education. She most recently served as the ELA curriculum specialist for her district where she designed professional development experiences and co-created curriculum with more than 200 secondary English Language Arts teachers. A former reporter for the Amarillo Globe-News, Shanna won awards for reporting on health issues, schools, and music criticism. Shanna is a board member of the Longview Foundation, a 2016 National Education Association Global Learning Fellow, and a member of the Global Teacher Prize Academy.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR Introduction PART I. Building a Questioning Classroom Culture 1. Kids These Days: Creating Deeper Learning Experiences Framed Around Student Questions 2. Designing for Engagement: Strategies for Using Student Questions to Plan Academic Discussions 3. Teaching Like Socrates: Composing a Classroom Climate to Encourage Inquiry 4. Learning to Listen: Processes to Support Better Thinking Through Focused Attention 5. Constructing Trust: Foundational Practices to Build Empathy, Belonging, and a Culture of Thinking PART II. Curating Questions for Use in the Content Areas 6. Using Questions in Multiple Disciplines and Grade Levels 7. Science 8. Math 9. Social Studies, Government, and Humanities 10. Fine Arts 11. Career and Technical Education 12. Special Populations PART III. Applying Inquiry to Do Real Work in the Real World 13. Using Student Questions for Project Ideas at All Levels PART IV. Using Our Own Questions to Transform Our Practice 14. Using Teacher Questions to Guide Staff Meetings and Plan Professional Development APPENDIX: RESOURCES, RECOMMENDED TEXTS, AND RUBRICS REFERENCES INDEX

"Shanna Peeples (2015 National Teacher of the Year) speaks a voice that's not heard often enough in the places where critical decisions are made about education-the voice of the experienced, devoted, and passionate teacher. As a nation, we should never make educational policy without asking whether it will support pedagogical practices of the sort this book advocates. If students learned to 'think like Socrates,' it would benefit them, their workplaces and communities, and our democracy in countless ways. May this book find tens of thousands of readers who want to put Shanna's well-tested insights into practice!" -- Parker J. Palmer, Author of The Courage to Teach, Let Your Life Speak, and On the Brink of Everything "Excellent writing and a wealth of inspiring examples from distinguished educators make this possibly the strongest Corwin book I have read in the past 10 years." -- Michelle Strom, Middle School Language Arts Teacher "Equal parts affirming and challenging, this book confirms why so much of what feels like good teaching is also messy, emotional, and personal. Peeples is a master teacher and a spectacular writer, and here we have a book that is evidence of both. This is a book that respects the intelligence of teachers. I plan on sharing this book with every teacher I work with." -- Tom Rademacher, Language Arts Teacher, 8th Grade "Allowing students to pursue their own questions is upheld as a powerful and driving force in learning. Furthermore, the stories in this book are personal and powerful. They helped get my mind and heart involved and ready to read on. Teachers will be able to recognize their own students in these stories." -- Jane Hunn, 6th Grade General Science Teacher "Peeples's book is important and relevant. It covers topics that educators are grappling with and provides authentic examples that will connect with them. Both novice and master teachers will be able to put these protocols and lesson plans into practice immediately. This is a resource that both administrators and teachers will revisit over and over again." -- LaQuita Outlaw, Principal - Grades 6-8 "Great for staff development, new implementation of Socratic seminar, and enhancing the craft of inquiry. This is a must-have for AVID school sites in particular." -- Valeria C. Ruff, AVID Coordinator and Elective Teacher "If you wish your classroom privileged students' questions, fostered authentic discussion and relationships that support discourse, then Think Like Socrates is a must read. Shanna Peoples provides simple but powerful structures to get started but also to make such an environment thrive." -- Kara Vandas, Education Consultant "Shanna Peeples has dedicated this book to her students and described it as a 'Love Letter'. It is. It is also a superb and powerful resource for educators committed to designing and developing learning cultures of curiosity and meaning-filled inquiry. Socrates said 'Wisdom begins in wonder'. As human beings , questions are our North Star ; we walk in their direction; so we must ensure they are not too small for our imagination. By grounding learning and teaching in student -generated questions, we invite children to develop agency over their own learning and choose the questions they wish to "walk"throughout their lives. Adroitly and wisely integrating current research on learning and teaching for deep understanding ,with her own personal experiences in fostering Socratic thinking within her students ,her colleagues, and herself, Peeples has generously gifted us with a new narrative and a new map for inviting curiosity, wonder and empathy into the classroom, by design. This book is a treasure." -- Stephanie Pace Marshall , Ph.D, Founding President and President Emerita of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy * Fellow,The Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce , London * "Teachers and students are parched for authentic and significant conversations in today's schools. Through insightful innovations on an ancient tradition of posing thoughtful questions, Shanna Peeples offers here a practical guide for building wisdom and meaningful learning in today's classrooms. This book will be an asset for deep inquiry among pre-service and in-service educators alike." -- Randy Bomer, PhD, Dean "If you are looking for a pathway to a remarkable student-centered classroom, Shanna teaches you how you can use questions to connect with your students, garner deeper engagement, and excavate the deep intellectual thoughts that are within our students, yet seem so difficult to uproot. Think Like Socrates is a practical yet soulful book, one that speaks with honesty and compassion to the power of questions and how they can transform your classroom." -- Brian Sztabnik, College Board Advisor for Ap Literature and Composition "In this book, master teacher Shanna Peeples takes us inside the world of compelling classrooms, showing us what makes them tick and how they can be made to soar. Think Like Socrates is a tour de force that moves effortlessly between theory and practice, advancing an argument about the critical importance of inquiry as a mode for teaching and learning and providing detailed examples and resources which show how this can be accomplished. I learned a lot from this book and think you will too." -- Jal Mehta, Associate Professor "Questions are the pulleys of learning. Once that space between question and answer has been created, it's the question, not an answer that pulls our students to new insight and greater understanding. Shanna Peeples knows this because she lives it and practices it. As soon as you meet her students, see her pedagogy in action, you'll recognize your own students and classroom. You'll see the way Shanna's clear and accessible instructional framework will liberate their thinking and empower their voices. This book has a place on the bookshelf of every teacher I know." -- Sarah Brown Wessling, 2010 National Teacher of the Year